One More Time

Daft Punk - One More Time

Yes. I have to do my whole body scan ONE MORE TIME. :-( Ack! It's appalling. Maybe it wasn't supposed to happen yesterday (Friday) in the first place. I got to my appointment at 9:50am. (I mixed up my appointment. It was supposed to be at 8:30am. The radiation technologist just told me to get there as soon as I could.) So I show up, they do the scan, my hair is still done in this punky style. No problem.

Then I get home and I get this call. The staff on the phone tells me that the pictures did not come out right and that I needed to come in again to them again NEXT WEEK. I was shocked to hear this. On most of the websites I have checked, they do the whole body scan exactly 2-7 days after your Radioactive Iodine. When I went yesterday, it was already 15 days after my radiation (I-131). 15 days! And then they were telling me to come in next week!

I told the lady on the phone this.

So then she tells me to come in on Monday.

"Why did the pictures not come up?" I asked.

The lady said that some people's hair is thick and that I needed to wash it every day until the scanning again. Especially the top part.

"The scalp?" I ask. Yes, she said.

"Are you telling me that there is still radiation in my hair?" i asked concerned. I have washed my hair about 7 times during my isolation, plus my hair dresser washed my hair. I went through a scan at the airport twice and nothing showed any radiation in my hair.

"There is some trace iodine and it is distorting the picture."

And with that, I tried to figure out when I was going to wash my hair. The thing is... LESSON: Most Black people, like me, have very fragile kinky hair. Most Black people do not wash their hair every single day and I don't think there is the same need as my Asian, Aboriginal, Arab, and Caucasian brethren and sistren. The natural oils that the scalp produces do not travel along a kinky strand of black/African hair in the same way. So too much washing of Black hair causes excessive drying, breakage and even more fragility to the hair. (And chemically relaxed/straightened Black hair is extremely fragile.) Plus, since I have dredlocks my hair takes FOREVER to dry (at least 24 hours to air dry). And when your dredlocks do not dry thoroughly, they are at risk for MORE breakage and even mould-growth (since locs provide the perfect air-tight, moisture rich, dark zone for mould to grow). Vanity aside, I did not want to have to go through the process of washing my hair and drying every single day. (What an ORDEAL!)

But I spoke to my mother. And as wise as mothers are and as apt as mine is to tell me exactly what is on her mind, she told me, "Wash your hair TWICE A DAY. Get that out of your hair. Who cares Nadia! Even if you have to cut them, you have to do this test." (I know my mom would be happy if I cut of my dredlocks but that's another story.)

I sighed. She's right. (Not about cutting my locs.) This is not the time to be vain. The whole body scan will accurately tell me if the radiation killed the thyroid cancer cells. (And I've GOT to know that.) And I've met several survivors this past week who showed me that even without hair, we are beautiful beings. (Duh!) Plus, my hairdresser Glenroy aka Blueloc (God bless him) told me that you can save your locs and sew them in later. It's just another 30 minutes of lying in a bed with robotic cameras taking picture scans of me.

So off I am to the bathroom to wash my hair and to get ready to do this whole body scan ONE MORE TIME. (I hope.)

On the bright side (and there is always a bright side, look outside at the sunny day), my Halifax survivor sister Julie has started her own blog because she was inspired by my blog. (I love to inspire people. My goal is to do that each day.) It's called Silverlupus: life thru cancer and other hiccups. Please check it out at:
http://cancerandotherhiccups.blogspot.com
Julie is a young creative mama who is intelligent (so wise beyond her years), intuitive, and "genuineness".

Also tonight, I'm going to see WRONG WAY TO HOPE again at the CN Tower at 6:30pm with my fiance and friends. It'll be a YACC retreat reunion all over again.