Walter

Over a year ago when I had my initial consult with Dr. Basta he gave me the impression that literally one half of my head would be shaved due to the fact I have small ventricles (brain holes). So he even brought up giving all my hair to Locks of Love. I got a get well card claiming to love me despite being bald (I think it was for cancer survivors) and a sweet friend knitted me a gorgeous scarf to use as a cover so my head wouldn't freeze in December. I even remember going in the day before my surgery to do blood work and get those nasty anti-MRSA cleaning pads and the volunteer who worked the hospitality table looked at me and my sheet then said "but you have such beautiful hair." I thanked her and shrugged my shoulders.

So it was a nice surprise to take my turban off and see that he or whoever shaved large patch of hair rather than a whole side of hair. The patch was completely coverable, so I thought.

However like a cute baby turns into a unruly teenager, my baby hairs turned into a wild mess of curly hair (I normally had straight hair). We named this mess Walter after a bum boyfriend my co-worker had. And Walter only got worse the longer he got. I had a student once. This student typically wore his hair in nice and neat corn rows, but every once in awhile he would show up to class with a feral, poofey, mane. Those were the days I typically had to call for a principal to come remove him from the class. His barbarian hair matched his mood. Looking back, I am amazed he manage to keep it together for most of the year because unmanageable hair puts me in a bad mood a lot!

Walter has been a baby 3 times now and by the second surgery I had perfected the Walter Hair Do.First I had to succumb to the curliness of Walter and start cheering for the rest of my hair to be curly. My hair reacted well to The Curly Girl Method suggested by two friends who dealt with curly hair. Walter also required me to pull 1/3 of my front hair into bobby pins. Then I have to strategically place those bobby pins over Walter to tame his ass down! If not, he will poke out any way he can. Oh and mornings are Walter's time to shine! I sleep on my right side, which is the side Walter lives. So he gets rustled, teased, and messied up all night long and I wake up looking like Big Foot just pulped on my head. Sometimes I catch Kyle looking up at him when he is suppose to be looking at me. When I fuss about it, Kyle laughs and says Walter is showing off today.

 

Say Hi Walter!

 

Luckily Walter has become a constant, but comical part of all the surgeries. And I remember it could always be worse. But if you ever come over in the morning do not be scared of the animal on the right side of my head.