March 8, 2004

OK, so the hair started to fall out very sporadically a few days ago, and because it was so distracting to me we decided to just go ahead and cut it off.  I couldn't bring myself to shave my head bald, but I think we got awfully close!  Ryan, my wonderful son, was the photographer (thanks bud!) and Kevin, my amazing husband, was the barber (thank you Baby!).  Both felt weird about doing it ... we all did actually ... but they knew it was important and continued to show their incredible support and strength ... even when I started to get a bit teary at the beginning.

The rest of the day as a whole started off pretty rough, but we spent it at Kevin's parent's house celebrating their 51st wedding anniversary with the rest of the McCoole clan and that was great.  They tried to talk me into keeping my hat off, but it still feels too knew and too weird so I opted to keep it on.  I'm sure I'll be more comfortable over time.  My nieces (Maggie, 3 and Molly, 5) are pretty excited about my going bald because I told them they could draw on my head!  When I showed up yesterday and still had hair they were disappointed (they cornered me wanting to see how it looked the moment I arrived) and even suggested we just go ahead and draw on my forehead for now.  But we'll wait a few weeks to make sure they have lots of drawing room.  Too damn cute.

The following pictures are emotional for me.  I know it's just hair but it really struck a chord and it was hard not to shed a few tears yesterday.  I'm feeling more comfortable today and I'm sure each day will bring even more comfort.  Next treatment is this Wednesday -- I'll write more after that.