The Great Hair/ Wig Adventure

I know you've been waiting with baited breath for the updates on my big haircut... Sorry. I've been laid out flat all weekend, feeling like a mushy bowl of goo. Blech!

Well, here's how it all went down.  I chose my stylist very carefully. Bekah Hauert goes to Embrace Church with us, and her sweet little 6-year-old daugher, Ady is on the final rounds of her chemo treatments. I knew I wanted Bekah to cut my hair from the time I decided to get it done. I haven't had a real haircut from a professional in quite a while, so it was nice to be pampered! Bekah was awesome. She had some great stories to share about Ady's hair loss (that seems weird, but it wasn't), as well as advice about when my hair starts to grow back in, and she kept things fun and light.

I left for my haircut at about noon. KSFY met me there, and filmed my new drastic haircut. Here's some pictures:

Here's the before pics, I guess.

You have to put your hair in a ponytail or braid to donate it.

Here it goes!

There's my hair! Goes to some lucky kid, I guess. :) I was surprised to find out that they only use the donated hair in kids' wigs. So the wig I will get will be a synthetic one. Have to be careful not to melt it!

Bekah even put some pink streaks in and set me up with some hair goop to keep things fun. Here's how it looked the next day (minus the pink streaks, because I was wearing blue):

I like it. Cute, easy and fun. Too bad it will only last a couple of weeks!

After the haircut, I went straight over to the Prairie Center and met with Dell for my wig fitting. I had invited a couple of friends along for that, and Polly didn't even recognize me when I waved to her! 

We had a good time trying out different styles and colors. She said to choose the style first, then we would pick the color from there. We had a little fun!

The girls really liked this one, but the back was a little weird. I wasn't sold on it.

What do you think? Blondie?

My hair actually looked a lot like this for a long time...

Aubrey is clearly not impressed with this one! 

I don't want a long one. I'm going to have it for the summer, 

and I spent all summer last year with my hair in a ponytail! 

This is the one I ended up and picked with the help of Aubrey (left) and (Polly), as well as Dell the wig lady, Mom, and the cameraman! It's a fun little asymmetrical bob.  It will be a slightly lighter color for the summer season. 

After all the ruckus, I sent the paparazzi home and my mom & I went up to the oncology unit, where they gave me a shot called Neulasta, which they give within 24 hours of chemo. Wow, not a fan. It tells your bones to produce white cells to make up for the drop in immunity chemo does to you. Sadly, one of the side effects is that your bones get pretty achy. Within hours, I was a pooped pup, but we were able to get together with my dad & step-mother to celebrate her birthday for a nice dinner at Red Lobster, and a little swim time for the kids at their hotel.

I was a yucky, mushy mess for the next 2 days. My Saturday and Sunday were pretty rough. I felt the aches mostly in my hips, lower molars and at the base of my skull on Saturday. By this morning (Sunday), it was all I could do to get up and out of bed to get the kids and me to church that morning. I have been eating well, however, and the nausea has not set in, so that is a huge blessing! 

I did get a migraine aura this evening, so I took a couple of Tylenol and had a cup of coffee. Avoided the headache, which is good. The hope was that with all the estrogen blocking chemo provides, I would get to drop the migraines... We'll have to see, I guess.

I am planning to go back to work tomorrow, and am thankful that my students are pretty gracious. I'm feeling better at bedtime tonight (Sunday), so I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be a good day... Prayers appreciated!