Monday, June 20, 2011

Toss That Wig

This (before haircut -- whatdoyathink?) photo was taken in early June when Dwain and I traveled to Salt Lake City to visit our daughter Jayme and our three grandsons, David, Mark and Gabe.  Those snow-capped mountains behind me are the Wasatch range that totally surround Salt Lake City in every direction. 
Dwain is the one who suggested that I needed to get my hair cut.  It's hard to believe.  I actually thought Amy, my hairdresser, would laugh -- not exactly laugh AT me but with me when I wandered into her little styling booth.  She didn't even blink.  "Of course you have something to work with," she announced with her usual perky smile as she seated me in the little stylist chair that folds back into the sink to wash my hair.  "We will just give it some shape this time.  Next time... well, we'll see. Maybe we can even apply some fun color."  She and I both laughed when she insisted on charging me for a little boys cut. 

Relay for Life.  Walk of Survivors and their supporters/caregivers.  Believe it or not, I am in that group, second row behind the sign, wearing a pink t-shirt, dark shorts and a pink ball cap that previously belonged to my dear cousin Mary Spiece.  It reads: "Cancer Sucks"  Mary has been a breast cancer survivor for over 15 years.  She said she thought I needed the cap.  Thank you Mary!  I love it!.  My pink shirt is a Girly-Girl brand shirt that says, "Save the Hoo-Haws"  



Check out the temperature reading in the background. Ninety-two degrees. Whew!  That's one of several reasons I simply don't want to wear my wig any longer -- my head gets really hot under there.  Good ol' wig.  I'll always love you.  But I hope I never need to seriously wear you ever again, unless it's for fun.  That's one reason I wanted to get my hair shaped up.  I'm just ready to be me again.  That along with several people who have encouraged me to just shed the wig already.  Even my own oncologist told me, You don't need that wig.  You look just fine now.  Hey, he's my doctor.  If you can't believe your doctor.... right?  

The ever-smiling lady in the middle is my sister-in-law, Carolyn (Dwain's sister).  She sponsored me in the Relay for Life as a caregiver and purchased a luminary in my name. The gentleman next to her is Virgil (96 years).  God Bless him, his wife died from cancer last August.  The gentleman in the orange t-shirt was about to drive Carolyn and Virgil around the track to look at the luminaries -- especially the ones with the names of their spouses on them:  Audrice and Chuck
Carolyn's husband was diagnosed with lung cancer about the same time that I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  So that meant that Carolyn and Dwain, brother and sister, were both caregivers for spouses with cancer.  ~sigh~  Sadly, Chuck died just days before his birthday in May.  This was a very emotional walk for me as I saw luminary after luminary with names glowing, names I recognized; survivors of cancer, or in memory of someone who fought hard.  I had no idea that that walk would hit me so darn hard emotionally.

Dwain and I standing on the track with hundreds of luminaries glowing all around us.  Near the top of the bleachers was the word HOPE spelled out in gigantic bright letters (can't see it in this photo).   Hey,  and you can actually see my funny t-shirt and glow-worm necklace, lol!
  Anyway, my wonderful husband, who is a super good writer, did a blog about this whole Relay for Life.  In fact, he has a great blog that you can link to from my site. He writes about such interesting subjects and takes super pictures. I'm his biggest fan, so don't even try... hahahahaha.   In fact, he took all of the pictures I posted today.  You can link to his blog right now by pressing here


Now, I'm off to have lunch in a public restaurant with my husband -- without my wig.  Tomorrow I will have to discuss some problems I am having with my mastectomy bras.

-Megan-