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My mom and I recently visited an old acquaintance who had been out of commission for several years with leukemia.  Even after her last bout of chemotherapy, it was a long time before  she was strong enough to go back to work.  Fighting the disease off nearly killed her.

Because she was out of commission for so long, it’s been years since we’ve seen her — since before she was diagnosed, actually.  All of her hair has grown back, and she looks just the same as she did before her diagnosis, albeit a little older and more careworn.

Interestingly, one of the things she told us about was “chemo hair” — how her hair grew in thicker and even curlier after she was done with the chemotherapy.  It’s kind of funny how the cells and the hair follicles respond to chemo — it’s almost like by producing “chemo hair,” they are coming back with a vengeance.

It’s almost surprising, in a way.  You would expect the chemo to have a more lasting effect on the hair follicles, perhaps even killing them permanently and resulting in the person having to get a hair transplant.  But that’s just not the case at all.

It’s amazing how well the human body can rebound from something like that, don’t you think?

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