Hair or No Hair?

Pad-free, counts-high, and head-shaved (12/14/07)

I forgot to mention in the last post that I've been pad-free for about a week now (woohoo!). It's a little gross, but it's a complication from prostate surgery that you end up leaking a bit. Luckily there are special "Male Guards" you can buy that are like thick maxi-pads, basically, but for guys. I guess it's more like a mini-diaper for just the front part of your pants. It's actually not that bad once you get used to them, but it's a relief not to need them anymore. I'd say things aren't working at quite 100% but pretty close, so I guess that's a good sign. My surgeon says it's still early after the surgery, so things should get even better over time.

As you may have guessed, I didn't end up going in for chemo this week, but it wasn't because my counts were too low. I ended up with pretty good white cell and platelet counts - Dr. J was really pleased and surprised at how well I've responded (including the retreat of the butt bump). She said she's not convinced that a compressed 2-week schedule would be any better than 3-weeks (it's still an open research question), so we're going to stick to the 3-week cycles. Also, I still had mouth sores on Monday, so she didn't want to start another round of chemo til those went away. But all in all it's a real positive that my counts bounced back as well as they did, and that I could have started another round is definitely encouraging.


The head-shaving party (12/12/07)

So on Wednesday night we had a little head-shaving party. My hair was coming out in serious clumps, maybe 20 strands at a time, and it was definitely starting to thin on top, so it seemed like time to go cueball (though now my head is cold most of the time and I'm constantly wearing beanies to stay warm). Also, we thought it would be a good time to set some new hairstyle trends, so be on the lookout for some of these dazzling looks in your favorite winter catalog...

The Before Picture. It's hard to tell, but my hair is thinning on top something fierce...

The first cut. Cat Stevens, eat your heart out.

Some fun styling to start with . . . I call this one "The Ed Grimley". 10 points to anyone who knows who that is.
Live long and prosper.

Here's the reverse mohawk.

But don't worry about it; you can always invoke the comb-over to hide it.

And then there's the cross or plus sign, depending on what you prefer. A great look for American Red Cross employees and volunteers. Come on, people - solidarity!

And the cross is so versatile - Here you see the double tail.

And of course, the Four-Tail.

Cutting off the tails.

The finishing touches.

And . . . The final product!