The Adventures of Cancer Bitch

MARCH 19. COVERING

56 Her strategy was to make a diamond cut, which means that the hair would be wider on the sides than the bottom. She measured the strands before she cut it and said to forget the ruler, she’d just give me a good cut. The pieces on the floor were about four inches long. So I won’t be donating my hair. Maybe it’s just an excuse, but I’m not sure how effective any of the wig programs are anyway. Wigs for Kids’ finances weren’t audited by a cpa. I can’t find an evaluation for Beautiful Lengths. I think my hair looks good. It’s curly all over. At its longest, it’s a few inches below my ears. Chemo starts Monday, March 26. MARCH 19. COVERING Yesterday and today I spent too much time on the web looking at chemo-head headgear. I don’t like most turbans and scarves out there and I would want to try them on anyway before buying them. I did send off for temporary tattoos for the scalp from an outfit I found called ChemoChicks.com. The medium is henna and the design is a swirling leaf pattern. I also ordered eyebrow stencils. A girl has to plan. Sharon has agreed to apply the henna. She has an mfa in art so she should be able to integrate a peace sign with the leaves. MARCH 20. GENDER: HIDING THE EVIDENCE When I went for the scan to see if my heart was up to snuff for chemo, I wore the mastectomy camisole under a red flannel button-down shirt of Linc’s. I didn’t wear earrings because I thought I’d have to take them off in the scanner. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked androgynous. This is the abiding mystery: Why do we need to know someone ’s gender? I remember in the days of the hippies, how Middle Americans would say, in accusation: I can’t tell if that’s a boy or a girl! The question is, Why do you need to know? Once in high school a girl looked at my fingers and exclaimed: You have men’s hands! because I had hair growing on them. Hair that I must have bleached at least once when I was bleaching the hair on my whole arms. We bleached ...