Well, I can only commiserate w/y'all. I had a mastec in '95. 9 cm tumor w/2 lymph nodes out of 21. 4th stage ILC. Then 4 Adria + 8 CMF and baldness, including eyebrows and lashes and everywhere. It all grew back. Then '98 multiple mets to my liver. Now we found out I was HER2+ 80%. ER/PR-. Taxotere for 9 mnths, beginning Sept. Nov we added Herceptin.
I have been on Vit H now for 9 yrs!!!!!!!!! This is what *my* Survivorship looks like. NED since May of '99.
Had the whole bald thing again. But this second time, no eyebrows came back. And only a few of my really long and thick lashes grew back. About 17 of them. I have named them...
Thick curly hair w/great body and sheen went w/the cancer (and the breast) -- that's how I see it. I now have thin, limp, severely dry hair w/no definitive hair line. My widow's peak has vanished. My daughter mentioned something about my high forehead! She is sweet. It is a receding hairline in reality. Kind of like male pattern baldness. So I *do* my hair to camouflage this unfeminine look. I fake it.
Where'd it go? With the cancer. We don't get to pick what we end up with, except when it comes to ATTITUDE.
I work w/what I have. I make do. I exfoliate, moisturize, add some color, create eyebrows every morning and build lashes with a steady hand. I use volumizing shampoo, a lot of conditioner and do the best I can w/what I have to work w/. By the time the world sees me, I hear, You look great! (I always think, you mean for a 4th stage chemo patient?) Well, you know what?! I am grateful to be here, even though I want it ALL back.
I have lived to greet 5 grandchildren (now ages 1 to 11) and I think Life is sweet. Hope this helps some of you get a grip. I know. Not what we signed up for. But I must admit I feel pretty darn joyful for a balding chick w/no eyebrows. Oh, did I mention? I now have a mustache. Do you call that *fair*? I'm thinking, Someone has a really weird sense of humor... And you know what? I'm still smiling anyway.
PS... Nitewind -- so nice to meet you! You're the one from the middle!
Andi