New Hair, Dr. McDreamy and Tales From a Walgreens

Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway. They’ve all rocked a buzz cut beautifully. And after spending a week in the hospital without my wig, I decided I could too.

For those who don’t know, one of my implants became infected after my first reconstruction surgery. What a buzzkill to make it so close to the end of this mess and have such a scary setback. I spent a week hooked up to IV antibiotics, ending with a second reconstruction surgery. As bad as it was, I have learned throughout this journey to look for little things along the way to be grateful for. I didn’t have to look that hard this time. Upon arrival, I was greeted in my hospital room by my surgeon’s resident, who I immediately began to refer to as Dr. McDreamy. Thank goodness I took an anxiety pill to endure the ride over in my mother’s minivan, otherwise I don’t know how I would have kept my composure. Fast forward to the end of the week. I obviously enjoyed getting to know McDreamy during my stay as my first words post-surgery let the cat out of the bag in front of the ENTIRE surgical team. My nurse couldn’t stop laughing as she told me the story. Apparently as soon as my eyes popped open I asked, “Where’s Dr. McDreamy? Where’s my hot pants Dr.?” She said he walked over to me and smiled…and I just stared up at him with a huge grin on my face. I don’t remember a thing, but the rest is history. I gained another new friend AND member of the Fight Club. He’ll be so excited when I tell him he made the blog <3. It’s these little unexpected treats that keep me going.

It’s been almost three weeks since I left the hospital and so far so good. I learned how to give myself IV antibiotics at home for two weeks and now I am on oral antibiotics for a few more weeks. It looks like I won’t need another surgery until the final surgery to remove my port in November. I am so grateful.

When I think back to my post The Hair Scare I realize just how far I have come. Although excruciatingly painful, I can see that I was growing way before my hair started to. When I finally made the decision to go out in public for the first time sans wig, I was so afraid that people would see me and think that I was sick. God must have known I needed the extra confidence because He sent me to Walgreens—where all of the best compliments of my cancer journey have happened. Smack dab in the cosmetics section, a tall man came up to me and asked if I was a model. I smiled and said no. He then proceeded to say, “Well guuurrrrl you should be. You’ve got the look! The hair, the height, the face..the whole dadgum package!”

The only thing I really heard him say was hair…he said I had hair! As if I planned for it to look this way. I held my head high as I walked out of the store that day. With a package of marshmallow Peeps and a new nail color to match.

XO,

C