So here's the thing about hair – it grows back. We all know that, right? And yet to a woman facing cancer losing her hair can be one of the most traumatic aspects of the whole experience. Some women actually decide not to undergo chemotherapy because they don't want to lose their hair – seriously.

I decided I didn't want to be one of those women. My cancer was fortunately caught so early there was debate as to whether chemo was even needed. But as I said before, I wanted to hit this thing hard and I didn't want to take any chances. All it takes is one rogue cell that gets missed by surgery to set up camp elsewhere in your body and start proliferating again. My plan was to blast this thing out of my body and then go on to live to be 100.

Greg Brady & me

As you're probably beginning to notice, I don't do cancer like most people do. If I was going to lose my hair I was going to make it fun. I have dark brunette hair and thought it would be fun to see what I'd look like blonde. So my husband Bill and I grabbed a home bleaching kit from Fred Meyer and attempted to bleach my hair. I say attempted, because instead of turning out blonde it turned out kind of orange. Remember that old Brady Bunch episode where Greg inadvertently dyed his hair orange? Yeah, it kinda looked like that. (Well okay, maybe not quite that bad.)

So after several days we attempted a second bleaching. This time it turned out a horrible brassy yellow. It looked ridiculous! Bill and I laughed that I looked like one of those regulars you see in Vegas who look like they've lived there for years and, as a result, look rather trashy and worn out. Hmmm, that gave me an idea.

My hair prompted an interesting alter-ego to emerge, and well, we needed to film her, right? "Stella" was born. I dressed in a ridiculous getup and then Bill filmed me as Stella. Our intent was just to do it for fun, but at the urging of friends and family, Stella made it to You Tube. Oh Lord, things were getting crazy now!