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Elevate Magazine / September-October 2008 / Breast Cancer Special: Silver Lining
Breast Cancer Special
Silver Lining
Thanks to a wig that looks and feels like her own hair, Elayne Silver has made the best of her 2007 breast cancer diagnosis by continuing with life as she knows it.
Dealing with breast cancer is never easy. But 51 year-old Silver somehow manages to make it look like it is - on the surface, at least. "It was very important for me to continue to live my life, to continue to work, to drive my daughter to school, to cook meals and to look my best. That's the way I am. I didn't want it to slow me down." Even on her darkest days, Silver looks great. "I never leave my house without my hair and makeup done, and I didn't want that to change. When you look good, you do feel better. It really is true."
Silver discovered a lump in her breast while performing a self-exam last year. "I won the breast cancer lottery, as far as I'm concerned. The lump I discovered was negative, but underneath it there was cancer. And I never would have known. It was pretty shocking, because I don't have a history of breast cancer in my family." She was diagnosed with stage 1, grade III breast cancer last December. The first treatment step was a lumpectomy, performed at Toronto's North York General Hospital in January. "It was a very small tumour, so, esthetically, it wasn't too defacing. That was positive. I didn't have any side effects or surgical complications, either. So then you sail along and wait for pathology results and you say 'Oh, this is easy, I'm hoping it stays this way.'"
In March, Silver started chemotherapy - a total of four rounds, taking place at three week intervals. And that's when the going got tough for the Thornhill, Ontario resident. "I thought I could deal with everything. Even puking endlessly over the toilet, because I did that when I was pregnant with all three of my kids and I was fine. But I was definitely unsettled about losing my hair. It was a really dark time for me.
Silver began losing her hair two weeks after her first round of chemotherapy. The treatment made her feel sick and tired, but she still managed to stay on top of her family life and her professional commitments as the manager of a medical clinic. However, she couldn't help but feel like she was no longer the one in charge. "This might sound bizarre, but when you have cancer you feel like you've lost control. You go for tests, you get results, they send you for more tests, you go to all kinds of doctors' appointments, you're always somewhere else listening to what someone else has to say about you. The day I picked up my wig at the salon was the day I felt I could continue to go through my life being normal. Being me."
Silver went to Continental Hair in Toronto and met with owner Michael Suba. Says Suba: "I am always inspired by chemotherapy clients, and Elayne was no exception. She's outgoing and sweet, and she's also so pretty and wore her hair so well. It was very important to her - as it is with many of our clients - to achieve a look very similar to the way she looked before chemotherapy. And because she had such beautiful hair before, we had to go with a very special wig."
Silver had very thick, long, dark hair before losing it to the effects of chemo and she wanted to maintain her former look. "I didn't want to suddenly become someone else, because I didn't want people to ask a lot of questions about my disease. The people at Continental were understanding about that. They were very supportive and did a phenomenal job. It was amazing. I picked out my wig and when I came back to get it, it was cut, coloured and highlighted perfectly. And I thought to myself, 'I can do this.'"
Silver chose a high-end wig made of European virgin hair that cost about $2,500. At Continental Hair, European virgin hair wigs start at $2,200; other options are synthetic (starting at $550) and blended (synthetic with real hair, starting at $1,200).
The wig needs to be washed and dried once a month, Silver take hers back to Continental Hair, where she always feels like she's treating herself to a spa date. "It was the only type of spa-like treatment I was allowed during chemo, and it made me feel so good to go there. I feel comfortable when I go in. I get to sit in a private room while my hair is washed and blow-dried and returned to me looking great." The best part about the wig, says Silver, is that she never has to deal with a bad hair day. "My hair always looks exactly the way I want it to. That may seem like a small thing, but feeling good about the way you look can make all the difference." She also feels comfortable in her wig, which is lightweight and secure. "I wear it all the time. Even my husband hasn't seen me without it. He says it doesn't matter to him but it does matter to me. I just want to look like myself."
This past May, Silver attended her final chemotherapy session and began to prepare for a month of radiation treatments. "There's no hair loss associated with radiation, so I'm hopeful my hair will grow back the way it was. And, of course, I'm also hopeful that when I'm done with radiation, I won't need any more treatment. I plan to keep living my life and thinking positively, because there's no end to the good positive thinking can do."
source: Elevate Magazine
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