Category: Life is good

Bye Bye (much too) long hair!

I decided, that when my diagnosis of the clump in my breast is negative – meaning it’s a good clump and not cancer – I’ll get my hair cut and donate it to women who’ve been diagnosed with cancer.

I like having long hair – I’ve had it long for the last 4 years, but I’m sometimes also annoyed of it because it’s just much too long at times. Donating my hair seemed like a great idea and after I found out that there are a few organisations who take your cut-off hair and use it to make wigs I couldn’t wait to get my hair cut.

Hair Donation Before
Hair Donation – The before shot: the left image shows my daily hairstyle

So I did some research on where to donate and until yesterday I was sure to donate it to “Locks of Love“.
I actually wanted to donate to women my age who are diagnosed with cancer but didn’t find anything and L.o.L. seems like a nice organization. L.o.L. take donations for kids who mainly suffer from “Alopecia Areata” and not cancer, which I’d be ok with, seeing it’s terrible for kids to not have hair in any way.

I called my hairdresser on wednesday and my lovely stylist squeezed me in today at 3:30pm

Pantene Beautiful LengthsYesterday I did some more research and after reading a lot (also a NY Times article) and mainly after clicking following link: American Cancer Society I’ve decided to donate to “Pantene Beautiful Lengths” instead, although I was a bit sceptical at first to donate to such a known and big company – I never trust big companies ;).

But, there are a lot of points which made me feel very confident about Pantene:

  • the wigs go to the American Cancer Society
  • PBL supports women who have lost their hair through any types of cancer
  • The women get the wigs for free

Here’s the Pantene WP blog.

So, here’s my journey…
At the hairdresser:

Hair donation - before and after (ugh the natural wave)
Hair donation – before and after (ugh the natural wave – but also from the hair tie)

I washed my hair this morning at home so my stylist cut it dry. I told her the lenght I’d like to have my “new” hair (about 1-2cm beneath my collarbone) so she cut a little further down so that she has about 2cm left to style my hair. I feel so good now and I can’t wait to send it out to the States on monday 🙂

Hair Donation - before and after - the after shot - I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight
Hair Donation – the after shot – I need to wash my hair again tomorrow and dry it to get it nice and straight

It’s amazing, I actually was worried to get 21cm and still keep the length I want, but a great 31cm (around 12 inches) long ponytail was cut , I never thought it would be so long. I’m very happy now 😀
Pantene Beautiful Lengths Logo

I’ve found following organisations to donate hair to:

February is here

Happy February!
Today was/is a good day – I’m on vacation, so, of course it’s a good day.
Went to the doctor at 07:45 in the morning to get my blood test, then I went to a drugstore and bought some stuff for the bathtub, my hair, some creams, then I went to the bakery and then I went grocery shopping.
Came home, chatted on the phone, ate breakfast & organised some stuff here at home, read through some magazines and now I’m blogging.
Later I might be driving to IKEA and a hardware store to get a few things for our apartment.

Yes, that’s a good day today 🙂

Fibroadenoma Part two

I just got back from the radiologist.

She made another sonography of my boobies and good news – the tumor in the left breast didn’t grow! Still the same size, still the same sharp edges.
She said it looks like a good tumor, a fibroadenoma. To be 100% sure I could have a biopsy – she said I should sleep over it and think about it, which I will do. It’s not necessary in her opinion. My next appointment with her is in six months (August – they’re full until then!) and I’ll make another appointment in 2-3 months with my gynecologist. The Fibroadenoma needs to be monitored.
I was soooo nervous today. My biggest concern was that the tumor changed – that it grew, that the edges aren’t so sharp anymore. I could hardly look at the screen when she was doing the sonography and I am so relieved now. I’m so happy I can enjoy my birthday, which is in two days. Can’t wait to celebrate, seeing my Christmas was full of tears (I got the diagnosis on dec. 21st and was so worried).

I named my tumor Tammy. Tammy the Tumor. Now I will enjoy my yoga class 🙂

New Billy

I went to IKEA to buy a white 80cmx202cm Billy for our guest room today. Got it home, painted the back in a silverish grey and built it together. I got an extra extension for the Billy beginning of the week from a guy who offered it in the newspaper for free. The white is a bit different but who cares – I didn’t have to pay for that extra space 🙂

IKEA Billy
Billy

I also put a crown molding on the top. The boyfriend and I are both happy that we have a new place for our (mostly his) books 🙂
It fits great to our new couch (which arrived yesterday) and the little billy, which we bought around two weeks ago.
Couch & Billy
Couch & Billy

On my half vacation day…

Had a meeting in the morning and left work at around 1pm.

Met my best friend for ice-cream (chocolate, pistachio, stracciatella). I brought him to the train station two hours later, waited and chatted with him 20 minutes on the station platform in the sunshine before the train came.

Took my bike and rode home, BUT I stopped at the beergarden close to my place to grab a beer and enjoy the last shafts of sunlight. Mmmmm…

Rode home, now I’m reading “The Hunger Games” (chapter 21) on the balcony and waiting for the boyfriend to come home from his vacation.

We’re going out to eat 🙂

One of the last warm days

First blog entry in one(?) year. Not counting the obligatory post yesterday.
I still have to “find” my writing-style. I’m not good at writing long/short stories/essays.

Sport I did today: rode my bike to work, about 36km both ways at about 20-25km/h.
What I ate in the evening: salad with bread, seeing the boyfriend isn’t home and I can eat just salad (with bread)
Bought a yummy poppy-seed cake from the bakery next door which I’m eating right now.

It should be the last sunny warm evening tonight, rain should come tomorrow evening, on Wednesday it should get a lot cooler and it should continue to rain for the rest of the week. So I took half day off work tomorrow and I’m going to enjoy the sunshine outside and not inside the office.