More "much ado"

Briefly, on the hair front, now there are 6 patches and a receding hairline to keep me wound up. I still have lots of hair so I don’t look like a freak, yet, but it is causing me a certain amount of grief. I keep reminding myself that we could have been vacationing in Haiti and bald patches aren’t much to get fussed over so enough of that.

a beautiful orchid to lift my spirits

It’s been a busy couple of weeks as aren’t they all. Right after New Year and the packing away of the Christmas gear it was time to deconstruct our perfectly nice TV and dining rooms. In my wisdom I had decreed that the TV room carpet had to go as it was 20 years old and had acquired a couple of burns from the fireplace. Of course we couldn’t match the wood flooring so opted to lay tile to tie the floor into the kitchen and were able to get an almost-the same-and-only-someone-picky would-notice option. It is the same tile that went into the laundry room re-do before Christmas if you are following along. It’s a personal peeve not to have some flooring coherence in a house. Does anyone but me remember the 70’s when every room in a house had a different carpet colour? Blue, red, pink, green, ghastly! And on that note, Jim decided he would rather have the same flooring in the TV and dining rooms as they are really one space so out went the hardwood that was there.

The deconstruction process

'wackers'

It took a couple of days to empty the rooms and reorganize ourselves so we would still be functional and comfortable for approximately two weeks. Then up came the old flooring and down went a 5/8” subfloor over the existing plywood. The same knight in shining armour, Gary Wilson, who rescued us on the front door, (we are a serial saga) did hard labour with Jim laying the subfloor. How level are your floors do you think? Not, I bet. This space I am talking about is 17’x28’, almost 500 sq. ft. and it was amazingly good except for one high spot where the house had settled away from a supporting wall. That little wrinkle got left to our tile people, Tenor Tile if any of you Victoria people want to know about a good tile company.

Progress!

It took three tilers two long days and they did a great job including putting spiffy 12”x24” charcoal gray tile on the fireplace surround. And then the cleanup and moving furniture ensued. Thank you again Gary. Did I mention that while the house was in a mess I decided to paint our foyer, walls and ceiling, and in the midst of scraping down the ceiling texture I “put my back out” Where does that expression come from for heaven’s sake? It’s not like putting out the trash or putting out a light… Anyway, the result of the whole event is, I think, spectacular. The rooms look way more spacious, not that they weren’t big enough already, and the colours flow really well. No, we didn’t put heat under the tile: it would have cost another $2000.00 to heat our very heavy Persian carpet – no point.

And now, because I haven’t settled the living room since Christmas and because it hasn’t been painted for about 6 years, guess what? The navy blue is becoming “Chelsea Gray”, and then we are going to quit the house work and enjoy ourselves. There’s a concept!

Winter jasmine and crocus

In case you are trying not to read it, it says 15C, in the shade.

Which brings me to the weather. It has been an amazing couple of weeks with El Niño in full swing. We’ve had some rainy days (not like the mid-Island who had floods) but it has been WARM! Saty tuned to see what happens to the Olympic Alpine events. Cypress, site of the snowboarding competition, is almost bare. We are supposed to cool down in a couple of weeks so it will probably be fine in the end but you can bet it is adding a bit of excitement to the organizers lives.

BTW, Jim scored 79 and 80 on his last two golf games!

Another life lesson: "much ado about nothing - again"

Or as a friend couldn’t help herself from saying “hair today, gone tomorrow”.
In light of all my blessings, what’s my current ‘life lesson’? Sometime between November 13 and December 23, (hairdresser appointments) 3 biggish patches of my hair packed their bags and moved out. Carol, my hairdresser, was checking my scalp, as she always does, and we were chatting about nothing when suddenly I realized her attention was absolutely riveted on the back of my head; and then she had to break the news to me. Yikes.

The first part of my lesson is that I’m not nearly as detached as I like to pretend to be. In fact I haven’t handled this event particularly well; not quite weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, but pretty irrational all the same. Sixteen year old drama queens - move over! My father was completely bald and I am envisioning the same for myself. Ugh. At this point I have had blood tests that don’t show anything unusual which is good news, and I had a dermatology appointment today which is a major miracle. It’s now 2 weeks later and I am calming down a bit but still don’t have ‘bald’ on my list of fashion preferences!

the least scary photo

The dermatologist is calling it alopecia areata, which means nothing specific just, hair loss in pathces which I definitely have. Typically he says there are three round patches and it hits hard and fast. Also typically it is a hairdresser who discovers it as there isn’t any warning or evidence of loss. Usually it occurs when people are between 20 and 45 years old although he has a 70 year old who’s just had it happen (I assured him I’m not yet 70), and there isn’t any known cause or trigger. (I am putting my money on the double flu shot I had December 4; see the 'princess' reference below.) He doesn’t particularly believe in the much touted stress factor (good job because I’m not) but does believe that everything that happens to any of us, other than infections, has a genetic origin so was interested in my father’s alopecia universalis (full body). Typically in areata the hair should start to reappear in 6 months or so if it isn’t treated and the first generation will probably be white. He could speed it up by a couple of months with cortisone shots but that sounds too painful so no thanks. If I develop more patches he will take a different tack and says there are ‘treatments’ but he didn’t elaborate so I'm thinking they may be dire.

This is the part to pay attention to:
My GP (lovely Iain) suggested that I change to an infant shampoo to reduce stress on my scalp/hair, which I did. I don’t know if it will have any effect on my head but what has changed is that my long standing ‘dry-eye’ syndrome has improved. If any of you have weepy eyes in wind or cold or if your eyes feel dry and scratchy in the mornings, try a different shampoo. The culprit (thank you Carol) is sodium laureth (sometimes lauryl) sulphate or sodium laureth 13 and it is used as a foaming agent in a great many products like shampoos, facial cleansers, and toothpaste. Apparently it’s a poison and while much diluted and benign for many people we get it in a lot of products and it can build up. I often refer to myself as a princess, not because of regal delusions or aspirations or because I think I am special, but in the sense of the Princess and the Pea fairy tale. I seem to react and over-react to all and sundry chemicals and I have an overactive immune defence mechanism. Sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes it’s less fun. In this case I’m hoping my hair will make a return engagement if I make some changes, and redecorate the environment.

I’ve moved on from the baby shampoo since I have adult hair, what’s left of it, and discovered some really nice alternative shampoos at a local health food store. I’ve also switched from my “dermatologist recommended” cleanser, Cetaphil, to a ‘clean’ one and a couple of itchy stingy spots on my face seem to be resolving. It’s early days yet on these products and I doubt they have anything to do with the sudden hair loss but any improvement is good.

The general consensus is that the hair will grow back; eventually, probably. I am certainly hoping that it is on vacation and that this is not a permanent emigration to a more hospitable clime. But will I ever be able to trust my hair again if it does return? My hair that was, according to Carol, just about perfect and completely reliable? Another big piece of the life-lesson: forgiveness and trust in response to betrayal is essential to health, happiness, and hopefully a thick head of hair!

The most important part of the lesson is that I have the best and most supportive friends and family in the entire universe!

The completed laundry room and the progress of the miracle amaryllis!

Auspicious Beginning

2010. Good grief how did that happen?

This amaryllis was a bare bulb, purchased at Canadian Tire, and planted in nothing but gravel on November 25 as we were dashing out the door for our week in Halifax. Look at it now; it stands 27 inches high and chose today, January 1, 2010 to begin to unfurl. That’s what should be known as a miracle.

I often wonder how it is that I have lived such a fortunate life, through no fault of my own. About 15 years ago our dear friend Rob Tweedie, formerly of South Africa, surprised me by positing that only 1% of the world’s population lives as well as we all expect to. I hadn’t thought of it before but have many times since. I suspect that the percentage of people who are as fortunate as Jim and I have been is much lower than 1%. We have warm and generous friends and family; we live in freedom; we are intelligent (most of the time!), educated, and curious; we are healthy and active; we aren’t burdened with too much wealth but have enough to enjoy ourselves. Our list of blessings is endless. I sometimes try to see myself living in another culture or a different era which sets me wondering again why I am so lucky to be where and when I am.

Our best wishes for this new year and always. J&J

On a different note entirely, having been to South Africa recently, we went to see the movie Invictus. Yes, it’s a lot about rugby, but it is also inspirational at many levels and an interesting insight into the simple ‘ties that bind’. We loved it.