2023-The Year of Trauma Causes Hair Loss

I went through three major traumatic events last year.  One began on Christmas Eve of 2022 when I nearly sliced my lower leg off.  At least, Sissie's husband, who tended to my wound until the paramedics took me to the hospital in an ambulance, told her later he thought for sure I would lose that leg.  He was a battlefield medic in Afghanistan so he would know a thing or two about wounds.

We got home and shortly thereafter I got sent to Wound Care.  Being power washed to remove dead skin was no picnic.  And then the people they had putting multi-layered bandaging on me didn't know how to do it, so after about 24 hours these bandages would come undone and fall off.  

Luckily eventually I had a great home health nurse and she DID know how to administer these multilayered wraps to help close up my wound.  All in all it was a sucky time in my life and with this wound I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without help.

Then as I got past this injury my son decided to become Mr. Hyde.  He married a deceitful woman and she insisted that he do her bidding, which included turning on his own parents. He became a totally different person, someone we don't know. He began to lie to us and it all culminated at Christmas when we made a torturous 3 day car trip to see him, his wife and our granddaughter.  We weren't allowed to touch her, hold her and when we took a photo, son's wife went ballistic!  They lied that nobody in the family(her family since that is the only one they spent time with)was allowed to touch/hold her.  They mentioned that they had gone to have photos taken with Santa earlier that day but we assumed one of her parents had held her for that.  And 2 days following our visit they were taking the baby on a plane to Florida because wife's brother(who is a music teacher)had the school marching band performing at some Bowl Game down there.  Who takes an infant on a germ filled plane in the Winter but doesn't let her own grandparents touch her?  Oh, and we were required to have certain vaccines before the wife would allow us to be in the same room with our granddaughter.

We brought gifts, including this cute baby romper I bought at the Tower of London......

See the Queen's corgis on it? lol  We got no thank you either in person or in a text/email/phone call from either of them.  Son dropped a generic gift card in a card and shoved it into Hubs hands.  Does this generation not have any manners.

We went to the meeting bearing gifts in an effort to reconcile but son's wife would have none of it!  She was hell bent on being vicious and mean toward us and withholding our granddaughter like a weapon.  Even my younger son saw and said that.  While older son just goes along with wife's agenda.  I was so disappointed.

So we finished that visit and 2 days later drove to VA to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law.  Sister-in-law was somehow still friends with my son and his wife on FB and started showing hundreds of photos the wife had posted there(after she had instructed us not to post any photos of the baby online).  Including a photo with Santa, where they had plopped that baby in a complete strangers lap(neither of them had held her!)!!  

When confronted with this they continued to lie to us and sister-in-law got unfriended on FB(like everybody else).  Hubs blew up at son and I told him he was no longer my son.  He had destroyed any relationship we had with his deceits and lies and I just couldn't take anymore of his backstabbing.  He has caused me undue stress, anxiety and emotional disturbance that whole year.  I feel part of it's his wife making him lie to us to cover up her deceits but who knows for sure.  At any rate, I no longer wished to be part his life, even if that meant never seeing my granddaughter again.  I wasn't going to make him chose between his wife(who has made it very clear she hates us)and his parents, who loved, sacrificed and did a lot for him.  So basically I gave him the gift of peace by no longer being interested in being in his life.  That meant I'll never get to see my granddaughter but I will make that sacrifice it it brings him peace in his marriage to that witch.

Then my daughter, who we dragged our lives down here for, because she begged us to be near her, started acting strangely and distant.  Over that first year down here, she had slowly been withdrawing from us.  But I think older son had told her lies about our visit to PA and she refused to talk to us and get our version of what happened, so I confronted her about her behavior and other things I don't want to mention here and she basically blew us off.  She refuses to have anything to do with us now.  I gathered a box of her things from childhood(like I did for the other two kids)and went to her house around noon on a Sunday recently to give it to her.  Even with ringing the doorbell, knocking loudly numerous times on the door and her big dog barking her head off, daughter refused to answer the door.  And I know they were home as both cars were in the driveway.
I had typed up a note, just in case, so I taped it to her door, and left the box on the front porch.

So that has been a large emotional and anxiety ridden part of last year.  We sent baby gifts(some where never acknowledged)and we brought more things to PA for the granddaughter and her parents refused to acknowledge them.

Then I had to run a medical gauntlet here of incompetent health care, an orthopedic surgeon who led me on and lied to me about doing my knee replacement(he kept offering me steroid shots in the knee, knowing full well, that would put me off for 3 more months).  So I hobbled around until I found the orthopedist in Ohio would did an excellent job on my TKR.

When I returned, after recovering from a PCP/Pediatrician assigned to me who abandoned me via some unknown to me person over the phone at that facility(and yes I reported her to the health system's CEO and the LA Board of Medical Examiners), I found a new PCP and a physical therapy place to help me recover the use of my knee.

While at that PT one day, I happened to look into the mirror while doing some exercise.  They had a mirror covering one whole wall of that place. I was able to see that I had bald places on the back of my head where hair should be!  WTF?!?!

This was taken in January when my hair was still colored.  I had long hair before this.

My forehead today..........

It's not as bad as it use to be but still.  I use to be able to part my hair, now I had short nubs of hair in the front I can't part.

My hair was so shockingly bad that I had to wear chemo patient type headwraps when we went to PA at Christmas.....

I can't believe that my husband never mentioned to me that I had numerous bald spots on the back of my head that whole time!  I guess men  don't notice stuff like that, huh?  I went all around the British Isles on a cruise ship in that semi-bald state and now I feel a fool.

Now with the prospect of that Focused Ultrasound procedure ahead the part most women dread, having to shave your head for it, is not a big deal with me.  I am halfway to bald now so why should I care?!

Via Good Buddy Anne I found wig manufacturer and since then I don't go out in public without a wig on.......

2023 was the Year From Hell for me, between medical issues and 2 ungrateful children who stabbed us in the back. Both of which caused me major anxiety and depression and caused me to lose my hair and question my sanity.

Sluggy