Have to have chemo

Hi there, welcome to the forum and thank you for your post. 

My diagnosis was bilateral but my left side sounds similar to yours, as in IDC, grade 3, stage 2. I however had a mastectomy last April.  I had micromestastesis in one sentinel node and onco score of 28. 

I had 16 rounds of chemotherapy.  4 of EC and 12 of Paclitaxel, June to November last year. Everyone is affected differently. I had a tough time with EC side effects. I've just finished yesterday 5 days of radiotherapy. 

I didn't do the cold cap, it just felt like too much for me. I've read many accounts of people who have though, so I'm sure you will get some feedback  here.

This of course, meant that I lost all of my very long hair, that is still hard. I mainly wear a wig and occasionally head wraps. It's now two months since finishing chemo, I have some downy hair growth on my head and I'm very happy to have my eyebrows back!

The physical side effects are slowly receding. Mentally, I do feel a lot lighter these days, it's been a heavy year. Being almost a year to the day since my fateful mammogram. I'm looking forward to life after treatment. 

I wish you well with your treatment.  Chemo is no picnic but I'm still here.  No doubt, you will be too.

Sending all the hugs, Shaka 

Thank you for replying, dreading the chemo and losing my hair and whatever else it brings. It’s such a rollercoaster isn’t it! It’s good to be able to talk to people going or have gone through the same experience as I don’t have many people,all the females in my family are not here anymore and not being able to work isolates you further. Emotionally I’m up and down and crying randomly, I don’t feel in control of my life anymore and sick of being told “you’ve got this or you’re strong” 

I wish you well in your recovery and next chapter of your journey and again thank you for reaching out xxx

I'm sorry to read your situation,  I have completed my first 2 cycles of chemotherapy and have used the cold cap.  I started losing my hair 5 days after my second treatment and am shedding daily at the moment.  I don't think however to a casual observer that it is too noticeable.  I think I will continue with the cold cap as I have read that it can speed up regrowth.  It does make the treatment days longer but for me it works as a distraction and gives me time to just be sitting quietly in the hospital after the treatment before having to travel home and deal with life, medication and side effects.   Does that sound weird!  My oncologist is excellent and told me to try it as she thought it would work well, I have fine hair.  You can change your mind aat any time but if you stop you can't restart it.  I am having 4 rounds of EC and 4 rounds of Paclitaxel followed by radiotherapy.   Wishing you all the best for your journey,  any questions please ask.  Sending you hugs x

Hi Csf, you're right, it's a definite roller coaster! It's great that you've reached out here for support. Cancer treatment can be a lonely place.

I'm with you and grew so tired of the 'you're strong' mantra. Somehow, it feels like being upset then, is weakness. Yet how can it be? A cancer diagnosis is a nightmare and surely being upset or even despairing is completely normal?

I adopted quite early on the mantra of "I am not brave, I just choose life."

In terms of isolation.  I would have a look at what's available in your area. I have found a really good cancer support centre in my area and I've really benefited from the activities there. 

Once again, wishing you well.  S

My treatment was pretty much the same and I cold capped. Had shoulder length hair prior to chemo and was advised to cut shorter , mainly to try and accept hair thinning - which did occur and was quite upsetting. However even with a few ‘baldy bits’ I managed to keep enough hair to look ok ( perhaps not on windy days!) most loss with EC but within weeks of starting Docetaxol I had signs of re growth. Finished chemo July last year. This photo taken just after cut and first colour last week. For me cold caping helped me to get back to feeling “normal” probably faster than if I had lost all hair.

Did you have the port and was it uncomfortable, hurt to have put in? Heard the caps pretty uncomfortable and it adds time onto your session. Your hair looks fantastic and well done for getting through that xx

Hi

I cold capped and found it no problem, i often had to wait for the treatment to arrive so this gave the nurses time to put the cap on. It didn't add on extra time. Often treatment was delayed for other reasons or waiting for a doctor to prescribed something took time so using the cold cap wasn't an issue.

I didn't find it painful, it was a strange experience but once the fist few minutes were done it was ok. A lady next to me tried it but couldn't do it so perhaps we are all different.

It worked really well for me, I had thick, coarse hair to start with, it came out as I combed it but never in clumps. I had it cut into a bob as I found it quite knotty and that made a huge difference. I would say it was thinner but only noticeable to me. 

I felt that loosing my hair would make me look ill and I didn't want that, loosing my eyebrows and lashes which hadn't occurred to me was more of an issue but I experimented with mae up.....which was interesting. 

Thank you for sharing your experience. I would like to try and save some hair if possible,I’ve got some decisions to make and it doesn’t help that I just had a phone call asking if I would like to start treatment next week