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Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Lint Roller: Ground-breaking Cancer Technology

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OK people, I'm all about cutting edge discoveries that aid in dealing with cancer and the effects of cancer treatment. I'll be telling you more about my personal discoveries and the people who use them in just a short while.

First a little understanding of hair loss during chemo. Chemo is a nasty drug that aims to kill those nasty cancer cells. Unfortunately, chemo doesn't descriminate and tends to kill a variety of cells. It attacks cells that grow rapidly, like cancer cells and hair cells. Judging by my ability to grow a 5 o'clock shadow 20 minutes after shaving my legs, I am not surprised I lost my hair.

I was expecting the hair loss and I was OK with it. What I wasn't expecting was to look like a dog with mange during the process. I thought it would fall out evenly. I was wrong. Because I'm here to give you my experience with cancer, because in this sense I have no shame, because I find these pictures funny and endearing, I'm showing them to you. These were taken on a different day in a different place but they are quite pretty!

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After the initial hair loss and shaving of the head I was left with this. My hair was short and patchy. One night a few weeks later my mom and I were in my North Hollywood apartment (I really loved this apartment and can't find a single photo of it). I was lint rolling all the little wayward hairs off of my shoulders and complaining loudly about how I just wanted it all gone. "Oh my God, this is so annoying, I just want to be bald. At least when I'm bald I can go around being bald. But this is just weird."

As I changed the paper on the lint roller the light went on. Of course, why didn't I think of this earlier?! I ran the lint roller across the top of my head and looked happily at the paper full of hair. You see, the hair was ready, it just needed a little help. I couldn't even feel anything, it was coming out so easily. Certain hairs were meant to stay and so they did, but others were practically leaping off my head.

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"Mom look at this!" And so our night began. My mom sat on the couch and I sat on the floor between her legs as we watched Nanny McPhee and she did my hair. It was probably the type of thing we've done countless times before. Its a scene that plays out between mothers and daughters around the world.

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Only on this particular day we just so happened to be removing what was left of my hair. We laughed at the absurdity of it. We rotated between lint rolling my head, rubbing the little patches to loosen the hair and grasping it in our fingers to see which ones came out and back to lint rolling. In the end we were able to rid of most of the patchiness. It would be a few more weeks until I was completely bald, but I felt much more comfortable. In the end we had a waste basket full of lint roller papers covered in hair. Gross! Eeeew! Eeek! No doubt I've traumatized some of you :)

It was a good night.

Spanakopita! You hungry?

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I love B in the background- so obviously traumatized by my appearance. :)

28 comments:

  1. you are truly beautiful, I love these pics but Im crying so hard I cant see the screen k bye...

    alright Im back. Youre loved, I am so glad you are willing to share these moments. Thanks B for being amazing as always. It all in the attitude! and you got it right girl!

    What a sweet momma I think I would have laughed till I peed if it were me!

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  2. It is those little surprises in life ... like a mundane lint roller ... that create surreal kind of experiences more real.

    Who knew ... a lint roller would be a help to you at a most tender time?

    Your picture is beautiful.

    Thanks for the insight, Dawn!

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  3. Oh my! Thanks for visiting my photoblog, LifebytheCreek2. Why haven't I been here before? I don't know... really! Fabulous photography and an even better sense of humor, all pulled together with a great writing style. Hmm. I suppose I better jump on that "follower" button now... :<) LOVE your blog!

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  4. Dandy, you gave me a giggle on that one! I wish I looked as pretty as you when bald...I won't tell you who I look like but if you google Gollum you'll come up with an image. LOL. I find it really difficult to draw on eyebrows when I can't find them. I need to tattoo a dotted line!!

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  5. Dandy, brave and beautiful and funny and positive! Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for letting me share in your bravery.

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  6. Thank you for visiting my blog and I think you are very beautiful and thanks for sharing your experience. You must have a wonderful mom. Take Care.....

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  7. I wish my head were that pretty.

    Thanks for sharing Dandy!

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  8. I agree with the beauty comments... you are beautiful and brave and genius! I have a friend who is going through Chemo. I'm going to have to share this little tip with her. Buy her some lint rollers!
    Take care!

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  9. Dandy, what a breath of fresh air you are! Thanks for sharing this so candidly. You are a natural beauty. And your writing is equally so. You find the humor in everything!
    Elle
    PS Those are your real eyebrows, aren't they? If they're penciled in, then you are an artist too! Oh, and I can't see the last picture for some reason. I'll reload and try again.

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  10. Okay, now I see the last photo. Good gracious, girl, you're stunning!
    Elle
    PS I heart B.

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  11. I am glad you were amused by the dying rants of two mating beetles. Or is it the mating rants of two dying beetles? Either way...if you ever need more lint rollers, lady, you just let me know. My husband works at 3M and we can ship you as many as you need. Maybe to deal with Ginger's shedding too.

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  12. Wow Dandy, your attitude in the face of uncertainty and life's challenges is truly remarkable...you live the way it is meant.

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  13. What a genius idea! Thank you so much for being brave enough to share it and sharing it with humor.

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  14. What a fun solution to such a frustrating problem. Your optimism inspires me. I would have had a pity party and kept right on going. I find it amazing how much cancer affects you by someone you know or heaven forbid yourself. Last year we learned our sweet neighbors daughter who was turning four had cancer and thankfully they kicked it in the pants! I am grateful to God we could help them because God had a plan all along. They were also expecting a baby and didn't have room at their house for family to stay and when we moved to Canada we had their relatives stay at our house whenever they needed to. Hooray for Happy Endings!!!

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  15. Wow! Thank you for sharing this story! You are so brave...really! oh, and again, you have a really nice shaped head :)

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  16. Wow, you lovelies (yes, cowboys can be lovely) are the best! I never really felt like I made a conscious decision to be brave. I think that if you were in that situation you would all find you are so much stronger than you think.

    And WS you do not look like Gollum! Crazy lady, that was really funny!

    I must say I was lucky in that although my eyebrows got really sparse I never completely lost them. And my eyelashes didn't fall out until much later.

    And welcome to my new followers! I'm so excited to have 38 of you! We need to put a new name on that though- "followers" doesn't feel right at all. Any ideas?

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  17. I love your positive attitude :)

    and that guy...on cards at target...gross and blinding !

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  18. Traumatized heck!! You are beautiful bald!!! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'll be back! I want to read your story and follow where you're going!

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  19. Hello Dawn,

    Thank you for your visit. I love the opportunity to follow the path to a new space, and what a beautiful space you have created for yourself, thank you for sharing it with us.

    :-)

    You are such a beauty! Look at that smile, and I LOVE the reason for your blog name. I have to admit I am a spontaneous clapper also, and unfortunately for those around me I'm not as considerate as you - I do everything LOUDLY! heehee

    well-wishes,
    me

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  20. Bald or not...you're beautiful!

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  21. There's no doubt - you're a natural beauty, with or without hair. That was wonderful and beautiful, and thanks so much for sharing :) -Tammy

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  22. I'm just adding to the cacophany here, but thank you for being such a positive person.

    It's so inspiring!

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  23. Dandy, I just love your blog. You have such a great outlook on life, (and you have gorgeous eyebrows! sorry, just had to say that.) So glad you stopped by my place, and I've had fun reading all your stuff. You're on my bloglines now:)

    P.S. Your niece is absolutely beautiful.

    P.s.s. I started WW again. I'm glad you picked up on that in my post and made a comment. It was another "sign" that I needed to go back!

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  24. Good for you Karen, I'll be weighing in on Sat.

    I woke up feeling incredibly unattractive today. But all you invisible friends of mine picked me up in no time, you are all sooo sweet!

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  25. Thanks for the comment! I had my camera on auto for awhile, too, no worries. Playing around with it and comparing what the different settings do is the best way to learn, I've found.

    This is an interesting post. A friend's mom just started losing her hair from chemo -- I'm going to send this to her!

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  26. You look absolutely beautiful with or without hair. I'm afraid I wouldn't be so fortunate.

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog. Now I found you!

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  27. I agree with many of the posts - you are beautiful with or without hair. But it is your amazing attitude that is truly beautiful.

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  28. Oh my...how I hate cancer. I've started two sentences and erased both of them. I don't know how to follow up that opener. What I really wanted to say, because I don't need to say any more about how totally crappy (really not the right thing, but not able to come up with something better) cancer is to you, is that your humor is amazing. I was laughing out loud, which made me feel a little weird because it's so not a funny thing, this horrible monster that is a part of our world. Well, I'm sure that your sharing this experience is helping many, many people deal with their own hard times, so thank you for doing that. I'm sure it's good for you, too. -Christina

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