Hair – “cheveux“
Hair loss is possibly the most famous side effect from Chemotherapy, much in line with nausea, vomiting and weight loss however for women especially it can also be very traumatic.
Remember, this is my personal experience, everyone reacts to chemotherapy differently, some don’t lose any hair, others just thin a little, it’s all down to what your drugs are, the dosage and your own body reaction.
The Irinotecan in my protocol is known to cause hair loss so I was warned that I would lose my hair, my doctor gave me a prescription for a wig (perruque) since they are extremely expensive if you want one that looks natural, even the synthetic ones are hundreds of euros. Having the prescription from the doctor means, in France, you will at least get 50% of the cost back and if your mutuel covers wigs then you will get even more back!
My hair started falling out about 12-14 days after my first chemo treatment, for a couple of days it was just a little extra shedding here and there and my hair brush needed cleaning more often. This didn’t last long though.
One day I woke up as normal, had breakfast, sat on the sofa and brushed my hair.. To find it was coming out in clumps, the brush was just holding on to the hair and taking it with every stroke. I started crying, I was surprised how upset I was given that I knew this was coming and I was prepared for it. I had originally planned to have a “shave Gina’s head” party where my friends would come over and we’d cut my hair off into funny styles and make it into a silly experience however when I saw it just falling out in front of me, I couldn’t bear it.
I ran upstairs and woke up my fiance, sobbing away, still holding my hairbrush. I told him I didn’t want to wait, I can’t cope seeing it fall out like that. He got out of bed, found the hair clippers and shaved my head there and then. I cried the whole time as I watched my hair fall to the floor but I knew for me at least it would hurt less than watching it fall out day after day.
The trauma of shaving my head was over quickly, I am very much a person to “rip the band aid off” I find I can deal with things easier if I’m thrown into the deep end. By the next day I was no longer visibly upset, of course I missed by hair and I wanted it back but this was just another experience to be had, it would after all, grow back.
The most wonderful thing happened around this time, one of my dear friends who I used to work with arranged a campaign in my old office for “Hats for Gina!” So many people donated all kinds of headwear, some was shop bought, others were hand made, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the kindness of my former colleagues, and I still am to this day, I still use the hats they donated to me.
There are some unexpected aspects of losing your hair to chemotherapy though..
- It hurts!
- Believe it or not, when your head is shedding it hurts. I’m not sure exactly why but your head becomes so tender, each follicle seems to be screaming as it “dies” (I’m honestly not sure if the follicles die or not.. but that’s the word I’m going with!)
- It happens everywhere else too
- Forget waxing and shaving! my skin has never been so smooth! Possibly the best silver lining to going through chemo treatments.
- You really miss your eyebrows and lashes..
- They catch a lot more sweat and dust than you think they do!
- .. And your nose hair
- Maybe the weirdest side effect of total hair loss.. but your nose does not stop dripping! All those tiny hairs we hate up in our noses.. Yeah you need those!
- .. And your bum hair..
- Everyone has fine hairs on their bum, even if you’re not an overly hairy person. When they go.. there’s chaffing.
And there we have it. As of today (Aug 2020) I have some hair growing back, for now.. The chemo I’m on at the moment doesn’t cause hair loss so it’s had a few months to come back!
Next time we’re going to talk about my first surgery. There’s a lot involved in that one though so I will probably split it into multiple posts
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