penguin cold caps, taxol/herceptin

joansf

penguin cold caps, taxol/herceptin

joansf

I am er/pr negative and Her2 positive.  I will be having Taxol and Herceptin weekly for 12 weeks starting January 7.  I am considering using the Penguin cold caps to keep my hair.  I have been in touch with women who have done this successfully, but their chemo regimen was four treatments, once every three weeks.  My question is, is there anyone out there who did Penguin caps for 12 weekly treatments, and were you able to continue successfully throughout your treatment?  And, if you used the caps for four infusions, do you have any thoughts/advice on what it would be like to it do it 12 times weekly?  Thank you so much.  I am so grateful for this site!!  Best to all

LJ13-2

Are you outside of the US? Just wondering. I believe that use of cold caps is almost unheard of in the States.

When I got chemo (and Herceptin), I did everything I could to maximize the circulation of chemo/Herceptin through my body. I accepted hair loss as part of the cost of killing every possible cancer cell that might be anywhere.

I'm not trying to preach, but because there is some controversy about the possibility of cold caps inhibiting chemo/Herceptin from reaching the scalp/skull, is it worth the risk? Hair grows back, pretty quickly too.

chainsawz

I also didn't use this because my oncologist said it could possibly inhibit chemo from reaching the scalp......I don't know if it is true, but I also chose not to take the chance since I already have mets.  However, there is a thread on this site in the forum Help Me Get Through Treatment - it's called Cold Cap Users Past and Present, to Save Hair .... I'm sure you will find tons of good information there.  Best of luck to you!!! 

Here's the link:  http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/6/topic/735873?page=2