Where I come from (yes, I say that a LOT!), dogs often move around unattended and as such, are often treated with suspicion. If it’s a dog from your ‘line’ or the row of homes where you live, then you know what you’re dealing with. Either it’s the friendly dog from your friend’s house or the 'biting' dog that belongs to the home with the juiciest guavas and is therefore viewed with fear and distrust. Don’t get me wrong, we still taunted the 'biting' dog as we walked past, but you either had to be the fastest in the group in case it found a hole in the fence and you had to scarper, or you make sure that someone slower than you was between you and the fence holding the dog back. Dog’s from other ‘lines’ or emaliyinini are ALWAYS greeted with suspicion. You never know what you’re getting because it may just harmlessly trot past you, or it could be a rabid stray that will come for you! For me, alopecia is like a dog from emaliyinini and my journey with alopecia began when I was in Grade 6. I’ll never forget it for two reasons: 1. I had fainted at school and was terrified that I would forever be known as the “fainting girl” 2. The subsequent investigation of my head for bumps resulted in the discovery of “the spot patch” Sounds harmless, doesn’t it? A spot is something small – nothing to fear at all, right? Not if it’s alopecia. A spot-sized bald patch is like taking a walk down the road to your friend’s house, relaxed, enjoying your surroundings and feeling quite content about life. Then out of the corner of your eye, you see a dog. But is it from your line or not? As children we were taught that a good sign that a dog is rabid is if it’s foaming at the mouth. But that involves watching as it gets closer to see if you have to leg it! And with alopecia, you’re always spotting dogs from emaliyinini so you’re on edge because you know it's a dog, but how bad will it be? So you’re always running your fingers over your scalp “checking”. Is that your hair smoothed out or is it a spot patch? And when your long suffering husband finally confirms that this time, the 1000th time you’ve asked, it IS a spot patch, then the panic sets in. You keep your eye on it to see if it’s growing. Problem is you can never tell if the spot is getting bigger until it’s MUCH bigger. And the knowledge that what you’ve used to treat it before may not work this time is frustrating to the power of 1000! My name is AfroBren. I have lived with rabid hair dogs since I was 11 and a few months ago, I found another. What to do now?
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April 2016
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