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Cold Caps Users Past and Present, to Save Hair

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Comments

  • suladog
    suladog Member Posts: 837
    edited August 2015

    NY,

    Congrats on making it through to the other side!!! And... Keeping your hair! You went through a tough chemo, enjoy Paris

  • Wildflower2015
    Wildflower2015 Member Posts: 223
    edited December 2015

    I haven't had the courage to post any pics till now - this is me 1 week after 3rd TC treatment. Thought it might be helpful to you gals who, like me, started out with naturally fine and thin hair to begin with. :-) Fourth and last one coming up in 6 more days. YAY. Hoping the cold caps continue to do their magic!

  • PatinMN
    PatinMN Member Posts: 784
    edited August 2015

    Looks great, Wildflower

  • Jbandkb1
    Jbandkb1 Member Posts: 55
    edited August 2015

    For those who have been through it. Is there a way to beat the extreme fatigue & exhibition? I have been in need for 2 days now. Yesterday I could barley get up to use the bathroom. My husband had had to take both days off to take care of our kids since we have no help.

  • suladog
    suladog Member Posts: 837
    edited August 2015

    Wildflower,

    Your hair is stunning! I love seeing the cold caps do their magic

  • suladog
    suladog Member Posts: 837
    edited August 2015

    Jb,

    Have your iron levels been checked??? Turned out Inwas becoming anemic and my MO put me on daily iron, it helped a bunch

  • Jbandkb1
    Jbandkb1 Member Posts: 55
    edited August 2015

    Last blood work everything looked good.

  • Jbandkb1
    Jbandkb1 Member Posts: 55
    edited August 2015

    Is taxol really much easier then AC? I still have 2 more rounds of AC

  • JoeyJamesMom
    JoeyJamesMom Member Posts: 78
    edited August 2015

    Hi, Cinderella.

    My breast cancer was Triple Negative. My tumor was about 1.5 cm. I was diagnosed in June, 2014.

    My tumor was grade 3 and I was stage 1.

    I had my chemo first. 4 treatments of Taxol, and 4 treatments of AC. I then had a double latissimus dorsi

    mastectomy. I finished chemo on Nov. 7th and had my surgery on Dec. 15th. They say I am cancer free,

    but I still worry about it coming back a lot, since the Tamoxifen will not help us :-(

    I used the Penquin cold caps. I lost very, very little hair on the Taxol, but quite a bit on the AC. I wonder if the stress of surgery played a part in that, though, because my hair looked really full until the middle or end of January.

    It started growing back in no time. I hadn't realized how much I lost until it started growing back in.

    I paid 580.00 a month for the cold caps when I used them this time last year. I am not sure if that is still the price now, though.

    I would suggest going to the Penquin Cold Caps website. I ordered the caps there, then a rep. from Michigan

    (Geralyn) sent them to me via Fed X.

    I AM so glad I used them. They may have been expensive, but worth every single cent.

    I wish you lot's of luck!

    If you have any questions for me, please send me a message. I should get an email because I haven't logged in for months.

    Have a good one!


  • StefLove
    StefLove Member Posts: 201
    edited August 2015

    jb, taxol is like night and day easier compared to AC for me. On the weeks I just get taxol I feel like a normal human being. On carboplatin weeks I'm a little more achy and fatigued but still nothing like AC. Hopefully taxol is just as easy on you

  • Angiel
    Angiel Member Posts: 175
    edited August 2015

    Jbandkb, taxol was SO much easier for me than AC. Just focus on getting done with AC and you will see firsthand how much better it is. The biggest pain is simply that you have to go every week but you will pull through it.

    Steflove, glad to see you are back and staying the course! I am 6 weeks PFC and my hair is growing in all over through the thinning areas. You will be so much more ahead of the hair game just keeping whatever hair you can so that your new growth will help blend it all together.

    Wildflower you look great! Awesome results!!

    Nyinshocked, congrats on being done and have a fabulous time in Paris!!

    Alice, I did rinse the acv mixture with cool water but not always right away. If I applied it in the shower I would rinse it right away. Otherwise I would just spray it and let it be. Even though it smelled funky, it totally helped.

  • Angiel
    Angiel Member Posts: 175
    edited August 2015

    Any prayer warriors out there? I'm heading in for my bilateral mastectomy & lymph node dissection today and could use some prayers....feeling scared and nervous. On the "glass half full" side, my hair has really slowed in the shedding and I am so thankful to have it.

  • Scarlett152
    Scarlett152 Member Posts: 43
    edited August 2015

    good luck Angiel! You'll do great

  • PatinMN
    PatinMN Member Posts: 784
    edited August 2015

    Angie, praying for a successful surgery and only dead cancer cells. Let us know how it goes when you feel up to it

  • Jbandkb1
    Jbandkb1 Member Posts: 55
    edited August 2015

    Praying for you Angiel

  • StefLove
    StefLove Member Posts: 201
    edited August 2015

    sending lots of love angiel!! <3

  • dancetrancer
    dancetrancer Member Posts: 2,461
    edited August 2015

    Sending positive energy and prayers your way Angiel!

  • suladog
    suladog Member Posts: 837
    edited August 2015

    All good thoughts and healing energy to you Angiel!

  • wpmoon
    wpmoon Member Posts: 53
    edited August 2015

    Love and light your way, Angiel!

  • Wildflower2015
    Wildflower2015 Member Posts: 223
    edited August 2015

    Angiel, sending good wishes and prayers your way!

  • Alibeths
    Alibeths Member Posts: 167
    edited August 2015

    yay Angie!!!!!! You'll be great!!!! And you have hair!

  • regatta21
    regatta21 Member Posts: 5
    edited August 2015

    Swedish cold cap, DigniCap, at Weill Cornell in New York, NY is hooked up to a refrigeration unit. I wish I heard about this before!!

    http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/device-prevents-hair-loss-cancer-patients-u-s-article-1.1754658

  • Alibeths
    Alibeths Member Posts: 167
    edited August 2015

    Regatta, its not available yet.

  • Jbandkb1
    Jbandkb1 Member Posts: 55
    edited August 2015

    Day 22 after chemo does this look like normal shedding or the caps aren't working?image

  • wpmoon
    wpmoon Member Posts: 53
    edited August 2015

    Jb - that looks pretty good to me! I had a significant bald spot right in the middle at that point. Keep capping!

  • MsBrompton
    MsBrompton Member Posts: 324
    edited August 2015

    Yep, I'm using cold cap. Early days, but good so far.

  • 051215
    051215 Member Posts: 2
    edited August 2015

    COLD CAP SHARING, NYC

    Hi,

    I'm due to start chemo on 9/3 at the Dubin breast center at Mount Sinai in NYC, until approx 11/5. I'm considering using the cold cap and wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in being my chemo buddy and share the cold cap rental costs (as recommended by a former patient who did this)? I think it only really works if we are both getting chemo within the same timeframe and for a similar duration since the caps are rented on a monthly basis. If anyone is interested, please let me know!

  • Alibeths
    Alibeths Member Posts: 167
    edited August 2015

    check out this new company doing the caps. They do everything for you! Arcticcoldcaps.co

  • Alibeths
    Alibeths Member Posts: 167
    edited August 2015

    www.arcticcoldcaps.com

  • jc254
    jc254 Member Posts: 332
    edited August 2015

    Alibeths, there's at least one other similar service out there. This one appears to operate in the Philadelphia area. Yes, they do everything for you, and you pay a premium for the service. I'm guessing they use ElastoGel caps that can be purchased directly from Amazon, along with the necessary supplies. The all inclusive service may be helpful to some, particularly those that don't have helpers available, but it's not necessary.