Starting chemo November 2020

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.

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.

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