Bald Is Beautiful

"You have Stage 2 Cancer", the doctor stated matter-of-factly. "In fact, it's imperative that you start radiation and chemo treatments immediately."

"I can't have cancer," she thought to herself.  "No one in our family has ever had it, I'm healthy...no he must be mistaken."  And then she started to cry.

The doctor handed her  the box of kleenex and said, "Go home.  Tell your family.  You will get through this."

So, she did what he said.  It wasn't easy.  Cancer took control over her entire world.  The treatments caused her to lose her appetite, sleep constantly, and made her legs twitch.  But, the absolute worst thing was when she started losing her hair.  For her entire life, people had commented on her beautiful, thick, curly hair.  Now, it was falling out in clumps.  Oh, she had the wig ready.  Two weeks after her first chemo therapy, she woke up and said, "I'm going to get my head shaved."  Her sister asked, "are you sure?" 

"Oh yeah! I've decided that cancer will not take control of my life any longer."  She packed up her wig and headed to the beauty salon.

Fast forward to 4 months into treatment.  Everyone at work thought she looked great.  She was always laughing, always making light of the situation.  And, the more she laughed, the more insignificant her real hair became. 

Her hair started growing almost immediately after the last treatment.  As soon as she was able, she stopped wearing the wig.

She had the shortest haircut in her entire life.  The really funny thing is although everyone she had talked to had told her that her hair would probably grow back a different color and texture, that wasn't true in her case.  Her hair grew back exactly the same as it was before the treatments.  Gray and curly!

But...it was hers!  Now, five years later, cancer-free, she has color treated short hair.  It's been cut numerous times.  One thing she discovered, life's more important to her now.  More important than wasting precious time on a hair style that used to mean so much to her.  She has more time to spend with her grand-kids, more time to spend walking her dog, more time to spend writing.

You see, that woman is yours truly and for the first time in my life I can actually say this....Cancer forced me to take control over my own life. We're never sure which doors will close and other doors will open in our life.  It's up to us to make sure we don't get stuck in that proverbial "revolving" door and never change.