11/10/2017

There are many ways that we express ourselves, we use freedom of speech, tattoos, the clothes we were, the music we here, even with our hair. With our hair, we express ourselves in many ways. Some people don’t cut their hair because of their religion, or some people cut and color their hair as way to go against society. Shoot, since I was 15 , I got highlights, dyed my hair grey, and now I have a bright, like very bright red. Sometimes we as people don’t appreciate how amazing our hair is until its taken away from us against our will.

When Erick was born, he had a little bit of hair, and a month later he was almost bald, but as he was turning one, he had straight, light brown hair. By the time Erick was two, he had straight, light brown, mushroom hair cut ( insert laugh here lol). Without a doubt my parents, Luis and I loved his mushroom hair. But eventually his hair was getting in his eyes and making him sweat, so finally it was time for a real haircut. That haircut i tried to match him exactly like Luis. They already looked alike so why not similar haircuts!? He was so happy and it was the beginning of many haircuts to come.

While I had a million questions about Erick’s leukemia, one of our most important question was if he was going to lose his hair. Most children do end up losing their hair. There is however a small percentage of children who don’t. Erick started treatment since June and now we are in the month of November, and ever since diagnosis, he has kept his hair and even had a haircut earlier this year. We are on the second week of November, and his hair is starting to fall out. Luis noticed on November 7th, and ever since then, I am having the hardest time dealing with Erick losing his hair.

I know that hair will grow back, but it is another reminder of the battle that my son is going through. As of right now we have planned to cut his hair shorter so he doesn’t notice his hair loss. Other than his recent hair loss, Erick has been responding to treatment well. This week has been a little harsher on him than before. There was times this week when he was sleeping most of the day and barely awake. He also started steroids again and has been moody, starving and grumpy but other than that, Erick still continues to be that strong baby boy since day 1.

As for me, I started going back to church. I needed to start going back to church, because since Erick was diagnosed, I have been so lost and empty. I have definitely distanced myself from God, who I firmly believed in before everything happened, but when the news hit us, I closed myself to everything, even God. As of right now, I do feel much more at peace with everything, and even though Erick’s hair loss is hurting me a lot, I have finally gave myself peace and accepted that Erick’s diagnosis is not my fault. It is no one fault, and these are things that happen in life. Unfortunately it happened to us, and what doesn’t kill us make us so much more stronger and united. Today I also finally decided to type up a blog and update everyone on Erick’s diagnosis. Thank you for all of your love and support, and continue to keep up in your prayers.