Give Me A Head With Hair, Long Beautiful Hair…

Among the plethora of side effects of Hepatitis Treatment that are listed in all the Study documents and online resource sites, nowhere does it mention that undergoing Hep C treatment will turn you into a cat. I realize this may require a bit of explanation so here is the back-story, as the theater folks say.

I have long hair. I have had long hair since my twenties. In fact, it has been about 35 years since I have done more that trim the length of my ponytail every several months and keep my beard trimmed. In years past (as little as 10 years ago), much of my hair was dark brown. It was also present in a reasonable quantity. Sure, there were areas where it was clear that my scalp was encroaching into areas previous covered with hair, but overall, I was doing better than any of the men in my family had ever done before. Over those ten years it has gradually gone increasingly gray; to the point that before treatment started I was more gray than brown.

Then interferon began to exert is magic. First my hair began to turn increasingly white. It is not completely white yet (that would be James Coburn cool), but the strands of gray and brown seem to getting mighty few and far between. Then it began to slowly up and leave my head. It does not fall out in huge clumps as is the case with other forms of Chemotherapy. It just gradually gives up the ghost, hair by hair, and slips away. I track its disappearance by my elastic ponytail band. When I started treatment, I needed three loops of the band to hold my hair securely. Now, when I brush my hair in the morning, I have to loop the band 5 (Five!) times around the few remaining hairs in my ponytail to hold them firmly in its grasp. In fact it’s not really accurate to call it a ponytail anymore, it’s more of a pony strand.

Where does all this hair go? That is where the catlike nature of the situation lies. Any chair that I use regularly – those at work for example - becomes gradually covered with a layer of long gray hairs. The sofa at home, the chair on the back porch, even my pillow, all slowly receive a coating of long gray hair. It is not long enough to be my wife’s and besides, she is clearly not losing any hair. It is mine, or more accurately was mine. My jackets and coats as well all testify to the fact that I am shedding, more rapidly as time goes on, what is left of my hair. To be genteel about the situation, I find it most distressing. To be more straightforward, it sucks.

Everyone involved with the treatment and with our support group tells me it will grow back, but that is cold comfort. Cold being an operative term as the lack of hair definitely points up that it had been keeping my head warm all those years. There are far more serious issues involved with hepatitis C and its treatment, but this one just strikes a nerve. While I like cats, I don’t want to shed my coat until I become a large pink hairless version.

The only thing that saves me now is that my hair is light, my scalp is white and it seems there is more hair than really exists. How much more time I can buy with that before it’s time for the shaved head well, I’ll keep you informed.