Starting chemo November 2020

marie914

corals - My hair thinned 50% first infusion - about 17-21 days after which is the sweet spot it seems. Then the next two infusions I just had shedding. Then the fourth and final infusion I lost about 40% about 17-21 days after it. I would say another 50% but I do still have some hair. LOL so I guess I'm not 100%. I have bald spots in a few places. forehead and in the back of my head. I have a very small ponytail now and you can see bald patched underneath on the top of my head. I didn't lose by my ears like some did.

My take is that some nurses that put the digncap on do a better job than others and some people advocate for themselves more. My nurses were very nice but I don't think they did a good job putting it on and I didn't advocate for myself. I am on a facebook group for dignicap and many of them didn't lose anything or just a small bit. They also did a good job on taking care of their hair during. Really gentle and washing 1-2 times a week. I did use a ponytail since I had medium long hair and live in tropical southwestern Florida - very hot. I didn't use a rubber band - it was a gentle ponytail tie but still.

If you do it, make sure you advocate for yourselves, research how to take care of your hair, and I would, but this is personal, cut some of it off so it doesn't look so straggly. I want to but my husband wants me to leave it alone. It is coming in now and the bald patches look dark now and not pink bald.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Maddy83f

Marie914 - I had read several posts about eyebrows/eyelashes growing in and then falling out again but that was not my experience. My eyebrows and eyelashes seemed to come back fairly quickly - and they have stayed. The hair on my legs still grows very slowly but my forearm hair grew fast and long - definitely will be going for a wax job come summer. And, of course, the chin hair came back first!

Rainyday7

I haven't posted here for a while. I had my 4th TC chemo on 22 Jan and on that day the oncologist told me that she was stopping after 4 as the benefit of the extra 2 I was due to have was negligible. She has put me on Arimidex instead.

On the hair front I have lost about 90% but still hold a reasonable amount at the very front and a very light scattering over the rest. The hair on the back of my head is completely white so it looks like the white/grey hair was less susceptible to chemo than the blond highlighted hair It's been nearly 6 weeks since my last chemo and no real sign of new growth yet or maybe the new hair is so white It's not as noticeable. The hair is still shedding some every day. There is less left to fall out so don't know if it's reducing or not.

I still have eyelashes and some eyebrows. I remember from my first chemo years ago that the eyelashes only fell out when the new ones started to grow. I think the new hairs push out the old ones.

Juju-mar

Anyone have toenail issues after chemo has ended? I finished my 16 treatments in 20 weeks on March 9. Since about March 6 my two big toes have felt differently. Now it's a constant mild dull ache. They both have areas near the nail bed that are lighter in color. I walk daily and they now are sore afterwards. Not sure what I can do....I'm thinking those nails may fall off....

Julie

DanniB

Hi Julie, sorry for a late reply, i had two toenails that half lifted (one on each foot) during the chemo. I cut them off a little at a time but they didn't fall off completely and now seem to be back to normal. If you haven't yet, if you are feeling discomfort or ache, i would maybe ask the doctor/nurse for advice?

x

Juju-mar

Hello all,

Just curious what your oncotype score was? And if your MO used that info to recommend chemo? I switched care teams after lumpectomy on Oct 2020. Didn't get the oncotype score until after new team started me on chemo. My score was 20, which I just found out this week. I just had my right side mastectomy April 12 and the surgeon called to say the margins were larger than thought to be, 12mm (.4inch). The pathology report from lumpectomy indicated that margins were smaller than that. I'm wondering if chemo was for nothing! I think back to that time of being scared and not knowing what to ask. I remember my MO saying she didn't want to wait on oncotype score, that we should move quickly to chemo. Lumpectomy was 10/2, chemo started 10/27. I did have 2 + nodes, so chemo would most likely have been needed anyway. The good news is all 12 lymph nodes removed this surgery were negative for cancer. Maybe I'm overthinking this. I meet with MO in 2 weeks. Hope everyone is well.

Julie