Dealing with Chemotherapy & Hair Loss

We found the following story on cancer.org’s website. We wanted to share this story of hope with you.

Aleida Rodriguez, 42, of Phoenix, Arizona, isn’t one of those breast cancer survivors who thinks of her cancer as a blessing. If she could magically go back and never have had breast cancer, she would. But she learned a lot through her experience and believes now that things happened in the way they were supposed to.

Rodriguez remembers the day vividly.  “It was March 19, 2008. I’ll never forget the date,” she says. “At about 4:45 in the afternoon I was getting ready to go home from work. My phone rang. It was the doctor. I had breast cancer. The doctor asked me if I had any questions. I didn’t at the time. I couldn’t think of what to ask.”

In April, Rodriguez had a lumpectomy, but it didn’t remove all of the cancer, so she had a mastectomy. In May, her doctor put in a temporary implant, and in June, after talking to 4 different oncologists, she began chemotherapy.

Rodriguez had 4 chemotherapy sessions over the course of 3 months. During that time, she lost her long, brown curly hair – something she says was the most difficult part of the experience.

“My hair is part of my identity. I had had long hair for as long as I could remember. Before the chemotherapy, I cut it short so losing it wouldn’t be as traumatic,” she says.

Prior to the chemotherapy, she got a wig …  “I wore the wig and scarves. I also tried to wear makeup and jewelry …”  Other than the hair loss, Rodriguez tolerated the chemotherapy well.

Now, more than 2 years later, Rodriguez says she is still emotional about the experience, but feels things were meant to happen the way they did.

“My husband and I cried a lot going through this – the initial shock of the news, the lumpectomy, the mastectomy, the scans, the chemotherapy, the reconstruction, and the uncertainty that accompanied it all,” Rodriguez says. “But I’ve met some wonderful people: doctors, nurses, volunteers – people it seems who were put on this earth to do what they do for others.”

Her hair is almost completely back to the length it was before chemotherapy. And she and her husband are planning an anniversary trip to Spain that they had to put off because of her treatment.

“I wish I had never become a member of the breast cancer club,” Rodriguez says. “But I’m in it now. I’m a survivor. And things are alright.”

Cited from www.cancer.org

Article date: August 18, 2010