Laughter is the Best Medicine

Hope Spring Cancer Support Centre is a place you hear about, you've heard its name but until you truly need the resources and services offered there you would not appreciate how fortunate we are to have this facility right here in Kitchener. I will share the amazing support services available in another post.

As I approach my 2nd round of Chemotherapy treatment this coming Friday, I know that the inevitable will soon be happening. ABVD chemotherapy treatment almost always leads to hair loss. It is a hurdle I know I will need to face and the anticipation of it happening is almost as bad as the waiting for treatment to start. Those who know me well will know that Michelle needs to have things organized and a plan in place. I enlisted my best friend Carole to join me for an appointment at Hope Spring's Boutique to try on wigs. For those who don't realize this, Hope Spring receives donations in order to purchase wigs so that those facing cancer are able to take home a wig free of charge to use during their treatment. You are able to choose from a huge assortment and try them on privately, take pictures and best of all LAUGH.

We all have friends in our lives who exist for different reasons. Carole is "my person". The Christina to my Meredith. She is the friend who I can confide my most crazy thoughts, who I never have to apologize to and who will never judge. Best of all, while she has worn her emotions on her sleeve dealing with my diagnosis as any best friend would, she was up for the task of making me laugh and is able to turn the reality of wearing a wig into an afternoon experience that as 21 year olds dancing on bars in Niagara Falls or 40 year olds jamming with the band in Manhattan we would have never envisioned that one of us would be facing cancer. That doesn't happen to us.

I wouldn't want to share this with anyone else. Of course, she was only happy to take pictures. I figured out how to navigate this blogsite and add pictures. I bet some of you were wondering... No pictures, Michelle? Worry no more.

As you can see, there were many smiles. Many wigs that in principle were funny but in the practical, Libra Michelle, not so much. Angie, who is the volunteer who assisted us in the Boutique was a wealth of information. Who knew there was so much to learn about wigs? In the end, I settled on a wig that stayed true to my current self, it is exactly like me and will allow me to feel like Michelle, look like Michelle and in the beginning ease me into this new transition. Thank you Carole and Angie for allowing me to share my laughter and my tears.