Hair today, gone tomorrow?
(Or The Day I Started Watching A LOT Of Kojak)

One side effect of the chemotherapy as discussed by my doctors was the loss of my hair... I even went out and got some really cool 'do-rags' (head bandannas)... in the event that this would actually happen to me. I wasn't sure it would, but the last two days tells me that perhaps, I am mistaken.

The day before yesterday, I noticed when I ran my hand through my goatee that the hair felt brittle, and a few short pieces here and there would come out in my hand... not a TOTALLY unusual occurance, but not usually in numbers... but then yesterday... when I would run my hand through my HAIR (on my head) the same thing began to happen... multiple long strands came off in my hand... there's some on my pillow now too... so, while it still appears that my BODY hair seems to be ok (yes, ALL of my body hair!) that the hair on my head is actually beginning to be affected by the chemo.

I can't say I am totally surprised, I guess - and I'll be ok with it, after all I went out and bought things figuring it COULD happen... my hair has always been strong, and I just assumed (DANGEROUS: Read "Makes an ASS out of U and ME) that I'd be spared from this side-effect, as I was the nausea, etc.

But I CAN say that I am feeling a little trepidation about it... Humans are VERY vain animals, I don't care who you are, or what stage of life you're in - we ARE. Yes, even ME. Every morning when you brush your hair, using more or less product (hair spray, mousse, gel, etc. etc. ad infinitum) you are paying attention to a part of your body you are used to seeing. And when it starts to 'malfunction' you take notice. Heck, I'm still getting over missing a testicle - and yes, a few people have asked... you don't notice it on a day to day basis, but you know it's not there... AND my new nickname (PG-13 of course) drum roll please.... is... 'The Uniballer'

I am also pretty sure I will NOT make for the most attractive bald guy you've seen.. I'm CERTAINLY not Telly Savalas, not am I even a bad pass at Vin Diesel. SO, I figure I'll be wearing a baseball cap or bandanna most of the time when this finally finishes it's obvious cycle.

And don't let this give anyone a silly idea... I've heard from a few people that they might buzz their hair in solidarity to experience it with me... like I said - I love you all, but I am not sure I would do the same! It's a major image change, and as much as I appreciate the love and support, a bald cap would accomplish the same thing! And that means you too, LADIES!

Anyway, that's it on the hair for now... as it becomes more apparent, I will take photos of myself to document the change, for posterity more than to cause anyone alarm. I spoke with Sam again yesterday about it, now that it seems a reality, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn't be scared of me. He said he didn't want my hair to fall out, but as long as it grew back in, he'd be ok - and as long as it would be his same Dad under the bald head (of course, he went 'EWWW' "I'll be able to see your SKULL!".... I had to explain that we all have skin under our hair, not just exposed BRAINS and SKULL!) From the mouths of babes....

QUICK SAMMY NOTE: This weekend Tricia, Sam and I attacked Sammy's play room, gathering up and boxing up all of his 'baby toys'... the deal is if he gets rid of that stuff, he can put half in savings, and spend half on Spiderman things. We have his Thomas the Tank Engine bed and bike up for sale, to be replaced with a big boy Spiderman bed and bike - he is VERY excited. We also got (since we had a little more room after clearing things out) to FINALLY build him his LEGO table - we bought this when he was around 3 months old! We knew the day had finally come when we built it on Saturday morning, and he didn't come out for HOURS, happily building big boy LEGOS on his cool new table - made me smile, and I spent an hour or two in there with him building him a cool spaceship, which he then, of course, proceeded to RIP TO SHREDS. Oh joy! He went to his swimming lesson yesterday morning and all he could tell everyone about was his NEW GIANT LEGO TABLE!

Trish and Sammy are doing well, being immensely supportive of me in this crazy time... I go back in on Friday the 17th for blood work again - this time they will do a measurement on my tumor markers to see how the first round of treatment went - I have been told by my doctor to not be alarmed if the numbers go UP instead of down - this apparently is a common happening after the first round of chemotherapy. Then I'm back in on the 20th for another five days straight of treatment. I will be blogging each day from the Nevada Cancer Institute again... following the exciting story of a guy and his IV...

Work is good...my partner Mike came back from NYC, and we had a successful presentation, my video (See last post) was well received, and we'll be moving forward in the next few months on that project, so that is a good thing. I am finishing making some revisions to another project of ours - enVivo, a really big Latino music/lifestyle festival to be held on September 15th up in Randall's Island in NYC. Wish I could go, but I should be either just in the middle of a treatment cycle, or on the bad end of one, so I don't think it's going to happen. Check out http://www.envivoamerica.com/email to check out what I've been working on...

Thanks to everyone who is leaving comments on the posts, and in the guest book - don't forget to say hi - I read every response, even if I don't get right back to you! Thanks for the cards, emails and phone calls as well - it means a lot, and is DEFINTELY helping to keep my spirits up in this tough time. Just a heartfelt THANK YOU to everybody!

Another day - another post!

Pittle - OUT!