Cancer Awareness: Look Good...Feel Better Program

The day I accompanied my mom to her oncologist app't (Nov. 1) to find out what her treatment would be, the doc matter-of-factly said, "You will lose all of your hair in 3 weeks."

Later, we ended up running into a friend of hers that worked in the "Images" clinic. My mom urged me to try to go back to work, but it was already late-afternoon and I realized that we should stop through there that day and told her so. This is a service provided to cancer patients through the Look Good...Feel Better program, which I think is absolutely fantastic! The program tries to help patients deal with treatment-related changes in their appearance through workshops that include skin care and make-up lessons, options for dealing with hair loss (wigs, hats, scarves, turbans, rockin' it bald!), and nail care techniques. It works on the principle that when we feel good about how we look, it helps our health both mentally and physically as well, and that's important!

Another friend of hers, Marian--who is the program's official contact at Hospital Center--whisked her into a room with a salon chair and we actually had a lot of fun helping her to try on different wigs. My mom had already planned to wear one and really got into it and took our advice by going with wigs and styles that were different color- and style-wise than what she was used to. One definite consideration color-wise is something that would brighten her complexion once she was really into her treatments. They really do look like her hair. You can't tell the difference at all.

She looks great and it really did make her very happy. Thank you so much Marian!!!