This is a tragic story.

It could be called The Strange Disappearance of Thelma’s Hair.

To explain this, I have to go back to the frightful days when I was receiving chemotherapy.

It did its job. Ring out wild bells! I am now cancer-free! But this stuff is literally poison. It kills the cancer cells, but it also attacks any weak points in your body.

For instance, I have never had strong teeth, now I have no teeth.

My balance is shot and friends have to sew buttons on for me because my fine motor skills have disappeared and there is no way I can thread a needle.

But you know what? I don’t care. Consider the alternative. I’m alive, I’m happy, who cares if I fall over once in awhile?

Not me!

But one other thing the chemo did was double the time it takes my body to heal. If I have a cut; it takes a month to heal. Bruises? Well, they fade slowly.

So I get it, I really do get it. But this is why I’m so mad about the hair thing, I knew the problem. I followed instructions. Heck, to be on the safe side, I doubled the instructions.

And. It. Still. Didn’t. Work.

They told me at the cancer centre that I should wait a year before I had my hair died. I didn’t care. I’d been without hair so long; it was wonderful to see all these elegant grey curls appear. So I waited a year. Then I waited another year!!! And then I had my hair died in six different shades.

Now, my hair stylist, Cindy, did a terrific job and I got dozens of compliments on it.    

It looked great. Until I noticed that a large amount of hair was coming away with the comb, whenever I combed it. This wasn’t a one time thing. It kept on and on. It only stopped when I had lost about half my hair!

Half!

I really haven’t wanted to deal with this, So I kept talking about the casual look.

But I look in a mirror and wonder who this wispy, fly-away person is.

Obviously the hair was much more damaged than any of us guessed. I mean, two years is a lot of time.

Finally, it got so bad, I made a hair appointment. You see, I have some questions. If I cut it really short, will the hair come back again? Or am I stuck with this wispy look forever?

I’ll let you know.

The really maddening thing is that I had a really expensive, really stylish wig for when I was bald, but I didn’t wear it much.  Who cares what you look like, when you’re so sick you can’t even remember what day it is.

Unfortunately, it got thrown out in the celebration of my cure. Now that I could use it, it’s gone.

My inclination is to cut my hair really, really short and then ignore it.