What a difference a year makes

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  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited March 2012

    Best wishes on your last month....this will soon be behind you, waaayyyyy behind you :)

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited March 2012

    Bayareamom: Welcome to our boards! I also thought wigs would be fun, and they totally weren't. I now have a head of very thick, 4" long hair, and it's awesome to run my fingers through it again. Hang in there, it totally comes back.

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited March 2012

    Baya, I hear you. At first I had fun with the scarves and hats, but it gets old, it really does. At this point my hair is minimal, but I have gone out without a hat a few times, and if people stare, shrug!

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited March 2012

    Sending this out with love again to all the ladies who think it will never end.

  • bak94
    bak94 Member Posts: 1,846
    edited March 2012

    I don't know why I never have seen this thread! You all look beautiful! All the hair!

  • CherylinOhio
    CherylinOhio Member Posts: 623
    edited March 2012

    Hi all. I am hopefully in my last month of wearing my wig. I thought it would be fun and I bought about 5 of them but now it is a pain in the butt. It was ok during the winter but now that spring is coming and then summer I won't be wearing it at all. I have about 3 inches and all curls. Longer in back than in front and I think my front is still too short to wear in public but my friends think it looks fine. I have gone out in public wearing a hat or a band around my forehead and I did not notice if anyone stared. I think it looks like a pixie cut and I touch it all the time! I have even colored it already because it came back grey. I used Nioxin spray which I got at a beauty supply store, it is for thinning hair. I sprayed it on daily so not sure if that helped but I will try anything.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited March 2012

    One more tip for the unfuly chem curls is extra-hold mousse. I put it in when my hair is wet, comb it into a manageable style and let it air dry. Then eventually, when I think about it, I run my fingers through my hair to break up the crusty feeling of the dried mousse, and viola, my hair is soft and well styled.

    Robo47: I wish I had the guts to post photos here. My hair was that short last summer, and I have photos of me at the beach that are just shudderable, compared to now. Hang in there, in a few months you will have what looks like "intentional" hair. *hugs*

  • Goodie
    Goodie Member Posts: 244
    edited April 2012
  • CherylinOhio
    CherylinOhio Member Posts: 623
    edited May 2012

    I was sitting at my hairstylists yesterday, yes I finally have enough hair to cut and color, and I realized it was my one year C-anniversary. What a difference a year DOES make. Happy to be here and hope to be posting at 2,3,4,5 etc.....

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited May 2012

    Congrats on having enough hair to have done and getting through the first year, it's a tough one but a huge milestone!  

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited June 2012

    Bumping this one to encourage all the ladies in the throes of chemo.

    (Though with this new board, I doubt anyone will see it.)

  • financegirl
    financegirl Member Posts: 114
    edited June 2012

    Another one who is one year out and has finally taken off the scarves and gone "au natural".   Three weeks ago my hair was growing shaggy at the neck and around the ears so I went to my stylist of 20 years.  I'd never told him I was gone due to  cancer.  Went in, he did his normal great job and then told me "no charge".  He said he always does that for long standing clients - it's the least he can do to give back and he has a young grandchild under 1 that they were administering chemo.  Said he now sees firsthand how much this damn disease controls the lives of all loved ones during their battle.  One, wow, I can't even imagine!

    BTW, jenny, you sure had a lot of hair for just being 3 weeks post chemo!   Mine took awhile to get started but when it did, look out!

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited June 2012

    Congrats on 1 year, that is great!  I did taxotere last and my hair had started growing back during that so, I was 3 wks post chemo but many weeks past A/C :)  Best wishes on moving on pass tx.

  • RosesToeses
    RosesToeses Member Posts: 721
    edited July 2012

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this.



    I just got home from finding out I've been "upgraded" from IIa to IIIa and feeling pretty sucky about it, too. Your after pic is making me cry in a good way. Guess a pic is worth a thousand words, and this one is screaming "alive and well and made it through!"

  • kathleen1966
    kathleen1966 Member Posts: 793
    edited July 2012

    I will try to get a couple of my before and afters. I actually lost a little weight with chemo, so I look a bit better than I do now in this regard!  I gained it all back, and then some....:(.  You look great!  My hair is still not the way it was though.  I hate it. It is very, very curly but not in a good way....mostly straight before with just a slight wave...

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited July 2012

    Roses, that sucks and I am sorry. On the other hand, you can rest assured that at stage III, they will hit it with all they've got. 

    If it helps any, during chemo last summer:

    chemo

    At a dinner this summer:

    dinner

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited July 2012

    RT...I'm sorry to hear you've had to join the "III club" but glad to hear the pics could help you.  You will get there and we will be here to help you through cyber hugs, info and support, this is a great site. 

    Momine...You look wonderfu!  Thanks for posting the pics.

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited July 2012

    Jenny, thanks. I got back in the gym after that picture was taken. I am beginning to feel so much better than I imagined possible even six months ago.

  • RosesToeses
    RosesToeses Member Posts: 721
    edited July 2012

    Momine you do look wonderful (lovely dress, too)! Thanks for posting.



    I guess I'm getting used to the news--I really appreciate the kind words and support.

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited July 2012

    Thanks, roses. The dress is my first attempt at making a dress with built-in foobs.

  • GeorgiaRai
    GeorgiaRai Member Posts: 175
    edited July 2012

    I'm SO glad I found this thread again!  Jenny, I first saw your pictures right after my last TAC treatment in May.  Once I came out of the chemo fog, I looked for it several times in the Chemo & Surgery folders - I'd forgotten to check back here.  I just wanted to say how much of a help your pictures were to me.  I told my daughters about it, and one of them took a picture of me in the hospital on the morning after my BMX (6/28) so that we can do the 1 year comparison as well.

    My hair is just starting to come in; I have high hopes that by next month I'll be able to see it without squinting.

    Your post was such an encouragement to me, just when I needed it most.  Thank you!

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited July 2012

    Thanks GR...I'm so glad they could help you.  When my hubby took the pics I never thought of using them later and was a bit irritated with him that he took them, at that time.  Now I'm glad he did...it was great seeing my "metamorphis" into a healthy person again and glad they are helping others.

  • Whatashocker3
    Whatashocker3 Member Posts: 209
    edited July 2012

    That forum and the pictures helped my quite a bit Jenny. When I was really down I would pull you back up and that would lift my spirits.



    Thank you so much.

  • oaktownmom
    oaktownmom Member Posts: 114
    edited July 2012

    Thanks so much to jennyboog and others who posted pictures here to give us all hope!  You all look fabulous. I found this thread SO inspiring when I was dealing with the aftermath of chemo, so I thought I'd share some pics too in the hopes that they might make someone else feel better.  Here I am in December, a couple of weeks before I finished chemo:

    And here I am just 7 months later (last week): 

     

    Go girls - you can do it!

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited July 2012

    Oaktown, we finished chemo about the same time, but you have WAY more hair an I do, LOL. You looked pretty good bald too. Thanks for posting.

  • oaktownmom
    oaktownmom Member Posts: 114
    edited July 2012

    Thanks Momine - I think I look rather maniacal in my bald pick, not sure what I was so happy about!

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited July 2012

    Thanks oak...the more the merrier, we all need some inspiration and I'm sure others will enjoy.  You look great by the way!

  • beegee
    beegee Member Posts: 32
    edited July 2012

    Hey Oaktown,

    You're pics are amazing.  I finished chemo on Dec 5, and my hair now is much shorter than yours.  But I'm happy to have what I have.  I started going without hat/scarf or wig mid May, and I have had two trims. I love that it's curly.  For the first time in my life I have "wash and wear" hair.  

  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited July 2012

    Oak, mwa-ha-ha, it is the killer bald chick! ;)

  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited September 2012

    I thought I'd "bump" this.  I got so many positive responses when I posted it the first time and we have some new members that just might need it.

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