Riding for Roses

I believe I’ve mentioned The Deal. The first day I started talking with Spencer about side-effects of chemotherapy, we made a deal that I would shave my head after his hair started falling out before he was totally bald. Once his hair started falling out, I posted an email to the mailing list for my Men’s Group. Franklin Kalk volunteered himself and his son Sam to come over, cut my hair short, shave my head bald, and videotape the entire experience. Monday was a tiring day for Spencer, so we scheduled if for Tuesday afternoon.

Franklin and Sam arrived late in the afternoon with all of the necessary supplies: smock to keep hair off of me, hair trimmer with various length attachements, razor with four blades,and awesome “Kiss My Face” shaving cream. Sam acted as videographer and I have one hour of videotape to edit down sometime when I have a few hours free and learn iMovie enough to do some simple edits. We began by trimming down with a number 4 blade, and then then went with the “blending” blade (which is about peach fuzz length). So far, it was just like a normal haircut for me since I’ve gone down to a number 2 blade often in the summer. Now it was time for the first pass with the razor. There are two spots on my head where the grain of my hair swirls around 360 degrees in less than an inch. These were the hardest spots and Franklin charged double or triple his usual rate for those, but we cleared them without incident.

I must say I liked the feeling of having my head shaved. Mostly it feels like having it very short. On Wednesday, I went to the lunch for my Men’s Group and shared status about Spencer. Another fellow in the group used to have shoulder length hair and just got it cut to medium length. I told him my change from short to bald was much smaller in terms of how it feels than his change was. For maintenance, I’m shaving every other day with my Braun electric razor and putting on skin lotion from Burt’s Bees to keep my skin oh so soft and supple.

Spencer’s hair continues to come out in clumps. He had it cut with a number 3 blade on Monday and wants to just let it fall out from here. We’ve found a use for Jacob’s receiving blankets as pillow covers for Spencer. We put a fresh one on each night and in the morning dump the hair into the trash and wash the blanket. He’s also wearing a John Wayne Cancer Foundation bandana (that we got at the Peloton Appreciation Dinner for the 2004 Ride for the Roses) tied over his head at night. He reports this makes it more comfortable since it prevents tugging on his hair.

My current guess is that he’ll be pretty much bald by the middle of this week. His last dose of Vincristine on Friday seemed to cause more hair loss along with making him pretty tired.

CBC for Friday:

Hemoglogin: about 8
Platelets: 148,000 – yay!
ANC: 1300 – yay!!!