The Day Filled with Laughter and The One Day I Cried (Part 4)

(Read Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3)

Shannon:

"I had gone through my chemo and the doctors were telling me that my hair would start to fall out within the next few days. I decided to schedule having my head shaved instead of going through the experience of having clumps of hair fall out in my hand. Then I decided that if I was going to shave my head, I wanted to have some fun in the process.

I came up with a series of hairstyles that I would never normally don. First, I wanted a mullet. Yes, that business in the front- party in the back redneck golden hairdo that Billy Ray made famous was the first I wanted."

 

"Next, I wanted a hardcore mo hawk. Punk Rock here I come!"

 

"Finally, I wanted it shaved down to my final hair falling out style of Sinead O'Conner."

 

"I asked my current nurse- who I had named Rosie Nurse- (more on names I gave my doctors and nurses later)- who shaved heads frequently and was willing to have fun with it. I went ahead and scheduled the day.

Over the next two days that I was waiting for my head shaving, I started to have doubts. It really seemed like my hair was holding in and not really falling out. Then, the night before the shave I noticed so much hair coming out as I washed it in the shower. Then as I brushed it out even more strands starting coming out. By shave day morning I would run my hand gently through my hair and at least twenty strands were attached to my fingers. I am glad now I listened and scheduled my head shaving.

The day before my shaving day, I had been mostly untethered from my IV pole. I was looking forward to the fun of my hair shaving experience and anticipated a day of freedom and fun. In the morning, my best laid plans were definitely laid to waste as doctors informed me that I was scheduled for platelets, two blood infusions, antibiotics, and potassium. Basically, I was to be tethered to my IV pole and to my room all day. Then they dropped the news on me that while my counts were up the cells that were up were lymphocytes- cancer fighting cells and not the neutrophils count which would let me go home. My release date changed from Wednesday to Thursday to Sunday in an instant. I shouldn't have been upset at all. My cancer fighting cells were growing- expanding! But after three weeks of being at NIH I was so homesick. I wanted to go home."

Part 5