When I was in the shower this morning I thought of about 5 really important things to include in this post.  Now that I'm out of the shower and the day has passed, those thoughts have passed also.  Whenever we forget something, we are urged (by whom I do not know) to return to the point of origin for the thought.  Aaron is currently in the shower now, so I'll do it metaphorically.  

As I reached for the soap this morning I saw three eyelashes on the wall and one on the soap.  I know Cathy will be mortified that I'm sharing this, but I hope that through my sharing I will elicit some prayers and she will feel my love for her.  On an aside, there are so many things that she's asked me not to share.  I have honored them all.  She did not ask me to hold back on this - mostly because we haven't talked about it yet.  Cathy has been trying so hard to hold on to her eyebrows and eyelashes for as long as possible. She knew it wouldn't be possible to preserve her hair, but she has thought that maybe she could retain some eyebrows until the new hairs began to grow.  She's done a great job.  While she has clearly lost 90% of her eyebrow hairs, she has been careful in drying her face and other womanly facial maintenance to keep at least an outline of eyebrows.  

She's really not caught up in the whole beauty factor part of things.  Of course, she would have preferred to keep her hair and all other normal features that make her attractive.  Cathy has been very noble and not self-conscious about the changes in her appearance.  As an example, she has worn her wig with some frequency.  She wears it, though, to make others more comfortable, not because she wants to look more beautiful than if she wore a bandanna, hat, or scarf.  She has proclaimed herself a "bandanna girl" just because it is so much more comfortable than a wig.  In a similar way, she has wanted to keep her eyebrows, not for beauty's sake, but because she feels that if she loses them she will "look sick."  Just as she hasn't given in emotionally, or even to some extent physically, to the side effects of treatment; she doesn't want to look sick.

I think she's going to begin growing hair by Thanksgiving.  I hope she begins to grow some eyebrows by then, too.  She doesn't have many left.  She has even fewer eyelashes.  I'm sad for her - not because she feels ugly, not because she is unattractive to me, but because she doesn't want others to feel uncomfortable because she looks sick.  Also, I feel sad for functional reasons.  She gets stuff in her eyes because the eyelashes don't keep it out.  Her nose runs because there's no hair to keep the mucus inside.  She's so sweet, loving, and thoughtful of others that she doesn't complain, but I know those things bother her.  I'm glad the chemo is over.  Let's go hair!

I will close with a question.  So, for those of you keeping track, I've only remembered two of the five important things I thought of this morning.  This question is for the ladies reading.  There are only three days left in October.  That means the end of breast cancer awareness month.  Have you had or scheduled your mammogram/exam this year?