Starting Chemo in Nov 2016

Unfortunately yes, this is typical behavior from him. I guess I was just hoping against hope that the bright spot that would come out of this is that he would finally understand all the things I do around the house. Maybe a little bit too much wishful thinking. He has zero experience with sickness. In his family everyone just drops dead from heart attacks. No sickness to deal with. And I guess it doesn't help to make it real enough for him when I haven't had an major symptoms yet. He did sit with me during chemo this week but he was SO uncomfortable I almost wish he hadn't come and really do not know if I want him to come to any more. I'll admit I do like to do things myself, but I was really trying to back off and give myself a break this weekend. He did do the dishes so I guess that is a step in the right direction?

I couldn't stand it. The thought of losing my hair. I just ordered cold caps for my head. OMG. I think I'm way out there about losing my hair. But I cry everytime I read or see pictures of women who are a year post chemo and their hair is just at their ears or a tad longer. I can't stand it. I love my long hair. It's literally the one thing I care most about. Not my tits, not my belly, or my wrinkles or even my saggy ass. Just my long, shiny, straight hair.

I keep hearing about cold caps, what are they and where do you order them?

Hi- I started Chemo - paclitaxol on Friday, November 4th. I started Arctic Cold Caps, they supplied all except the Dry Ice. they did assist me with finding companies that even can provide discounts to patients as the dry ice can be quite expensive. I was lucky and was able to get .70 cents a pound as my treatments are weekly for 12 weeks. My concern now is how do I style my hair for work without using a blow dryer.....

Some of the suppliers were up to 1.69 pound - I purchased 80 pounds the first week but now realize 50 should be fine.

connie64- I am ever grateful my office job with lots of public appearances was traded in for an in home job with little to no outside contact unless I want it. Because I read that for a bit while your body gets used to the chemo and dries out, you look like a greasy hot mess. And you can't put it up or anything. But I think many ladies are using their fingers to basically "style" their hair. So I'm not sure how one goes about doing this.

I have several very large surgical incisions which when coupled with long stringy, greasy hair is going to make me look heroin chic for a few weeks. Ha! You know, maybe some of the ladies on the cold caps thread have ideas. I would suggest those hair curler thingies, but you're also not suppose to put too much pressure on the scalp and hair ends so as not to pull them out.

I just realized the date means when the first thread was started! Thank you so much! There is so much to teach myself about this chemo thing in the next 10 days, but knowledge is power! I appreciate you steering me in the right direction!

Pamela, the learning curve is pretty crazy. But it's so much better to be educated. You can make much better decisions for yourself.

Sorella, you can do this!! We look forward to hearing from you tomorrow. Sending you prayers and tons of positivity

Well today is Hair day for me. At 10:30, it all comes off. I've been ok with the thought, but today the thought of going grocery shopping after it's done is not something I want to do. I know me, and I know within a week I'll be saying screw it, not caring if others look at me funny. I can do this.

People keep reminding me that I'm the strongest person they know in a lot of ways. I umpire men's baseball. I'm only 5' 1", and I've stood toe to toe with guys twice my size without flinching. My job involves helping people that have problems bigger than they should have to handle. What's a little hair?

So, I'm going to find the positives each day, and hold on to those positives. Since I mentioned my umpiring, I'll start with a positive there. I've been an umpire about 22 years. I umpired all summer, stopping after the first week of playoffs because of my diagnosis. Heck, I umpired 4 games the night I was diagnosed! After so many years of proving myself, having others make comments that I couldn't umpire high level ball because a woman couldn't keep up with the men and proving them all wrong, of just wanting to be seen as an umpire, not a female umpire...my crew of guys rock. They haven't had their end of season party yet. They told the boss that they would delay and make it an end of season/Christmas party, and that I must be there. This wonderful group of guys, many of which I've trained over the years are picking me up and holding me tight through this. How can I not succeed with a bunch of men crazy enough to be yelled at for fun each week behind me? Today when my hair goes, I will will just remind myself that with or without hair, I can rock with the best of them. Right? Remind me later, when the tears come.

So glad I found this thread. I get my port this Friday and start AC/T chemo 11/16, every two weeks. I've held up pretty well after bilateral and tissue expanders, but going bald seems the scariest. (How crazy is that?) My cancer center provides free wigs, but the one I got is just not me so I'm hoping to find a better one at a wig shop this week. I have so much to be grateful for - my boys are grown, my husband has been amazing, and I work from home. I wish I could embrace going bald and "rock it" like my husband says I can. Maybe I'll surprise myself. Thank you all for your posts.

Hair gone. Wig on, went grocery shopping, picked myself up Wendy's for a treat. Burger eaten, wig off, cap on...but I haven't looked in the mirror yet without the wig/cap. Maybe later. Just happy it's done and I can stop stressing about it.

i went this weekend to pick out a wig. I was overwhelmed with the possibilities. The lady that ran the shop was so wonderful! Honestly, when I first got the dx I thought I would just go with scarves, I couldn't imagine wearing a wig. Since I am going to try to keep working, I thought I should consider one, not just for me but for the people I work with. I can't stress enough what a surprise the experience was! I almost can't wait to start using it! I have my first round of AC on Thursday so I probably have a few weeks. Thanks for the updates from those who started last week. I will have neulasta also and will try taking claritan before and after. Here is a picture of me with my new wig...

DBear - I love it. I was only going to do scarfs and hats, but seeing you in your wig has me rethinking things.

Dbear- that wig looks awesome!

Done with all the stupid tests today. I'm am so tired from the stress of undergoing so many medical tests and seeing doctors and doing all the things. Ugh.

Tomorrow, I'm off to chemo class. Oh, joy. Not.

Hello Ladies,

Had 1st chemo treatment Thursday. Friday was a good day. Saturday and Sunday - very nauseated; ended up taking one of the anti-nausea meds this morning since I got sick last night (too much water). It helped. I'm curious if Neulasta can affect previous injuries. I had a bulging disk and surgery and man! oh man! has that lower back area been bothering me. Since Saturday. Could be just a coincidence and that I tweaked it somehow. I am taking the Claritin. After seeing Nfullblume's post I asked my MO about it because I usually take Benadryl. Taking Claritin helps in more ways than one. :-)

How is everyone dealing with the nausea? I found simply not eating helps and I know that is definitely the wrong way to go. Tea and crackers have gone down well. I found that later in the day the worse it is and I've had headaches to varying degrees; although, not life-interfering, since my first treatment.

Anyway.....I hope everyone is well!!

DBear! That wig suits you! Absolutely lovely!

Pmevans50, what nausea meds did they prescribe you? Today is the first day I haven't taken meds proactively. I had the Emend pills for day 1-3 and they worked perfectly. Then on day 4-5, I took Zofran every 8 hours like clockwork. I had some very light dizziness, but no nausea at all. I bought a bunch of ginger candies and chews just in case. I had a herniated disc in my neck recently and felt like there was more Neulasta pain there too.