Wigging out
Feeling MUCH better today! I'm doing physical therapy with my arm/shoulder, and it's finally starting to feel like it's healing. It's not really painful, it just feels weird - like I'm holding an apple under my arm. And then, every once in a while, I get shooting pains down the back of my arm or in my chest, which I think of as the nerve endings coming back to life. I don't have a lot of feeling on the inside of my upper arm and around the incision, and when I get these blasts of pain, it feels like it's waking up. So I welcome them - they're a part of healing.
Yesterday, I had my first nonmedical cancer adventure: wig shopping. Mom and I journeyed out to Bryn Mawr to Jude Plum, who specializes in hairpieces and has lots of experience. He's like the wig Big Wig. It was sort of a weird place because Jude just isn't the owner, he's also a customer. And another woman in there told us that she, too, has extensions and sometimes wears a blonde wig just for kicks. I started thinking that EVERYONE wears hairpieces. If they're made well, you really can't tell! Anyway, here's his philosophy: come in and select a wig and be fitted; keep your hair and do not cut it short; about two weeks after the first chemo treatment, or when you notice your hair coming out more, call him and he'll see you that afternoon; you go in with your hair, he shaves your head and puts on the wig that you're ordered; you walk out without skipping a beat. Low trauma, quick, easy.
At first, I wanted a long curly-haired black wig that will look most like my hair now. Jude convinced me to go a shade or two lighter because my own, natural color is "too dark." Hrmph. Then I started trying on other wigs and hats and contraptions with bangs that fit under hats. It was a bit overwhelming, all these options. And THEN I tried on a gorgeous long, brown, straight-haired wig. Is it bad to be excited about finally having the hair I've always wanted?
It's all about control, really. As out-of-control I am in this ridiculous, nightmarish roller coaster, the little things I can do - like selecting a wig and feeling good about it - help give me back a little bit of it.
Yesterday, I had my first nonmedical cancer adventure: wig shopping. Mom and I journeyed out to Bryn Mawr to Jude Plum, who specializes in hairpieces and has lots of experience. He's like the wig Big Wig. It was sort of a weird place because Jude just isn't the owner, he's also a customer. And another woman in there told us that she, too, has extensions and sometimes wears a blonde wig just for kicks. I started thinking that EVERYONE wears hairpieces. If they're made well, you really can't tell! Anyway, here's his philosophy: come in and select a wig and be fitted; keep your hair and do not cut it short; about two weeks after the first chemo treatment, or when you notice your hair coming out more, call him and he'll see you that afternoon; you go in with your hair, he shaves your head and puts on the wig that you're ordered; you walk out without skipping a beat. Low trauma, quick, easy.
At first, I wanted a long curly-haired black wig that will look most like my hair now. Jude convinced me to go a shade or two lighter because my own, natural color is "too dark." Hrmph. Then I started trying on other wigs and hats and contraptions with bangs that fit under hats. It was a bit overwhelming, all these options. And THEN I tried on a gorgeous long, brown, straight-haired wig. Is it bad to be excited about finally having the hair I've always wanted?
It's all about control, really. As out-of-control I am in this ridiculous, nightmarish roller coaster, the little things I can do - like selecting a wig and feeling good about it - help give me back a little bit of it.
posted by Rachel Troxell at 10:12 AM
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