Baldy Locks

Wow! What. A. Week. It has been one hell of a week and I'm not gonna lie, I'm glad things have chilled out a bit - which is unusual for me who usually loves whizzing about. I ended up visiting a hospital 5 consecutive days last week in the end!

Port-a-cath

On Thursday I had my portacath (or port for short!) fitted in theatre. This involved an Anaesthetist numbing my neck and chest and then feeding a catheter into my Superior Vena Cava. Once they'd got that in place they then made a little pocket in my chest for the port to sit in and connect it all up so I now have a place where I can receive treatment and have bloods taken from. I was surprised how quick it was all done - I was out of theatre and in the recovery area within 30-35 mins of walking into the theatre. The only pain I felt was the sting of the local anaesthetic going in and the rest of the time I was jabbering away (as I do) to the ODP sat at my head monitoring me and the Anaesthetist that was doing his thing. I was also lovely that the Rad in theatre that day was someone I knew and had worked with as a Student Rad and he left my images on the screen after so I can have a nosey at my chest X-Ray that the took to check everything was in the right place. I was offered the option of sedation but I didn't have any and was able to go home not long after come out of theatre. If you're not good with stuff like this, the sedation is there but I didn't feel like I needed it.

Wedding! 👰‍♀️❤

I made it to my cousin's wedding on Friday (congrats Chrissy & Alex!) albeit with a detour via St James' hospital as my skin decided to rip off and blister when I took the dressing above off. Another chemo side effect apparently! I had an absolutely lovely day and felt a million dollars thanks to my amazing friend Laura who not only came and glammed me up but also drove me to the hospital to get my wounds redressed and THEN drove me onto the wedding which was in Harrogate. I managed to get there with 20 mins to spare! Thank you so much Laura, you're an Angel! 😇My hair also hung on as requested and I was able to enjoy a few Gin & Tonics and enjoy the day celebrating the new Mr & Mrs Ambrose-Jones!💍

Brave the Shave👩‍🦲👨‍🦲

On Saturday, my incredible friends Tracy & David did their 'Brave the Shave' to not only support me in been a baldy but to also raise money for 2 amazing charities - Coppafeel! & Macmillan Cancer Support. Tracy held an Afternoon Tea for the mums of our local playgroup (where I met Tracy 5 years ago after having Oliver) and then both Tracy & David 'Braved the Shave'. It was such an emotional day and I really do feel honoured to be able to call these people my friends❤. Shaving your hair off is bloody mega! I really am honoured to have these people in our lives. As much as I would like to say that my hair does not define me and brush off that fact I now have no hair and it will eventually grow back, its a big deal. People stare (mainly out of curiosity I know) and people panic and no longer know how to react or act around you ("have they got cancer?","have they just shaved it off for charity?","have they gone for a bit of a change at the hairdressers?!") so taking this on when you don't need to is really flippin' brave and selfless in my opinion. It's something that is going to take a while to grow out too with the average woman's hair growing 6 inches a year. To date (8th Sept) the total is just under £2000 which is just amazing! We set a target of £750 and have blown it out of the water. I'm gonna pop some pictures below as well as the link to donate should anyone want to get a cheeky donation in and help bump us over the £2k mark!

Go Fund Me link: https://gofund.me/515146d4

Mohawkkkk Mondaaayyyy 💜

Those of you that follow me on Social Media will have seen that on Monday, my family all had the best day and I spent the day rocking a spikey purple mohawk! My boys had been a little bit upset at the prospect of me losing my hair and their mummy not having long blonde hair anymore so we thought we would do something fun related to my hair to try and give them a good memory of this time. The boys have been obsessed with having mohawks for ages and although they can't have them shaved in for school - I could! So we decided we would have a day where we all have funky coloured mohawks for the day and go out and have some fun before shaving my hair off. And that we did! Ry and Sandra (Ryans mum) expertly shaved my hair into a mohawk (with the help of a YouTube tutorial and random hacking on Ryans part) and we all got funky with the help of some pound shop hairsprays. We then went to Xcape and had something to eat and played a round of Crazy Golf. Never did I think I would be sat in a Wetherspoons in Castleford saying "Ohhh I can feel the wind in my mohawk!". We got some funny looks but we didn't care! I loved it, it was really liberating because I never have and probably never will ever have a spikey purple mohawk again.

Once we got back we ordered some Pizzas and were joined by some more family and Tracy & David to shave the mohawk off. The mohawk was hairsprayed solid so took some combing out (Thanks Sandy!) before Ry went in with the clippers to whip it off. It took that long as Ry was been so gentle (we dubbed him RyanHair) that we ended up doing it by phone torch in the garden! It was emotional and I had a few tears once it was all off but to be honest, its a relief that that milestone is passed. My hair was coming out more and more each day and at least now, theres only stubble coming out!

So here she is! Bald Kirsty! 👨‍🦲 and you know what... I don't hate it! Yeah its really strange and its gonna take some getting used to, but its okay! The boys keep coming and stroking my head and I did the school run yesterday morning without a hat on.

Its been a long post this week but it reflects how crazy busy my week has been! I would also like to say a massive Thank You to Tracy & David, Laura & Adam and my amazing family who have got me through this crazy crazy week of hospital appointments, weddings, mohawks and Ryan working away. I am grateful for you all and feel so loved.

Love,

Kirst x