Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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carolsue, I'll be praying the insurance comes through for the PERJETA to go with Herceptin. Much love
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thank you MinusTwo. :-)
** and you Moonflwr!! I overlooked your post earlier.
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HOPPY SPRING EVERYONE!
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Carolsue...such a crappy drag! I too am thinking of you and wishing you continued success.
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thank you princessrn.
Last time I did TCH, I know I lost all my eyelashes and eyebrows, but I can't remember when it happened. I've finished 5 treatments and still have them. Dare I hope that they might not fall out this time? Or does it happen after the last treatment?
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I still have some eyelashes and eyebrows fourth cycle Thursday.
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Sorry princess, mine bugged out after tx was done
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thanks Moonflwr, that's what I was afraid of.
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I never lost all the eyebrows, did lose the bottom lashes completely by about the 2/3 point, never lost all the top - each eye had half a dozen, but they were not evenly spaced out so it looked a bit spider-ish, lol!
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I kept most of my lashes through tx, then about a month after I finished the rest fell out. The eyebrows didn't make it past the first few txs. Even though most of us get the same basic SE's, each of our bodies likes to put their own spin on them
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I didn't lose my lashes, but my eyebrows thinned very significantly, and even now - five years later - they are much thinner than previously. I think it is permanent. Small price to pay overall, but I do miss them.
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amy - my brows, lashes and hair are all thinner than they were - I think the lashes and brows are thinner from chemo, but the hair is thinner from hormonal therapy. My hair initially grew back much as it was but thinned after 6 months to a year after starting the AI.
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Is there such a thing as fake eyebrows that you can apply, or do people just draw them on with an eyebrow pencil? My first TCH treatment is tomorrow!
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Ever - best of luck on your tx tomorrow. Come back with all your questions. Someone here will have been through anything that you are going through and offer help & support. That is what makes this board so great!
As far as I know, people just use an eyebrow pencil. BUT there is a program run by American Cancer Soc called Look Good, Feel Better. You can go to their site here http://lookgoodfeelbetter.org/programs and enter your zip to find a program near you. It is an evening get together (free) with other women going through treatment. They have a customized make up kit for each participant (major companies donate, and they assemble them for your skin tone) and they do a presentation where they teach you how to care for skin/nails during treatment and show all kinds of makeup tips. Everyone gets a makeover. They teach about how to handle loss of brows and lashes. The one I went to had lots of wigs, in case you needed one (I didn't). But we had a blast trying on all different color wigs and running to the bathroom mirror to look at ourselves and laugh.
It might sound macabre and not fun, but it really was a nice evening. And the makeup kit they give you is great! I think I remember them showing some scarf tying tricks as well (although I was never good at that). So go to the link and sign up. Do it mid-chemo once your hair is gone. It will give you something to look forward to. It was a fun night.
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ever - I never needed to draw mine on, they didn't completely fall out. There are several companies that make stencil kits - Too Faced, Anastasia, Japonesque. I used an Anastasia product that is like tinted mascara for brows, Benefit makes one too, just to beef them up a bit. Here are some links:
http://www.sephora.com/tinted-brow-gel-P187202?skuId=829713
http://www.sephora.com/search/search.jsp?keyword=brow%20stencils
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and there are actually temp tattoos for eyebrows. Not to mention glue on eyebrows just like glue on eyelashes.
I used the brow kit too. It's like specialk says. You just make them a bit darker. Mine never came back as heavy thank goodness. But of course not evenly. Kinda looks like a soul patch misplaced as an eyebrow.... LOL
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This is as good as they got. I snapped this just a minute ago.
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and here's the soul patch version back just after tx. (notice the suitcases -too big to be just bags- under eyes) LOL
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ha ha! Soul patch brows - that's what mine are, too. I'll have to figure out how to post pics.
Mine fell out about 3 months after I finished chemo.
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McKatherine, I have to ask. How was the hair on your head 3 months post-chemo?
I'm 3 weeks PFC, and my brows are thinning (but still enough there to look normal). My body is slow to react in all things (except apparently in growing cancer
) so I am really afraid of the late brow-baldness. My hair did not fall in earnest until Day 14 after TCH #2. I still have very thin wiry/fuzzy old man (or baby) hair that never fell - but zero new growth. It would be easier to stomach the thought of no brows in 3 months if I stood a chance of having some head-hair by then 
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Oranje - I am 4 months PFC (except for the herceptin every 3 weeks for the rest of the year). I didn't shave my head but did cut it down to less than 1/2" when I started loosing it on day 16 of the 1st chemo. That first chemo ended in August - then I had to have more chemo starting November after surgery so any fuzz I'd gained back disappeared again.
I used Latisse on my lashes & brows from the beginning a year ago but slacked off in December. So of course I lost my lashes 30 days after the 2nd chemo ended. My brows got thin but didn't disappear. Luckily both have come back nicely.
I'm surprised that I have hair on my head that is over 1/2" long since I expected Herceptin to keep the growth slow. And unlike I've read on several threads, I have more on top than on the sides. I have some sparse hairs on my legs that are an inch long and have a good crop down in the private region - but none under my arms. I took B-6 & B-12 through out the entire process and started Biotin in late February. My PCP put me on Zinc for my nails in March and I think that's helped the hair too.
Now I need to find out from my MO next week if he believes I should stay away from Vitamins A, C, and E for the rest of my life - since those are in the "hair & nails" formulas. Such a controversial issue!
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did not lose eyebrow or lashes - just thinned a bit - never stopped growing leg hair - damn it - now it's growing like crazy - must be the herceptin? i didn't know that slowed your head hair growth?? using the onion shampoo & i do believe it's working! stopped wearing the wig @ work because i am sick of it! afterall i do have more hair then most of the men, right??!
deal with it, people! )minustwo,why can't you take the vitamins? i went back on everything plus more after I finished the chemo
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NotBuyingit - both my MO and my RO insisted that I stop serious antioxidants during treatment - so that's A, C & E. The theory was that they're trying to kill cells and antioxidants promote cell growth to it's counterproductive. Sometime in the last year I read something about those same vitamins being hazardous to cancer re-growth & maybe BC survivors shouldn't take them. I do take a Centrum Silver which has some of those, but have hesitated to start big doses of those three again. Need to do more research.
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Had my 4th of 6 TCH treatments on Friday, April 18th. The side effects are better today, but I just want to say IT SUCKS! I know it's saving my life and I know I will get through it, but sometimes it helps to say IT SUCKS! Lol! Other than that, I'm having a great day
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Sucks, Sucks, Sucks - Go ahead Skool and say it again. SUCKS. I'm still down 55 lbs from the "big D" (gained 5 back since December). And I have neuropathy in feet & fingers. SUCKS. But I got through it & so will you. I bought a swim suit today since the BS said I can go back to water aerobics even w/my port in place for Herceptin the rest of the year.
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skool, you're not kidding it does suck. But we get through it.
Minus I am in an arthritis aquaerobic class for the first time since my BMX. I swam maybe 2 times in between. Been too many sx in between! That and not really wanting to go in with one boob. LOL.
Skool hope the side effects leave you quickly.
Much love to all.
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moon - maybe it's just because I'm so flat, but with a rash guard over my swimsuit, you could hardly tell when I was one sided.
I miss the pool. Orange - three months pfc I was not wearing my wig. I looked like GI Jane, but was tired of the wig.
My lashes thinned slowly - other people didn't really notice until Nov or so (that's when my pic was taken - 5 mos pfc). I finally broke down in late Jan and bought a brow pencil and trimmed the crazy long brows that were sticking up since all their friends left. They're regrowing, but they're still thin. I'll try to take a pic of my "soul patch" brows tomorrow.
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McK, no I was lopsided for 2 years. Now I am at my new normal happy permanent implants! LOL
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I re-read your post and realized what you meant. Yup. I'm loopy. Guess my edit and your response passed each other in cyberspace.
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GI Jane - that's the look. I thought I was channeling Jamie Lee Curtis, but it's much shorter. I haven't worn the wig in a while but usually still wear Buffs since I'm cold. I can hardly wait to go 'commando' next time I have lunch w/my ex and his wife. She's the one who said people going out with bald heads are just gross and it shouldn't be allowed. At the time I felt too sick to even reply, but wish I'd whipped off my wig.
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