Saying Goodbye to Insecurities

We all have our insecurities, and if someone ever points them out to us, it sticks with us for a long time. One day during high school seminary, a girl (not me) told Mark his head looked like an odd shaped grape. I am sure that she didn't think twice about it, and we all say things like that. Little did she know that that comment would stick with Mark forever. I have had to live married life constantly consoling Mark that his head wasn't deformed and that I didn't think it resembled fruit. He was so worried that one day, when he was a little older than 27, he would go bald and the world would see how ugly his head was. I know when he learned he was going to lose his hair, he was scared and self-conscious.

I dreaded the day his hair would start to fall out. It was easy to ignore the cancer when Mark looked the same and felt good. The idea of him being bald meant that everytime I looked at him, I would know he was sick. I couldn't pretend anymore that things were just fine. I am not going to lie, after hearing about his head for a few years, he got me a little nervous about that too. Starting Thursday night, every time Mark scratched his head, a few hairs would come out. It started rubbing off on everything, and while he still had most of it, it was depressing and uncomfortable. Today, we decided to just get rid of it. His spinal headache came back, and our wonderful friend down the road offered to not only shave his head, but give it a massage to try to help the headache. Mark said it felt wonderful! We waited with baited breath, wondering what we would find when all the hair was gone....lumps, moles, divets, seeds, grapes, small children? Here is the before picture, notice his cheeks are starting to get a little bit round from the steroids.

Uncovering the monster....

And the moment we have all been waiting for.....the big reveal!

I think we were all pleasantly surprised, he doesn't look like a grape at all! I think he has a cute head. We kind of want to hunt down that girl and show her she didn't know what she was talking about. He doesn't even have a weird mole. There is a huge red spot where a lymphoma used to be; that's a little interesting but overall Mark is loving it. He is much more comfortable. He did say it was a little colder outside than it used to be. He is beginning to agree with those that have told him hair is overrated! Mark is hoping that his buds shave their heads in support. (i.e Weston, Braxton, Coy).