Hair regrowth and post chemo update

Here's an update of how I am doing since finishing chemotherapy. 

I have had my first follow up with both my medical oncologist and surgical oncologist and at this time, everything continues to look good. My current CA-125 level is 13, (which is in the normal range) compared to 350 when I was diagnosed with Cancer. I will continue to have follow ups every three months for the next 5 years. 

My hair is finally starting to grow back with the help of biotin and hair growth products like the  Bosley 3 step process. Loosing my long thick hair was one of the hardest parts of going through this Cancer journey. It can be depressing at times when I think how much longer it will take to grow to the length it was prior to chemo. My hair is coming in my natural dirty blonde color and I am looking forward to getting it lightened up to blonde once it gets a little longer. I have yet to be brave enough to go out in public without a wig or hat on, but am looking forward to it growing a little longer so I can style and accessorize it a bit. 

My brain is also starting to function a little better since finishing chemo. I will be the first to tell you that 'chemo brain' really exists....here's an example of how bad it got for me: One day last fall, I drove to the store for a few things and when I got back into my car, I could not remember how to get my car started!!! Chemo brain makes you forget simple things and at times it is hard to even speak as it is hard to find the words you want to say. 

I am back to work as a Physical Therapist full time now, however, I am still very tired most of the time, and spend weekends sleeping to let my body recover and heal. 

One thing I have learned through this journey is enjoying everyday, especially the little things like being able to lay on the ground and play with my girls. During the 6 months of going through Cancer treatments, I wasn't even able to get onto the ground to play with them and some days I wasn't even able to hold my baby because of how sick I was. I have learned to enjoy the precious time with my family and loved ones. Other things I have come to appreciate are having eyelashes and eyebrows as it was such a pain to glue on eyelashes daily and draw my brows on. I will never complain about plucking my eyebrows or having to shave ever again! I also appreciate that I am getting the energy back to walk around the block and to do housecleaning and shopping.

Here is a timeline of my hair starting to grow back in! It was so exciting to feel the soft baby fuzz coming back in!

                                                                            Jan 23, 2016

Jan 26, 2016

I still didn't have any eyebrows or lashes

                                                                February 14, 2016
                                      My eyelashes were just little spikes starting to grow back

                                                                    Feb 24th, 2016,
                                                     It was finally getting a little thicker

                       I was still wearing a wig to work at this time and wearing hats everywhere else.

March 13th

My hair is long enough to actually spike it up a little, but the color is a dirty blonde with gray.

Heading into work with my wig

I had decided that when my hair came back in that I wasn't going to color it because it was nice to start over with non-color damaged hair. Once I saw the color it was growing in, I decided it had to be colored to my lighter blonde. Amber colored my entire head the normal blonde color we do and because of the chemo that was still in my hair, it came out an awful red-orange. I wanted to cry when I saw it (it was hard enough to be at the salon with short boy hair, but the color change was too much). Amber then attempted to add some toner to it to lighten it and then hot pink started taking over my hair! Amber was worried and quickly tried to change it from pink and we ended up with a platinum blonde with an orange tint. I was still not very happy with the color but didn't want to damage my hair anymore. After a few washes with a purple shampoo, most of the orange came out. 

April 6, 2016

First day without my wig at work or in public!

                              I had a lot of compliments on how thick it was and how it looked curly.

                                                                     April 14, 2016
My hair is still growing quickly and I can't wait until it gets a little longer so I can actually do a pixie.                                                       I NEVER thought I would say that :)

Brynnley is 8 months old

At 8 months old, Brynnley:
- No longer needs to wear her helmet!
- Sits up well on her own
- Loves her puffs and teething cookies
- Babbles and says DaDa
- Loves to grab faces
- Sleeps through the night
- Went swimming with big sister at the rec center
- Holds her own bottle
- Wears 6 month clothing and size 1 or 2 diapers
- Weighs 14 lbs.
-Has yet to crawl but is starting to roll much easier

               Can sit in the big girl highchair and grocery cart! Yay for no more carrying a carseat!

                         Celebrating Grandma Susie's birthday since she actually had one this Feb 29th!

February Fun

Aubrie saw the snow early one morning and came out dressed like this and said, "I'm ready Mom"

Happy Valentines day from my sweeties!

We went to a kids event that was at the Expo center to help get some winter energy out.

Aubs always ask if she can go snowboarding

We took a Saturday to get out of the nasty inversion air to go walk through the ice castles in Midway.

Sliding down the ice slides

Brynnley is 7 months old

Brynnley is 7 months old!

- She is still wearing her helmet to correct her flat head and is making good progress.
- Her hair is finally long enough to put in a little ponytail!
- She loves watching her sister and playing with her
- Is starting to like the bathtub more and splashes around
- Loves the tassels on blankets just like her sister
- Loves to eat puff snacks and feed herself

                                          Aubrie decided she was going to be Mom this day!

                                                                      Sister love!

           Both girls are great eaters and thankfully Brynnley isn't quite as messy as Aubrie yet.

Chemo's effect on my hair

Looking back at the past 6 months since I was diagnosed, I have decided that loosing my hair was one of the hardest parts of having cancer and going through chemo.

This was after I had lost about 1/3rd of my hair and had decided to cut it short to avoid having long pieces of hair all over the house, my clothes and car. This was after my first round of chemo.

My new short hair cut! I would have never dared to cut my hair short but have always wondered what I would look like. I actually really liked it, but do to my hair falling out with the slightest touch, I wasn't able to ever use a blow dryer, curling iron or style it. It all fell out in large amounts within the following 2-3 days.

 My hair continued to thin, but I was able to pull it back to hide the balding on top of my head.

 I had Jeff take a picture of just one night of what my piles of hair looked liked. I wasn't able to look at all the hair I was loosing or I would break down and cry.

 More thinning of my hair. At this point I was wearing baseball hats all the time. I never thought it would hurt so bad to have my hair fall out.....it was a mix between burning and stinging pain to even lightly touch my hair.

 Looking back at this picture I never realized I would be loosing my precious eyelashes soon after.

 This is in October/November.

 My skin color got really gray and towards the end of chemo in November my eyelashes and eyebrows started falling out and after finishing chemo in December, they all fell out! It was an awful feeling to not have any eyebrows or eyelashes. I attempted to wear false eyelashes for a few weeks but decided it wasn't worth the hassle to glue them on all the time.

I had the most difficult time completely getting rid of my hair by shaving it because I was trying to hold onto every last bit of my hair. I finally let my mom cut the long pieces I had when I was reading a blog of a lady who was in my same shoes and her family told her she looked like Golum in Lord of the rings.  That was the turning point for me...I couldn't stand the little pieces anymore.

This is what I look like without drawing my eyebrows on and without eyelashes and hair. 

 This was the beginning of January when I finally started to get little bits of soft chicken fuzz on my head. I started taking Hair, Skin, and Nails pills everyday and Amber got me some Bosley hair growth products. Since starting the supplements and using the product I feel my hair is growing longer everyday. I even had to start shaving my legs and plucking my eyebrows by the end of January. I can't wait to finally have hair long enough to style and not have to wear a wig.