When my oncologist was telling me that I needed to have chemotherapy, besides the thought of being incredibly sick, I thought about losing my hair.

My hair had always been one of my greatest assets.  When I was in high school and college, it was waist-length, thick, wavy and beautiful.  Once in Corporate America, I cut it shorter and the wave turned to loose curls.  I loved my hair.

So I mentioned to my oncologist, with tears in my eyes, “But what about my hair?”  Her response?  She shrugged it off saying, “so you wear a wig.”  And she looked at me like she thought I was a complete idiot for saying what I said.  Basically, she completely dismissed my feelings.  OK, so losing your hair does not compare to someone losing their life to cancer but at that moment, that’s where my mind went and that was my concern.

Don’t let anyone dismiss your feelings about losing your hair or anything else.  If they do, cross them off the list of people you can turn to when you need to vent, complain, cry etc. because they will not understand.

I dumped this oncologist – she may be very smart but she just didn’t get the personal stuff.