Look Good, Feel Better

Last Thursday I attended a class at the Women’s Health Resource Center at CPMC called “Look Good, Feel Better.” It’s a class for women going through cancer treatments & they teach you all about what it’s like to lose your hair, how to style scarves & hats and you walk away from the class with a whole goodie bag full of beauty products. It was pretty cool! It was definitely geared toward women who haven’t started treatments yet, or at least ones who hadn’t lost their hair yet. I felt like a total veteran!

The woman who was teaching us about wigs, scarves & hats needed a head model to practice on and she needed someone who didn’t have any hair. There was one other girl in the class with no hair and she wasn’t quick to volunteer. I stepped up to the plate and whipped off my scarf. It’s the first time I had ever taken my scarf, wig or hat off my head in public and it felt pretty good! I figured there’s no better group to show my bald head to than a bunch of women who were all about to lose their hair. It was nice for me to have them to see me like this & I hope it helped them, too.

As the class was wrapping up, I started chatting with a woman who had yet to start her treatments. She had just had her appointment with Jeanie (the wig gal!) to get her wig before her hair starts to fall out. It made me think back to before I started my treatments and how having people to talk to about the road that I was about go down was so helpful. She’s particularly worried about losing her hair so I told her that my head is now my new best accessory! Honestly, a scarf makes any outfit look fancier, it’s pretty awesome!

We exchanged email addresses and I decided to reach out to send her my blog. I know how much I love writing it and if it can be even the tiniest bit helpful to someone else, I’ve done my job.

L, if you’re reading this, remember that you WILL get through this & that this is all temporary. You will come out on the other side a stronger woman. Some days will suck (they totally will) and other days will be beautiful in the strangest ways. You’ll learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible and you will realize that you’re a total badass. We’re part of this pretty exclusive club now and only the bravest people are allowed in. Welcome!

And to Jennie, Diane, Robin & Cindy, if you’re reading this – THANK YOU! I honestly have no words to express my gratitude. You have all fought this fight (some of you more than once) and knocked cancer on its ass. It didn’t stand a chance against any of you, you incredible women! Your advice, humor, expertise, love, care packages & all around amazingness have helped me more than you’ll ever know. You answered all my silly questions and helped ease my fears without a second thought. Getting through this would have been a whole lot harder without each and every one of you. I am eternally grateful.

Round four was today! I can officially say I’m 2/3 of the way done. Only two more rounds of chemo. TWO MORE! Remember when I was 1/6 of the way done and I thought that sounded nice? 2/3 sounds way better! I had three fabulous guests for today (picture in the photo section) and having them there made the day go by so much quicker. We chatted, listened to music & colored :) Thanks for taking the day off of work to keep me company, ladies!

I’m going to acupuncture twice a week, using essential oils on a regular basis & doing my therapeutic fasting with this round, as well. I’m curious to see how my side effects are improved by all of this. I really do think acupuncture is helping. I look forward to those appointments so much, it’s 30 minutes of forced relaxation and it feels wonderful.

I’ll keep you posted!

xo,

Ali