Monday, October 4, 2010

I'm on Salon

And I'm thrilled! It's here! And if you've come to this blog from Salon, thanks for visiting, and feel free to drop me a line.

3 comments:

Samiha said...

Read it. Loved it. :)

Dara said...

Hi, Allison! Yes, I did come here from Salon. I'm also the lucky recipient of another variant (I believe there are six?) of CAH--I believe mine is 21-OH-CAH--somewhat milder in presentation (I don't have the male pattern baldness, but do have loads of virilized hairs on my chin and neck. I did tried laser hair removal three times over the span of about 2 years before I gave up on it. It seems to work fine for hair that isn't virilized, but the hairs that really are beard hair came back after a while (sometimes months, sometimes a few years). I've talked about my disappointing laser experience (tried dermotologist and different laser centers, btw) at length to a friend who had sexual reassignment surgery and she commented that, in her experience (and that of the male-to-female SRS community at large) has been that electrolysis is the only way to achieve lasting hair removal.

At this point, I find myself grateful at the gradual "silvering" of my beard; the silver hairs, while no less stiff and bothersome, are much less visible when shaved than they were when they were black or red (my beard is mixed in color--sort of tortoiseshell, as my father's was!)

Anyway, I wish you better results on the laser experience. Perhaps things have improved in the five years since my experience.

Also, I was sorry to read back about Oliver. I had a cameo boy and they are just the most amazing cats. I lost my eldest girl, a tortie, to CRF at age 20 in April. I still grieve her loss, but was so glad she passed away at peacefully at home. I've had many cats and this was the first time I'd been brave enough (and Bette had a condition that did not cause pain) to allow her to die in her own time. I wouldn't trade the last two weeks of kitty hospice care we provided at home for the world. I knew my cat and she was content and understood all that was going on.I took a lot of grief from well-meaning but ill-informed animal loving friends who did not understand why I would not take her to the vet to be PTS. I was glad to have been able to take care of her needs (subQ fluids) at home. She's buried in the garden with a view of the house and pond. There won't be another like her.

Allison Landa said...

Thank you both for commenting. Dara, I'm in the process right now of figuring out what type of CAH I've got -- is it classical or not? only her hairdresser knows for sure. I really appreciate your thoughtful words about Oliver as well. Cats are amazing. :)