Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

Jannah's hair after a Salon visit........no tangles!

April 24 (day 14 post-first chemo)

It's finally happening! My hair is beginning to come off in clumps! On a positive side, it means the WMDs are working. There's no pain in my scalp, just a mild tender feeling. I debated whether I should start pulling all my hair out or let nature takes it course and let the shedding occur naturally. Some of the friends I had met and the books I had read recommended shaving the head bald, that way I will not be shedding hair all over the place. For now, I have wrapped a breathable scarf around my head to catch any falling leaves...I mean, hair. Soon other bodily hair will fall too, including brows and
lashes.

Drat...! Now this may mean I have to tell my Dad what I have been up to. He will be either glad or wondering why his daughter is suddenly "covered". By the next time I visit, more hair would have dropped and I would definitely need to hide the evidence. I am just concerned that his 87 yr old heart may be worried if he knows that I have cancer. He had sleepless nights when he was told about my earlier operation and was consoled when he saw how normal I was after my surgery, the last time I visited.

I can almost imagine the following conversation between my cats when I visit them next in Melaka:

Cat Chit Chat:

Ashley/Troy/Putri: "Aaaaargh.....whooozzat?" (all paws firmly on the floor)

Ashley: "She sounds like Mama Mi, and almost looks like her"

Troy: "Nnaaah.....she's too fat to be Mama Mi. Look at her bumper!Golly!"

Putri: "Yeaahh...it's not Mama Mi, Mama Mi has hair, lot's of hair. This one
has a piece of cloth on her head".

Troy: "About time too....everyone in this kampung wears a cloth on their
head. Let me test to see if it is Mama Mi..." (And he rolls over at my
feet, and nestles his head against my toes...and purring contentedly)

Me: (Who can't resist anyone grovelling)."Hey, hello Troy......how is my boy Troy...?"

Ashley/Putri/Troy : (All ears pricked, and Troy scrambles to his feet)"Eh..
it is Mama Mi, it is her voice! Mama Miaow!!!! What happened to her, where has she been? When is she taking us back to KL? I sure miss that sofa, it's not the same scratching hard solid wood here!"

The End


After yesterday's posting about environmental impact on health, and therefore a possible contributor to the development of cancers in mankind, I realised how we all take the most basic of God's gifts to mankind (fresh air and water) for granted. We leave it to the next person, the politicians and the authorities to care for our environment, often times when it is too late and involving incredible amount of resources.

In the pursuit of "progress", through rampant violation and unethical non-compliance to regulatory laws in place, mankind has ravaged the purity of our God given supply of fresh air and water. Diseases is a way Mother Nature is communicating back to us that it is time that we DO something about the environment, and not just TALKING about it. We really need to stop spewing dangerous gases into the atmosphere and dumping toxic wastes and into our rivers and seas. What is the point of coming up with "miracle cures" and super duper drugs if the possible CAUSE(S) of diseases and cancers are not studied and acted on?

Each man/woman can play a role and it can add all add up. No point having an Earth Day and reminding ourselves only on that day the why and wherefores of the critical need to care for the environment. We should be thinking about it everyday. Before we get to a point of no return. I worry for my siblings and friends and relatives who have children. What will this planet be like some years from now for them. What will it be like for their children?

Will we get more cures but not much solution to the cause of the problem?

I sound like the prophet of doom, but it is not my intent to sound pessimistic. I am usually an optimist at heart. I really believe that one day pigs can fly and all those things we thought impossible will be a reality. But the reality that I see today is that we seem to discover more and more diseases, and some of these are "modern" diseases. Sure we are no longer burdened by the Bubonic plague but look at what we have on our plate now (pun seriously intended). "Lifestyle " diseases abound because of what we put on our plates. Another area for me to reflect on vis-a-is my own lifestyle in the next few blog posts.

Sure Malaria may not be as common. We have found the cure and we know the cause, it's those mosquitoes! But where did we go wrong that we have Ebola, Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, AIDS, Foot and Mouth Disease, and God knows what else. New diseases are being "discovered", a nice way of saying someone somewhere is being afflicted by an unknown illness and our scientists are kept busy trying to find out why and come up with a cure.

In the meantime, what can we as individuals do to prevent known and unknown diseases from attacking mankind? Coincidentally, the May 2007 edition of Vanity Fair (Exclusive), UK Edition, focuses on the environment and contains thought provoking articles about the environment. I have just laid my hands on it this morning and already I am feeling deeply affected reading some of the articles. According to one article, 1 out of 3 on the planet today lacks access to fresh water, whether because the water is unsafe, unaffordable or unavailable. Our water sources are contaminated and this can get worse as time goes on. It is very frightening to learn that in China (Changzhou) farmers have stopped irrigating their rice fields with canal water because the rice crops end up absorbing heavy metals. Scary and Na'u zubillah. Let's hope that will not happen in this country or to those countries from where we are importing our rice! And I hope a solution is being worked out to safeguard the health of the people in Changzhou where it is reported that cancer rates are rising.

Maybe I am feeling a bit down because I am going to be "KojaK" soon. But I think the reason could also be I am feeling quite helpless due to the lack of reassurances that there is a concerted effort to safeguard the state of this planet generally, and the state of the environment in this country specifically.

I have seen with my own eyes even Mercedes-driving human beings blatantly chucking out rubbish (empty cans in plastic bags) from their car straight into the monsoon drains along Jln Sri Hartamas. What were they thinking?

When was the last time you did something "naughty" like that? Let's hope that it was just once (if at all) and that it was a long, long time ago. And what can you do to safeguard our environment?