Mother terrified of Adriamyacin

I know nothing about 'cold caps' or icing fingers/hands or toes/feet. I did neither, nor ever thought about doing.

I've had problem with being cold all my life as my usual temperature has been below 'normal' for as long as I can remember. One SE I had during Chemo (more so on Taxol than on A/C) was very low temperature - dropped below 94 during one Taxol infusion while cover in warmed blankets and in a glassed in cubicle with the room heater turned to max. Had I been 'icing/cooling' any extremities (head, hand, feet) this could have been possibly catastrophic. Obviously that was me and not what everyone experiences but there is nothing that is absolute. We are each unique.

There are many who have done Adriamycin with no nasty/long term SEs. There is no way to know what any of us will experience because somebody says 'you will'. We can each only speak for ourselves.

4 DD A/C neoadjuvant (Adriacmycin/Cytoxan before surgery every 2 weeks) was 'easy' - did not slow me down at all. 12 weekly Taxol adjuvant (Taxol every week post surgery) was nasty - completely/utterly EXHAUSTED the entire time. Of course there were some other SEs but it's all in the past and I'm still here as active as ever.

BTW - I was 63 when DXd - now 70, living and loving life everyday.

Gina, between the poor communication on AI/tamoxifen, and now their refusal on cold capping or at least icing fingers/toes (if your mom wants to try them), are you really sure you want to use these folks for your mom? I get that it is very inconvenient to start at a new place, but really, neither cold capping or icing fingers/toes are new things. And both can make immeasurable differences for the patients who are willing to deal with the expense and inconvenience. While keeping your hair is not assured with cold capping, the proven systems (Penguin for one) work at least somewhat for most, and the icing of fingers/toes can not only save your nails, but prevent neuropathy (post treatment numbness and/or pain) which can be life-long after effects of treatment. Keeping ice in the mouth can prevent sores. They need to get with the times.

Gina, congrats on the new place. As dlb mentioned, icing can help protect the nails and also can help prevent or lessen neuropathy, which is numbness, pain and or tingling in the hands and feet caused by some chemos. The icing slows down the blood flow so less of the chemo gets into those areas. Hands and feet are not normal sites for cancer to travel to, so most docs don't have an issue with patients icing if they care to, and since neuropathy can really be a long term problem for some, many patients are willing to deal with the discomfort of icing.

I did not 'ice' my nails! I used OPI Nail Envy on my nails with them being fine thoroughout 4 DD A/C and 12 weekly Taxol.

For me - 'icing' would have been impossible (IF I had wanted to do it) My temperature was dangerously low throughout chemo. I had to have one of the gllassed in cubicles with it's individual thermostat cranked up as high as it would go with piles of warmed blankets to stay at least 94F.

Did/Do not have any neuropathy issues either.

hi Gina, I was also stage 1 with negative nodes but had a night oncoscore but I did taxotere/ cytoxan Tc x6. And most woman stage 1 Posotive did the TC regiment. Ask the MO

Hugs

I didn't read all the comments here so this might be a repeat, just wanted to weigh in that for me, the Adriamiacin was easier than the Taxotere. I know this isn't the case for everyone. I had an allergic reaction to the Taxotere and in general found myself having fevers, etc after almost every cycle. The side effects on Adriamiacin were more predictable, easier to manage with prescriptions and I did it dose-dense, so it was over faster. The neulasta shots I got every cycle, I think this helped a lot. I was also fearful going in, but I would just advise to not fear the side effects unless she has them.

I did cold caps, kept my hair through treatment (both types of chemo) but lost 80% after my final Adriamiacin and ended up cutting it short. But I was never bald and never needed wigs. But the cold caps are a commitment.