Is cancer treatment all about your hair?

[louis...@yahoo.com]

Talking about the cancer experience often begins with a conversation
about your hair. Will chemo cause your hair to fall out? How will
that happen and how long does it take? When will hair start to grow
and what will it look like when it does come back?

All of this hair hype is really a safety net. A way of discussing a
serious situation without actually talking about it directly. A way of
fast forwarding through a life altering experience, hoping to as
quickly as possible return to normalcy. What most people find out
once they complete cancer treatment, is that they have a new
persective on life. That just because your hair is growing again
doesn't always mean the ride is over.

A cancer diagnosis and course of treatment take people on a path that
is very different from the normal day to day. It is a time we focus
intensely on our physical and emotional well being. We step into the
unknown while trusting others to direct us to what we hope will be a
full recovery. It is sharing deeply personal information about
ourselves with strangers and fielding questions and reactions from
friends and families. It is knowing what happens to us has a profound
effect on others.

I believe many of the larger questions about living with a cancer
diagnosis remain trapped in the hair net. I would like to hear how
you might work towards creating a quality life while keeping fears of
re-occurance at arms length? Or, learn first hand from our loved
one's about what it means to care for and about someone going through
an illness?

These are some of the big questions that I think many of us ask
ourselves. Yes, having hair is important and a sign that everything
is getting back to normal, but are we not more than our hair?

I encourage you to add to this conversation and take it to the next
level!