New member!

Hi' Ali' I'm not going to say welcome because we are all members of a club we don't want to be in, but here we are

It's for sure you are among friends on here. We all have or have had the problem of varying severity and we know what you are going through. 

For my part. I had an 80mm colon one removed in 03. Then unfortunately on my routine scan they found another one in my lung in 04. I had that one removed in 04.

I didn't have Radio or Chemo just the surgery so I can't comment on any side effects. All I can say is I now feel fine and back to my normal self. There's no reason why you shouldn't be the same once you get through the procedure. It's a bloody nuisance and a bastard disease we know but we just have to get on with it and trust in our consultants.

There will be others on here who will chat with you, you are not alone stay strong

Oh forgot to say I'm 84 and don't take any medication of any sort, I'm chemical free

Thank you for replying and for the reassurance.

Spent a fraught night, coughing and awake! Feeling better this morning!

Unfortunately, no surgery for me- only chemo which hopefully will clear the cancer. And have not been well for over a year, when I received a ceoliac disease diagnosis. This after the deaths of my sister ( younger, covid related, 2023) and my mother ( 2024, mother was 92, and had bowel cancer which, due to her frailty was treated conservately)

So had some bad events and then broke my hip and had replacement June 2025!!

Thank you again for responding, it means a lot!

Hi like you I'm in my 70s. I have stage 4 non small cancer. I am due to begin chemotherapy and radiotherapy soon. I have also been wondering whether to try the cold cap to try and save some hair. I have read it freezes hair and follicles and can be initially painful. Plus I derstand it prolongs treatment while it thaws out. I think I have decided to give it a go in the knowledge that I can stop it if it gets too bad. If you decide to go with it let us know how you get on. 

Wishing you all the best xx

Hi, apologies for the long post I had chemotherapy and immunotherapy in Jan 2025 and I used a cold cap,

which worked very well, my hair did not fall out but instead became very thin and patchy,

first my hair was coated in conditioner then the inner shell  of the cold cap was put on, followed  my the outer shell which is attached to the machine, once the cap gets cold the chemotherapy starts. After the chemo the cold cap is switched off and you wait until you can remove it without it pulling on your hair so it does prolong treatment a bit, but I thought was worth it,

the first 15 mins or so it felt uncomfortable and very cold but then I got used to it and didn’t notice it was on,

two pieces of advise I was given helped a lot one was to put a swimming cap over the top of the cold cap to get a closer fit and the other was to take a paracetamol 20 mins before the cold capping starts, which worked amazingly, on one occasion I forgot the paracetamol and boy did I notice the difference.

Great advice thank you. I will definately give it a go. x

Hi Delia,

I decided to try cold cap as well. It’s true that the first 15minutes can feel uncomfortable like a tight band squeezing your head and it does extend the time spent at chemo because you have to wait as cold shrinks the hair follicles. This helps to slow down the growth of hair. I also had my hair cut shorter and bought some extra gentle shampoo so I needed less use of hair dryer and hair products.

I only had two lots of chemo but certainly kept all my hair. Give it a try. You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to. 

All the best Daisy

Hi all, thanks for your responses! You are certainly very knowledgeable! I had first treatment today a nd am impressed, it went like clockwork and was far less invasive than I had thought it would be.It went well and I feel fine!

Decided not to have cold cap- nurse in charge said unnecessary  with this treatment so gave it a miss- will let you know how I get on!

1. Nice one Delia