Page 139 - She's One Crazy Lady!

A lightbulb
moment!
We’ve all had them, haven’t we? Sometimes we act on them, sometimes not, but at the moment I experienced and acted on the ‘lightbulb moment’ I had, not realising how such a moment would change my life – seriously change my life. I’m known to be quite an impulsive person. Once I have an idea in my head to do something, my brain won’t let it go away and that ‘something’ has to be done.
The ‘moment’, which was totally spontaneous, came when Marilyn and I were in Debenhams in Northampton, prior to starting chemotherapy, trying on hats – all kinds of hats.
Having so much time at home following my surgeries and thinking ahead to the impending chemotherapy that awaited me – something I knew very little about – I began to worry about the effects of it, the possibility of losing my hair being the biggest fear. I didn’t know what drugs I would be given but almost everybody seemed to be saying: “You know you will lose your hair.” Was this a definite? Why should people lose their hair? Surely the cancer is bad enough. Why do certain drugs mean total hair loss? Why aren’t there drugs out there to stop this? People rambling on about the likelihood of losing your hair is not what you want to hear when it is you in the hot seat. I thought about wigs. Would I wear them? I didn’t know. Sure, I’d worn many wigs whilst at school purely for fun when we had themed dressing up days, but this was completely different. What I did know is that I liked my hair as it was and couldn’t imagine how I would look bald. Bald!! I thought about hats. Would I wear hats? I wasn’t a hat person. Bandanas? Would I consider wearing bandanas, or other headgear that was on the market for people in my position?
Marilyn’s brother-in-law, Paul, quite unexpectedly, and thoughtfully, had given me fifteen of his late mum’s headscarves and, not being disrespectful, Marilyn and I had such a laugh trying them on, tying them into turbans, like the ladies of the 40’s era, and experimenting with other styles. Knowing Marilyn as I did, I knew she was doing this to make me feel better for she said she would hate to lose her hair.
“I thought
about hats. Would I wear hats? I wasn’t
a hat person. Bandanas? Would I consider wearing bandanas?
”
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