Just Wanna Know He's Keeping Count

"But even the hairs of your head are all numbered."
Matthew 10:30 ESV


Well it comes down to this ...
I'm molting.

It started about 8 weeks ago and for most of the 8, I stayed in denial. I would randomly mention how much I was shedding, as if my words became some sort of life-preserver I'd throw out into the void hoping that some listener might say, "Oh, I'm losing a ton of hair right now, too.", and it would serve to reassure me that what was happening in my bathroom each morning was normal. Every time I'd toss that ring of words out ... inevitably someone would say what I wanted to hear. And the weeks passed.

It wasn't until I admitted there was enough DNA on the tile floor to provide Dr.Frankenstein the raw material for a dozen incarnations that I broke down and contacted my dermatologist. After hearing me freak out in my "admitting is the first step" sort of mode, this was his response:

"You'll survive, but this scares everyone I know. You almost certainly have telogen effluvium, which is a substantial and fast hair loss that occurs 3-6 months after some major health issue/major stresser etc. It also happens "for no reason" at all sometimes, but even then, it is usually in a young woman (very young in your case!). The good news is that it does reverse course usually. However, you should have blood work just to make darn sure nothing else is going on (e.g. Thyroid, CBC etc.) What I would do no matter what is use Rogaine 5% foam for Men (the "Men" thing is just marketing so ignore it!!) twice a day. The foam form is MUCH easier to use (but even it is a pain to some extent). You will get your hair back eventually once the follicles reset, but we do need the blood work just to be sure we don't miss anything."

Listen people ... I wouldn't advice doing a google image on this condition. My niece gave the same warning to me - to which I promptly went over to google and did an image search on it. So, I'm guessing about right now you are ignoring me and going over to google it for yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you. Yeh, well, I figured if you were gonna do it anyway, I'd save you the trouble of remembering how to spell it.

Let me just tell you ... anyone who knows me knows that my big hair is right up there with world peace and hot Krispy Kremes. I mean ... big hair is ... well ... it's just about the best thing ever. I am known for my big hair. So in a sense, I am having an identity crisis. Mine does not look anywhere near the horrors on google ... but you have to keep in mind that if you have one ounce of my mother's blood in you ... your hair is thick as molasses on a January morning. So, truthfully, I could lose a ton and still have a ton. However, I can certainly tell that it is half as thick as it normally is and that, cyberfriends, is enough to make me really scared. Every morning I hope and pray that it won't happen again ... but so far ... it's still happening. Not an hour ago, I swept Cousin It up off my bathroom floor.

I think the pain and steroid injections for my neck and back, coupled with the 2009 trauma of my dear, dear friend Ginger has, quite honestly, caused this follicle frenzy. So, today, as I wait for my scalp to reboot itself ... I find great comfort in this Matthew passage that reminds me that even though I am losing hundreds of strands a day ...

"I don't need the strength of Samson or a chariot in the end...
Just Want to know that You still know how many hairs are on my head.
Oh, Great God, be small enough to hear me now."
~ Nichole Nordeman

I know He knows ...