Sixteen Candles...

So, for those of us who grew up in the 80's, we all know the movie "Sixteen Candles" with Molly Ringwald. This is the movie where her parents forget her sixteenth birthday because her big sis Ginnie is getting married the same weekend as her birthday. Though there are many hilarious scenes in the movie, one that I have always found funny was with Caroline, the beatiful girlfriend of Molly Ringwald's love interest, and her girlfriends.

Caroline was very drunk and had just proven herself as a careless and self-absorbed girl who was only interested in status. Her boyfriend, Jake, was forced to throw a party for friends because Caroline asked everyone over. During this process, Jake gets sick of her and slams the door on her. Part of her beautiful blonde hair gets stuck in the door.

Jake would not open the door so her drunk friends (including Jamie Gertz) decide to get some scissors and cut her hair from the door. She has a huge chunk of hair GONE. Caroline was relieved...grateful, in fact, that her friends had relieved her from this burden of being stuck at the door. I have seen this movie thousands of times and every time this scene comes up, I always laugh because it is absurd that she thanks her friends for doing this when, in fact, the door could have just been opened.

This feeling of relief is something that I can now relate to because I have had my head shaved three times for chemo-related alopecia. Each time that Michael and/or the kids shave it, I am thankful and I remember the moment in "Sixteen Candles" where Caroline keeps saying "thank you" to her friends. The aches and awkwardness that come from losing my hair usually subside when we shave it.

So, last night, I had been fed up with the pain and decided it was time to shave it. Michael began the process and the kids followed. I was grateful that it was over. Though it is a surreal situation to have your head shaved, as an adult woman, it is all just part of the process. It is part of purging this cancer from me, of the purification. I am strangely thankful that it is shaved. I hate it, at times, yet I just try to push through the frustration because I know it is a necessary evil.

Depending on when we stop chemo, which could be in a couple of weeks, it will take a little while after that for hair to start to grow back in. My hair is not fully gone at this point so it just feels like a prickly scalp. But, over time, much of the remaining pieces of hair will fall out. I guess the loss of hair still doesn't change that I am me. Though I feel like a different person, I am still just Laura Plunkett.

I am going to download pix of the kids after they shaved my head. They both have handfuls of hair in their hands. They were proud to be part of the process. Kids are so resilient!

Blessings,
Lolo