2. Treatment

We hope these blogs from one of our members will remind you that you are not alone and that others understand exactly what you are going through.

You’ve gone for your second opinion. You’ve had parts removed that you’d grown quite attached to. You’ve had hoards of indifferent interns and fellows, trailing behind your doctors, looking at you in your “wrinkly beige outfit”. And they looked bored! How insulting is that? 

Now, you enter the twilight zone {dramatic pause}. You are in your first chemo session.“Excuse me? Did I hear you right? You are going to inject me with a chemical that ends in “toxin”, as in toxin? You are wearing a hazmat suit to inject this neon red fluid into me? It is going to make me sick and bald, yet I am going to come back every 2 weeks and do it again because it’s good for me?” Well THAT isn’t showing a girl a good time.

I know some day they will say “Can you believe they used to inject chemicals to kill everything in their path to get at the cancer? How barbaric! But for now, it’s the best we’ve got, so bear up!

Let’s go back to the baldness for a minute. After your second treatment, you still have your hair.  “Hey, maybe I’m the 1% who doesn’t lose it.” As those words pass your lips, the first clump falls out.

 I’m not sure I can find a joke here. It is one of the more disgusting states a woman can experience.   At this point you really need to buzz your hair.  It is recommended by those who have been there.  It is the only controlled decision you have during this whole process and it empowers you in some small way. Find your bald style, hat, scarf, wig or combination. Remember, it’s temporary! And there is always someone who tells you how adorable you look bald. Bull**.  We look like Uncle Fester! But, do not hit them. They mean well.

Radiation: Don’t let anyone use the expression “I only had radiation.” Though it isn’t as invasive as chemo, it has its memorable moments. Essentially you feel like you have been abducted to the alien mother-ship every day for 6 weeks. You are maneuvered and photographed and x-rayed and tattooed and then irradiated. Let me just say…OUCH! Not quite the tanning bed experience. Oh, I’m exaggerating. You get weekends off. Oddly, the six weeks go by quickly.