Monday, May 7, 2012

Last Thursday I went to the dentist for the first time since my diagnosis of cancer. They advise you to avoid the dentist if possible during chemo treatments because of the added risk of infection with any dental work. This was just a routine cleaning, but my Huntsman doctor also wanted the dentist to be aware of the Avastin treatment that I am on and the increased risk of osteoneucrosis of the jaw. He made sure that they took x-rays so that he could look at the bone but he didn't seem too concerned with me developing the problem. He said that it is a problem that usually doesn't show itself unless some kind of dental surgery or tooth extraction has taken place and then for some reason the bone just doesn't heal. He said that I just need to be extra careful of my teeth and gums and make sure that I continue to brush and floss regularly so that we don't have to worry about any type of dental work in the near future. He said that if I do need any kind of work done, such as an extraction, that he would send me to a dental surgeon to make sure that I get the best, specialized care possible.

I wore my new wig to church on Sunday. This was the first time that I have worn the shorter wig to something where a lot of people that know me would see me. I got a lot of compliments on it and I think it will make the transition to my real hair a little easier and less drastic of a change. There was even someone who asked if I had gotten my hair cut and colored! I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that so I just said that I got a new hairdo... I also had a couple of people who said that at first they thought that I had just cut and restyled my original wig.

Today I put my shorter wig on to go somewhere and Kay told me that she wanted me to wear the other one because the hair was longer and prettier! I'm not sure how to respond to that! Some girls interpret longer hair as prettier hair, so maybe she is just expressing that feeling. I think I will stick with the shorter wig because it is a little cooler to wear since it is shorter and I don't want to be changing my hairstyle every couple of days. I am a little more nervous wearing it though because it is shorter and I need to pay special attention to making sure it is on correctly and that the hair is laying flaton my head. It also doesn't have ear tags that pull down in front of my ears so it is harder to tell if it is on straight.

And can I just say that it is hard putting sunglasses on when you are wearing a wig!! I have to use two hands to make sure that I get the sides on top of the wig, over my ears and that I pull some of the wig hair down over the sunglasses frame.


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