A look back

Apparently the 27th is meant to be an important day to me.
     - April 27th - Last day of chemo
     - May 27th - Double mastectomy
     - August 27th - My birthday

Today marks 3 months since the end of chemo, 2 months since my 2nd surgery, and 1 month until my 27th birthday.

So much has changed in the 3 months since I had my last chemo treatment. The biggest change is that I HAVE HAIR  and no boobs! My hair is coming back with some rage too. And it can't really decide what color it wants to be. Gray, silver, white, blond, black? How about all of the above. While I am excited to see how my hair is going to return, I am starting to miss the days of baldness... Weird, I know, but let me tell you the wonders of being bald. Men have figured this out ages ago and us women (at least those going through chemo) should relish in the simplicity of it all.

I mean seriously, look at how much hair I have!

So let's start with the benefits of being bald:

1. 5 minute showers. LITERALLY 5 minutes. The glory of having all of your hair fall out is that I didn't have to shave (hallelujah), so that shaved (ha ha, get it?) off at least 5-10 minutes of shower time.

2. No fuss hair styling. No hair, no worries about having a bad hair day! Now I know not everyone has a round head and likes to show off their baldness, but it was the most empowering and refreshing part of losing all of my hair. It's just hair. It has no meaning to who I am as a person or what anyone thinks of me. I wore my baldness proudly at work, at home, at treatment,at yoga, and at the store (when I was allowed out of the house). I wore my baldness as a badge of honor. A symbol of just how strong I was/am.

3. A new understanding of beauty. Losing all of my hair really put things into perspective for me. I was never one to focus much on vanity, but when you are losing something that is truly a piece of you, a reflection of how you see yourself, it's hard. I'm not going to lie and say that losing my hair was easy, it was difficult and emotional. I cried in the shower when it started coming out in clumps as I was washing my hair. And I cried when Katy took the clippers to it and shaved off what I had left. But ya know what? I was surviving. And that was more beautiful than any amount of hair and makeup.

Now I know that's only 3 reasons, but they are powerful ones. Especially that 5 minute shower!!!

Also, last week I finally got a drawing for my tattoo. My motto this entire year has been "Fight like a girl" and I wanted to keep that with me for, well, the rest of my life. So I had a talented recent grad (who I miss working in our office) to sketch something for me. She is amazingly talented and I absolutely love what she came up with. So here it is...

I love how she incorporated so many "hidden" ribbons throughout! Thank you Emily for such an amazing job!

Until next time...

AD