My sister Kathy and I looked nothing alike growing up. She was tall and thin with red wavy hair. I was short and squat with straight light brown hair. No one would guess us to be sisters, really. As we aged we grew to look more and more alike until as adults people just rolled their eyes when we would identify each other as a sister. “Oh really, I never would have guessed!” they might say. One time my mom was visiting us here and then she flew to Colorado to visit Kathy. As she was going up the escalator in the Denver Airport she saw Kathy, thought it was me and wondered how I beat her to Colorado? One of the things that identified us so easily was our hair. Hers was still wavy and long and mine was still straight and usually shorter but we transitioned through the same spectrum of colors: reddish, blondish, grey-ish, white-ish and so on. Our brother Paul has our same color hair. Miraculously, our mom’s hair is still red…hmmm! Amazing!

A couple of weeks ago Kathy called me and told me she decided to cut her hair. She’d already made many phone calls and found a place in Kirkland to make a wig from her hair for me. I was shocked and surprised. This was completely out of the blue.

Kathy has always had long hair and at that time it was really long! I called and made an appointment with Kurt at Anton’s Hair Company in Kirkland. I had to cancel this first appointment as I was in the hospital. But Betty and I made it out there on this past Monday for my fitting. Kurt was so kind and lovely. He showed us Kathy’s hair, already there and waiting. He told us all about the process and then put thick plastic wrap to cover my head. Next he took tape and taped it across my head to form the shape of my skull. He trimmed the excess plastic and voila! There is my skull shape. 

The turn around was quick! Friday my friend Beth took me back to Kirkland to meet what we now refer to as Jathy, my new wig! I was overwhelmed! It fits perfectly. He used double stick tape to secure it to my head. He brushed and styled it. We left it a little long and no kind of bangs yet, as this cut will not grow back, and I can always cut it a little more later if I want.

Jathy changed everything. Just knowing I can have hair makes me feel better. To be able to not  automatically be the sick one in the room, to have people react to me as me and not a sick person, to look a little more like me. I am so grateful to my sister for this and to members of my family who pitched in on this quite expensive endeavor! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I am healing a little more everyday. I am making progress in my diet, adding some food and doing okay. I am working on building my strength. I went to see Tricia for a little PT work and to help me get back on track. I’ll see her again next week. I am doing some gentle morning and evening yoga. I’m meditating most every day one or two times! I’m building up my time on the treadmill. I’m trying. But I can tell I’m still a bit anemic, my legs weigh a ton and I’m tired a good deal of the time. I am fighting anxiety left and right, up and down. I could really use some more energy to heal my body and mind.

I saw Dr. Standish yesterday and she was quite impressed with how I looked (I was wearing Jathy!). She agrees with Dr. Kaplan’s plan which is nice to hear, reinforcing. She gave me a Vitamin B shot to boost my red blood cells and give me a mood boost. I have to say I did not really feel much different, but I am hoping it is helping fight my anemia.

It is a beautiful day in Seattle today. A bit chilly but the sun is shining, the sky is blue with white puffy clouds. The kids are coming over tonight to cook dinner for us. Today will be a good day!

Sending love and gratitude to you all!

Janet