What will happen to my hair? My eyebrows? My eye lashes? What will I look like in 6 months time? So many people tell me it doesn’t matter, the main thing is to get rid of the Cancer. But do you know what? It does matter. It matters a lot and anyone who tells me the main thing is to get better will cop an unfortunate one.

Chances are the person telling me this will have washed their hair and maybe put on some make up (usually the female ones, but by no means exclusively). Why? You don’t have cancer, why does it matter what you look like?

I am all too aware that surviving Cancer is more important than having nice hair, but do the two need to be mutually exclusive? Why can’t I have both?

I would not be getting through each day if all I thought about was the cancer, the treatment, getting better etc. There is nothing I can do about that. The surgery is booked. The chemo is booked. The cancer will grow as much or as little as it wants in that time. There is not a thing I can do about it. (And anyone telling me to eat pine nuts mixed with a sloths urine to cure my Cancer may also move along….)

But something I can do, something that is within my control, is to try and minimise the damage these things do to my appearance, my self esteem and my confidence.

Over the next few months I’m facing hair loss, half inflated boobs, bloating from chemo. I’m not going to be putting in a Miss world application any time soon, but I can at least try not to be guest of honour at the Ugly Bug Ball!

Also…and this is the main point if I’m honest…It’s fun! How many of us girls love an excuse for a bit of pampering? Some new clothes, a new hair cut, some fancy make up. It can be a great mood lifter, as well as something to focus on while I try and pass the time until the op.

So the next few weeks will be devoted almost solely to vanity. And lots of it.

First up….the hair.