Hair

Approximately thirteen months after shaving her head, I gave Anya's hair a cut.  It was not much of anything, just a few quick cuts across the back.  I did it to keep her thick, growing, brown hair off her back during these hot sweaty months, but instantly I was surprised at how cute it looked.  Being her mom, I think she looks cute most all the time.

Even bald - she was the cutest bald thing I ever laid eyes on.  But it is only hair.  Hair of all things, should be the least concern.  Yet somehow it isn't.  When you hear of someone having to undergo chemotherapy, isn't the hair loss one of the first things that comes to mind?  Countless people asked us if Anya would lose her hair, yet the other side effects of chemo are much more stressful, consequential, and painful.  One day, while she was bald, I decided that what was hard about her having no hair is that it is a visual cue to what is going on inside her body.  If the drugs are so strong that they made her hair fall out, what could they be doing to her heart or her ears or even the lining of her mouth?

Conversely, seeing her hair grow back is a reminder of how healthy she is now.  She had a cute raggedy look going on for awhile, but those few quick cuts down by her neck made her look like a little girl again.  A healthy little girl, who very likely could have chosen to have her hair just that way.