Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Hair Loss & Appreciation

Well I always wanted to be normal and right now I'm doing something normal for WLS patients, I'm losing my hair. I called and talked to the nurse this morning and she told me that it is very common for this to happen especially between 3 and 6 months. Guess what I'm at 4 months today! So happy 4 month sugervisary today to me is that I'm losing hair and that my hair growth overall is slowing down. How do we fix it? Well there are a couple of options. First there is the supplement Biotin that I can take. I will need to look into that to see how much it costs and what form it comes in. I'm going to be doing a little bit of research via my support group as well. There have to be other WLS patients out there with me that are losing hair! Second, I'm not going to panic. The body is using the protein I am eating to feed my body and therefore less important parts of my body aka my hair is not getting alot of nutrients. Third there are a ton of little things I can do if I want such as 1) cut my hair (but I'm not going there yet), 2) massage my scalp to help get blood circulation to help hair growth, 3) use a nioxin or other type of hair growth shampoo, and 4) not dye my hair for the next year. The nurse told me alot of the women with WLS chose not to dye their hair to help make it less brittle. Wish I knew that before I got highlights, but regardless there are things I can do to fix it. It started to scare me that I can clean out my brush everyday and look at it going geez...more hair! Atleast I know that I'm normal and for that...I guess I am happy.

I told my husband and he looked at me with those eyes of concern but don't panic. I love that he stops and takes a deep breath and sees me just as me...the beautiful woman he married rather than the woman that is now kinda lumpy in all the wrong places, breaks out in hives from stress, can't eat sugar, and losing hair! I'm glad he loves me no matter what and is willing to go and look at more supplements!

As today is my sugeriversary I tend to take some time to reflect on my life and where I've been. I'm almost at 70 lbs loss since Jan 10, 2011 and I've come so far. Today I am appreciating my friends and collegues that have helped me get here with all their support. I wrote them a little letter that I thought I would share:
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Dear Friends,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of your help this last semester. I realize that a letter may not be much, but words are the only way I could think of to say thank you for all that you have done for me.

The last four and half months have truly been a journey for me and it has taken so many people in my life to help me be where I am today. I cannot count you out of that role. Each of you has provided support, kind words and coverage of Corlew for me this semester and for that I am grateful. You helped Corlew stay afloat, RAs and LCAs be supported, and helped my RD transition quickly. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to answer questions, run and get keys, and cover duty nights. I especially wanted to thank you for treating Corlew like it was your own area whenever I was away. The time that you gave me was so valuable to me in allowing me to heal and deal with complications post surgery. I could not have done this without all of your help.

I hope that if you would ever need something in the future that you will call on me if I can be of any help. There is no way to repay you in a better way than being there when you need someone to cover an area, help you out in a pinch, or just be there to listen.

Thank you so much.
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I can't tell you how much support that I've gotten around me from work especially. I don't have a normal job working in Residence Life at a University. My collegues and I don't keep regular hours and we sure don't have normal duties, but in a pinch the group of men and women that I work with and surround myself with have been there since I started this journey last July. They have heard me talk about the procedure, watch me freak out when my surgery almost got cancelled, covered my building and took care of my staff that are like family to me and all with a smile on their face and a willingness to do it. I don't know of many collegues that would do that for anyone especially during demanding times of the year at the university level. I am so proud that I have friends of this nature and today I am very thankful for them.

This past few weeks have been crazy. Check out in May is always insane and hard on my body. This year was quite easy for me minus being tired. I'm not bragging, but I'm saying easy in reference to where I was a year ago. I honestly don't know how I did the last 3 years of check out much less check in on such a sick and weighted down frame. This year was a sinch in comparison. I could run steps, carry things around, move items, keep up with paperwork, and keep my stress level to a minimum. Even I let things go and left my office at a normal hour becuase I could get it done tomorrow. Was it perfect, no. Was it how I planned it, almost. Was there no anxiety, not quite, but in comparison to other years and other semesters this was a cake walk. I am so proud to have finished out this year with a renewal of back to my basics, happy about my weightloss, enjoying my new body, and seeing where I shall shrink next. Life is good and no matter the stress in the world, I have my health. For the longest time I felt like I didn't even have that. Today is a good day.

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