Falling like snow

gently drifting away, there was a small cloud of hair on my pillow two mornings ago. Not unexpected, I had run my hand through my hair last night and come away with strands between my fingers. But my days of the temporary cute bob are limited.  What I am also noticing is all the grey hair, which I had been denying is all that plentiful.  I probably should be glad that I’m not imitating the current bumper crop of rainstorms.

I’d had the discussion about hair loss with my oncologist just this past Wednesday. He said that it didn’t occur in all of his patients. I quietly pointed out that 90+% of his patients were male, most over the age of 65. Hair is not an issue with most of them. Me, on the other hand, I figure that hair loss is a price that I most definitely will be paying to bring to kill off enough tumor cells.

And here I originally was going to talk about President’s Day. I remember when it was Washington’s Birthday; the change in name receiving general acceptance not occurring till the 1980s.  (FYI – Next year it will fall on 19 Feb). When you work for/are part of the Federal Government it is one more holiday on which you have to organize call coverage being as how it is cheaper to use military than to pay overtime to civilian employees.

Where was I? Oh, right hair loss. Potential to go back to wearing freaking hats which I swore I would never do again when I retired from active duty.  I found a couple of patterns and may just stick with scarves. Either way, I am not one to shave my head to speed up the process. Somehow the drama of handfuls of hair is balancing out my general irritation at the whole idea.

Meanwhile, I am making progress on the bijillion shades of blue that go into this pattern. Having a small Ott light shining directly on the fabric has made the whole process a lot easier…

 

20 Feb 2017

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!
This entry was posted in Cross-Stitch, Medical. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Falling like snow

  1. Alison says:

    Now I understand a little better that laughter when I presented you with a hat! And now I’m laughing over the idea of denying the grayness

  2. Val says:

    I’m sure you know many people who have experienced hair loss through this insidious disease’s treatment. You go girl!

    And, hey, as I said, it’s so much harder when faced with a situation personally.

    Loving your current project BTW

    • Holly says:

      it is always personal, isn’t it. I find directing sympathy and support to others so much easier than accepting it for myself!

  3. Holly says:

    Oh yes! but it is so soft which really makes a difference!

Leave a Reply to Val Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.