This post is a little different. It is not about the funny things the boys do, or about my husband, or about Little Joe's Trucking. It is all about me...and my hair...or lack thereof.
A couple months ago my hair started falling out. At first I thought it was just the normal thinning that usually happens after I give birth. I soon realized that there was nothing "normal" about this amount of hair loss. I was loosing handfuls at a time. Thinking that this was some type of hormone imbalance I went to see my OBGYN. She checked me and said that she suspected a thyroid disorder and sent me to my family doctor. My family doctor did blood tests to check for thyroid disease, lupus, and something else that I can't remember. He was sure to tell me that these were just tests to rule out those things because he was pretty sure that I "just" had alopecia. The next week he confirmed that all of my blood work came back normal (Thank God) and that he did indeed believe that I was dealing with alopecia totalis.
Basically what this means is that I am a perfectly healthy soon to be bald woman. The bald doesn't bother me nearly as much when I put it in that context! Over the past few weeks we have tried cutting my hair several times to reduce the appearance of the balding, but since my hair has never been really thick to begin with, the baldness is happening very quickly.
I still have a good bit of hair around the edges of the sides and at the nape of my neck. The front and top is pretty much gone. Yesterday I finally got what hair I have left cut really really really really short. I have never been that vain about my hair and I did not think it would bother me to be without it but I am coming to realize that the saying "It is only hair" is much easier to say when you have plenty of it. I started crying when I was in the beautician's chair yesterday...over hair!! How silly is that?
Joe went with me to get my hair cut and has been such a good husband through all of this. He saw how upset I was and asked me what I wanted to do. The first thing that came to mind was to buy a wig, so that is what he took me to do. I never thought that would be the route I would take, but I tried it yesterday. I have to say that the "wig people" were incredibly kind and made the process actually fun. Joe even hung in there the whole time! I picked a wig as close to what my hair used to look like as possible, but my next one may be much different. There are so many great options!
However with all of that said, I am getting more and more comfortable with the no hair version of myself and I may decide to not wear the wig at all, or maybe I will just wear my bandanna, or my hat, or maybe my hair will start to grow back (they did say that was a possibility). The truth is I don't know what will happen as I get used to this new look so don't be surprised if you see me sporting long red spiral curls...it is still me under there!
