Chemo Humor - Bring It On!

• By 99to1
• Posted October 3, 2009 at 12:44 pm
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I bought totally outrageous wigs and I'd wear a different one to every chemo treatment.

I also had a great wig related moment: There is a street performer "Baton Bob" in Atlanta--a warm, wonderful bald man who dresses in crazy drag outfits and makes people smile--I was at a restaurant with friends wearing a pink wig. Some people at another table (i didn't know) told him it was really my hair--I pulled it off and put it on him. I have a great pic--one with me bald and one with him bald. It was great to be able to "go public" and be able to laugh about it.

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• By kibbitzqueen
• Posted October 3, 2009 at 4:46 pm
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I would wear my wig while my husband was driving down the road. When we would stop at a traffic light, I'd smile and wave at the driver of the next car.

When we would stop at the next light.. I'd have flipped my wig off and would be sitting there bald waving at the driver of the car who JUST SAW me with a full head of hair at the last light! It was WAY too much fun watching their reaction!!!!

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• By kibbitzqueen
• Posted October 3, 2009 at 4:48 pm
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Once I was at the mall and a group of male swimmers from the local high school were all shaved bald and walking into the mall... I walked past them, yelled 'Hey Fellas' They all turned to look at why I called them and I pulled my wig off and asked if I could join their swim team!

They were cracking up, one fell on the floor laughing, we all were whooping and laughing! It was REALLY FUN!

I bet those teenagers still talk about the crazy bald lady at the mall!

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• By kibbitzqueen
• Posted October 3, 2009 at 4:51 pm
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I got tired of people staring at me when I just wore a base ball cap (Atlanta is TOO HOT to wear a wig).

Like I'd purposly CHOOSE this baby-duck-new-feather-floofy-fly away hair ya know? Well.. I have several shirts that say in HUGE letters CANCER SUCKS.. and I wear them!

I get a lot of comment from people.. but most just avoid eye contact!

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• By lifeisgrand
• Posted October 3, 2009 at 5:38 pm
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When people comment on how well my hair is growing I tell them that I water it every day. That usually gets a chuckle.

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• By verlinda
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 9:07 am
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After my hair grew back, I saw a t-shirt that read, "Do you think this shirt makes me look bald?" That was my favorite.

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• By Teresalynne
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 11:35 am
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I saw a t-shirt that said "my oncologist is also my hair stylist" I loved that one
Teresa

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• By sonrisesonset
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 12:41 pm
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I have a crab hat and my my "bad" days I would put it on so my husband and son would know to tread softly. I also wore it on the day I had cisplatin at the hospital because it took about 9 hours for it to run through. Also on my last day of chemo, the nurses had talked about my "graduation" from the oncology floor. On that day I brought a cake for the nurses an staff to thank them for being such wonderful and caring people and I walked out of the hospital wearing my mortarboard from my college graduation. I stopped at the nurses desk and moved my tassel to the other side. And marched out singing Pomp and Circumstance

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• By MaryW
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 12:51 pm
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My friend Marie had a baseball hat. On the front it said, "With a body like this, who needs hair!" Mary

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• By Gabriele
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 3:19 pm
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Without a certain amount of humor, this C Monster would be even harder to slay.
Going through chemo last summer, I would wear my homemade T-shirts, esp. going out to restaurants:

"Does this shirt make my head look bald?" People read the shirt, looked up and nodded with their head.

"I am having a NO-hair day!" said the other shirt.

Chuckles galore.

One day I wore a shoulder-length brownish-red trial wig I had obtained from the Cancer Society, cooking at the stove with my back to the entrance when my husband came in and asked gingerly, "Excuse me, can I help you?" He thought I was one of my friends helping in the kitchen. Poor guy is still embarrassed he did not recognize his own wife of 29 years. :)

Keeping laughing! It certainly helps with the pains.

I read in the paper today that one of the OvCa ladies I visited in the hospital in the summer passed away. So sad.
Gabriele

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• By quacker
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 9:48 pm
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I have a baseball cap with a carpenter's level on the brim. The hat says "half a bubble off". I also refer to my port as the "Panic button"

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• By Brown_Eyes
• Posted October 4, 2009 at 10:54 pm
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Last spring during my first round of chemo, when I was bald, one of my students asked me "can you still get lice when you're bald?"

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• By PeacefulZen
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 1:50 am
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I guess I made my own self laugh...getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and catching my reflection in the mirror I would gasp scared to death at the old man in the bathroom and then realize it was me and start cracking up laughing!

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• By momanderson920
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 7:17 am
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I bought my sister some pins from a cancer support website that were hilarious...she has nonhodgkins lymphoma and is in treatment. One says "Dump your lump" and has a pix of a dumptruck, and another says "Lymphomaniac". This brightened her spirits so much when she got them with a hat that read "Cancer Bites" in the mail. Humor is one of our greatest allies in this fight.

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• By momanderson920
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 7:19 am
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A friend of mine who had stomach cancer said his friends called him The Godfather of his chemo lounge. He would get all kinds of things for them. He was this big guy who has a loud voice and he would make sure the nurses and staff got them all kinds of things. He said it kept the unit laughing.

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• By kennebec
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 9:04 am
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I'm almost afraid of writing this one. Hubby and I kept this as a joke between ourselves as I simply couldn't bear anyone else to visualize me this way... But between him and me it brought us a lot of laughs. When my head was totally bare (and when I looked a bit haggard from the chemo ordeal) I looked in the mirror one day and realized that if I made my ears stick out (by pushing them from behind) and if I snarled, I was the spittin' image of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies. One morning he was brushing his teeth and I snuck up behind him and made my Gollum face. He laughed so hard he spit toothpaste everywhere. Still makes me laugh. But I never ever took a photo of myself looking like Gollum. I prefer the grandkids to remember me as Gramma and NOT as Gollum.

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• By kibbitzqueen
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 7:03 pm
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I was getting ready to go out to a family function. I had gotten all ready except the wig. I leaned over the sink and spit my toothpaste out, grabbed a gold hoop earring and started to put it in. When I looked up and into the mirror.. I looked JUST LIKE Mr. Clean!!!
White t-shirt, bald head and one Gold earring!
Hubby and I cracked up!

Guess you had to be there! LOL

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• By kennebec
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 7:34 pm
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Oh, kittitzqueen, you gave me a good giggle on that one! I've heard of Gollum, Egghead, and Uncle Fester of Addams Family but I this is the first reference I've heard to Mr. Clean! I love it! I'm still giggling.

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• By Kat56
• Posted October 5, 2009 at 8:57 pm
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In 2006 my husband and I were in Barbados, celebrating end of chemo/birthday. I preferred to wear print paisley bandanas as they were cool and I could change colors. We were walking thru the courtyard and one of the Bajan ladies asked me if she could braid my hair. Huh? The lady with her started giggling and my husband and I started laughing. I just said thanks but no thanks.

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