Cancer Patient Humor

D Lewis
D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
edited March 2014 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Or, what NOT to do to a cancer patient...

My teenaged daughter trimmed her bangs over my bathroom sink yesterday morning, using my special sharp scissors, and she didn't clean up any of the hair clippings before she left. Enter Mom (just two weeks into a cisplatin chemo regime) to comb her hair over the same sink. Quick glance down; "Aaaaiiiiiieeeeeeyyyyyy!"

Daughter, later; "Um, Mom... did you happen to notice that the sink hair was straight and red, and yours is blond and curly?"

Nope.

Comments

  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #2
    Funny?
    You know, that is kinda funny, Deb. Musta been one heckuvan expression on your face when you looked down into the sink! Bet your eyes opened-up real wide.

    Keep doing as good as you're are doing, Deb.

    kcass
  • staceya
    staceya Member Posts: 720
    #3
    Kent Cass said:

    Funny?
    You know, that is kinda funny, Deb. Musta been one heckuvan expression on your face when you looked down into the sink! Bet your eyes opened-up real wide.

    Keep doing as good as you're are doing, Deb.

    kcass

    I probably would have
    I probably would have thought that my hair was changing color AND falling out.
    Good luck with your progress..
    I lost all the hair below my earline and was told it would probably be permanent since it was caused by the rads versus the chemo..Has anyone else had hair come back after loss from rads?

    Stacey
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #4
    staceya said:

    I probably would have
    I probably would have thought that my hair was changing color AND falling out.
    Good luck with your progress..
    I lost all the hair below my earline and was told it would probably be permanent since it was caused by the rads versus the chemo..Has anyone else had hair come back after loss from rads?

    Stacey

    Hair
    My last rad was almost a year ago, and it's now been some 14 months since I last had to shave on and below my left chin. Whiskers on my left-sdie cheek havecome back, though.
    And, I started losing my moustache hair early in treatment, so I shaved it off. And shortly after the last rad I grew it back- and it is as it was before the C battle.

    As for head hair- yes, it seems to be as it was before. And did lose a lot in battle- though more along the lines of thinning.

    kcass
  • Pam M
    Pam M Member Posts: 2,196
    #5
    staceya said:

    I probably would have
    I probably would have thought that my hair was changing color AND falling out.
    Good luck with your progress..
    I lost all the hair below my earline and was told it would probably be permanent since it was caused by the rads versus the chemo..Has anyone else had hair come back after loss from rads?

    Stacey

    Mid ear for me
    Stacey,
    I've "heard" several folks say they did not re-grow the hair from the base of their skull, just grew the hair above it longer, and it covered the space.

    What hair I didn't lose during induction chemo, I got shaved December 19, 2009 (I remember the day only because I ended up in the hospital that night; the shaving wasn't traumatic). It's growing back now (respectable peachfuzz/short hair) with a couple of exceptions. The base of skull area isn't even peach fuzz, but I do feel "something". I also have a strip that's still smooth at the mid-ear level behind both ears. Sometimes I think the smooth areas are getting smaller - time will tell.

    Good luck,
    - Pam
  • Hal61
    Hal61 Member Posts: 655
    #6
    staceya said:

    I probably would have
    I probably would have thought that my hair was changing color AND falling out.
    Good luck with your progress..
    I lost all the hair below my earline and was told it would probably be permanent since it was caused by the rads versus the chemo..Has anyone else had hair come back after loss from rads?

    Stacey

    Feels like hair below
    Hi Stacey, I shaved my head once I had any sign I was losing any hair (shaved about one month ago), and as of five munutes ago, it is growing back beneath my ear line. I had chemo and rads (35) concurrent. The loss beneath my ears was more pronounced when I shaved so I'm almost certain it was from rads. And, for me, it is coming back in. Here's hoping it will for you.

    Hal
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #7
    Hal61 said:

    Feels like hair below
    Hi Stacey, I shaved my head once I had any sign I was losing any hair (shaved about one month ago), and as of five munutes ago, it is growing back beneath my ear line. I had chemo and rads (35) concurrent. The loss beneath my ears was more pronounced when I shaved so I'm almost certain it was from rads. And, for me, it is coming back in. Here's hoping it will for you.

    Hal

    Ditto
    Stacey- I echo Hal's wishes. Just got a major haircut yesterday, now that the weather's changing in Illinois, and did make mention of the hairline level at the back base of the skull. Lady cutting my hair did say it is a bit above where she would expect. But you can grow it long to cover that. Me, I'm a 55 year-old man with a bald spot on the top of my head- a male tradition that unfortunately runs on both sides of my family.

    kcass
  • staceya
    staceya Member Posts: 720
    #8
    Kent Cass said:

    Ditto
    Stacey- I echo Hal's wishes. Just got a major haircut yesterday, now that the weather's changing in Illinois, and did make mention of the hairline level at the back base of the skull. Lady cutting my hair did say it is a bit above where she would expect. But you can grow it long to cover that. Me, I'm a 55 year-old man with a bald spot on the top of my head- a male tradition that unfortunately runs on both sides of my family.

    kcass

    Thanks all--
    Thanks for the info I am hoping the hair on my head grows back..I could stand losing the chin hairs (!)
    For now I am keeping it short..thinking of Mary tomorrow....
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #9
    staceya said:

    Thanks all--
    Thanks for the info I am hoping the hair on my head grows back..I could stand losing the chin hairs (!)
    For now I am keeping it short..thinking of Mary tomorrow....

    Good Luck
    Good Luck with losing hair permanantly in the places you don't want, LOL...

    Like you I have area where hair growth seems to grow unwanted. As they say when you get older, hair doesn't grow where you want, and does grow in the areas you could do without.

    When the majority of my hair fell out, along with it was those areas (ears, nostrils, etc....). The first hairs to come back were the old stubborn gray hairs LOL...then the nostril hair and eventually ears.

    I also have very little on the right side of my throat (main radiation area), my facial hair is very thin compared to before, as is my mustache. I lost about two inches of hairline in the back that I used to have, but I just noticed that it's starting to get fuzzy and fill in.

    I'm sure that the majority if not all of your hair will grow back...

    It's like going throw the stages of puberty again, LOL...first it comes back in fine and thin, very staright, and eventually going back to a more adult state..at least that was my experience.

    God Bless,
    John
  • thegirlfriend
    thegirlfriend Member Posts: 142
    #10
    Skiffin16 said:

    Good Luck
    Good Luck with losing hair permanantly in the places you don't want, LOL...

    Like you I have area where hair growth seems to grow unwanted. As they say when you get older, hair doesn't grow where you want, and does grow in the areas you could do without.

    When the majority of my hair fell out, along with it was those areas (ears, nostrils, etc....). The first hairs to come back were the old stubborn gray hairs LOL...then the nostril hair and eventually ears.

    I also have very little on the right side of my throat (main radiation area), my facial hair is very thin compared to before, as is my mustache. I lost about two inches of hairline in the back that I used to have, but I just noticed that it's starting to get fuzzy and fill in.

    I'm sure that the majority if not all of your hair will grow back...

    It's like going throw the stages of puberty again, LOL...first it comes back in fine and thin, very staright, and eventually going back to a more adult state..at least that was my experience.

    God Bless,
    John

    hair regrowth
    My boyfriends hair on his head is growing back really nicely, as silky as it used to be. He had very fine hair. He is 62 so its grayer, but he swears its coming back more gray. I guess he knows best. He would have LOVED for the hair around and in his ears, as well as his nose, to have fallen out for GOOD!! no such luck!! lol! He does have extra hairs growing from where his eyebrow ends to his hairline, but you cant see it. I think that he looks through his magnifying mirror too often!! so he thinks you can see all that stuff so easily without it and you really cant. He just is trying to take care of stuff that he has the control over I guess.

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