I bought my wig!

A little shopping is always good for us.  It does feel good to take charge.  

My chemo curls should start to fall out again early next week.  My hair always seems to start to fall out at about 12 days after my chemo.  My bff took me out last week and bought me a new hat.  So I am also raedy.  This will be the 4th time I have lost my hair.

Little four footed friend note.  The 1st time a lost my hair, my husband buzzed it off when it statred to fall out.  My little dog Annabell took one look at me and ran.  She did't sit on my lap for almost a week.  You can do this.  Hugs and prayers, Lou Ann

NoTimeForCancer said:

Yes, Lou Ann, you are right

Yes, Lou Ann, you are right when you say, "You can do this".  I think it is the fear of not knowing what to expect that makes us anxious.  

I remember on my last day of chemo the woman in the bed caddy-corner to me.  It was her first day and she had no idea before she showed up that she would be there all day.  I stopped by her bed on my last trip out of the restroom, I told her what I saw to everyone, "You are going to amaze yourself". 

I worked full-time throughtout my 6 rounds of Taxol/Carboplatin.  I received the highest dose allowed given my height, weight and health. I entered treatment too, as an athlete, in superb shape so perhaps that is why I basically breezed through the treatment. I continued to swim long distance- i.e., a mile at the very least each time I swam- 4 to 5 days a week.  The only thing that was difficult for me was the severe hip/back pain that accompanied the Taxol. That pain brought me to my knees until I received 2 epidural shots. Other than the time I was not at work due to the 5-6 hours of chemo infusion, I missed only one day of work due to fatigue following chemo #6. I never needed Neulasta. Hopefully, you will also breeze through it. I avoided getting sick by staying a distance from others, not being around large groups, not touching my face and washing my hands frequently. I never got sick being around others.  

I hope you do well with treatment, too!

EZLiving66 said:

Thanks for your encouragement!

I think, based on my past history, my doctor is worried about infection so doesn't want me to leave the house.  When I had my gallbladder out, I developed an infection and almost died.  I was in the hospital 16 days with tubes and needles running in AND out of me along with one lobe of my lung collapsing.  Everyday different doctors would come, read through my chart and said "Let's try this."  I had multiple MRIs trying to find out what the h*ll I had and how to get rid of it.  On the day before they were going to put a port in because all my veins were popping, I started to improve.  Two days later they let me go home but I had to come back two more days to get the intraveneous antibiotics as an outpatient.  By then I was so weak, I couldn't walk more than 10 steps and couldn't even get out of bed by myself.  After my hysterectomy, I had a urinary tract infection and fluid buildup in my lung that had previously collapsed.  I'm still on antibiotics.  HOPEFULLY, I won't develop any infections after chemo.  I also wash my hands constantly and carry hand sanitizer with me at all times.  

A question - my chemo nurse said my chemotherapy would take between 3 and 3 1/2 hours but said to allow 4 hours just to be on the safe side.  Why does some chemo take so long??

By the way, they had a large selection of green and gold wigs at the wig store.  She said they're big sellers this time of the year and even some of the chemo patients get them.....ah, I'll pass 

Take care,

Eldri

I can understand why your doctor wants you to stay away from germ!

Different types of chemo take different amounts of time to run.  sometimes  it is run slower to avoid a reaction to it.  Right now I am get a desensitizing plan for carboplatin, because I had a reaction to it in January. It used to take 2 hrs and now it takes 7 Taxal takes 3-3 1/. The Doxil I was on took 2 hrs.  Before they start the chemo they give you premeds and that can take up to 1/2 hr.  My infusion center won't order the drugs from the pharmacy until they have you hooked up to the saline solution.  Sometimes it takes them a long time to get your  meds ready

EZLiving66 said:

Thanks for your encouragement!

I think, based on my past history, my doctor is worried about infection so doesn't want me to leave the house.  When I had my gallbladder out, I developed an infection and almost died.  I was in the hospital 16 days with tubes and needles running in AND out of me along with one lobe of my lung collapsing.  Everyday different doctors would come, read through my chart and said "Let's try this."  I had multiple MRIs trying to find out what the h*ll I had and how to get rid of it.  On the day before they were going to put a port in because all my veins were popping, I started to improve.  Two days later they let me go home but I had to come back two more days to get the intraveneous antibiotics as an outpatient.  By then I was so weak, I couldn't walk more than 10 steps and couldn't even get out of bed by myself.  After my hysterectomy, I had a urinary tract infection and fluid buildup in my lung that had previously collapsed.  I'm still on antibiotics.  HOPEFULLY, I won't develop any infections after chemo.  I also wash my hands constantly and carry hand sanitizer with me at all times.  

A question - my chemo nurse said my chemotherapy would take between 3 and 3 1/2 hours but said to allow 4 hours just to be on the safe side.  Why does some chemo take so long??

By the way, they had a large selection of green and gold wigs at the wig store.  She said they're big sellers this time of the year and even some of the chemo patients get them.....ah, I'll pass 

Take care,

Eldri

Consider yourself lucky if you're only there 3.5 or 4 hours.  Mine was always between 5 and 6 hours, usually about 5.5.  I did have a port. They started off by putting 3 other meds in my IV first.  One was Benadryl to prevent an allergic reaction.  I think the second was Decadron, and if I remember correctly (I'm over 5 years out now), it was a steroid.  I can't recall what the third one was.  After I got a bit "high" feeling from one of those, I got my carboplatin and taxol (paclitaxel).  When one IV bag ran out, an alarm on the IV went off to tell the nurses it was empty.  Then they had to come back and set up the next bag.  Usually most of the nurses had gone home before I finished all mine, but there was always one late nurse on who unhooked me from everything when the last IV alarm rang.  I always had afternoon appointments.  It takes a long time mainly because the stuff has to go in a drop at a time.  I never had any nausea or vomiting because I took Emend, which my oncologist had prescribed.  I think I had to take it the day before chemo, the day of chemo, and one day after.  I got majorly stressed out one time when my pharmacy ran out of it and I had to chase around town to get it elsewhere.  I did have urinary tract infections almost constantly thru chemo.  Perhaps this was because my immunity was compromised from the chemo.  I had refused the Neulasta shot.  As soon as I got off my antibiotics, another infection started up.  I went for a cystoscopy to see if there was anything wrong in my bladder, but nothing was found. 

I had to have bloodwork before I could get my flu shot.  That was early on in my chemo, so my blood count hadn't dropped yet.  Eventually it did, and I got very short of breath and ended up having a blood transfusion.  I'd already had two units of blood after my surgery (I'd had extensive surgery for stage IVb UPSC and also had my gallbladder and appendix taken out because gallstones had shown up in my CT scan before surgery).

I used to work in a hospital (I was in an office job) and I remember hearing that if you use hand sanitizer too much, you can build up a resistance to it.  We were told to wash our hands with soap and warm water and to sing happy birthday twice before we stopped washing our hands (that's how long it takes to get rid of most of the germs).

I hope your wig is comfortable.  Mine wasn't.  I'd had one in college that didn't bother me, but I had hair then for the wig to sit on.  When my chemo wig was on my bald head, it was very irritating.  I think I lost my hair about day 10 of my first cycle of chemo.  It took a couple of days for it to all fall out, and most of it fell out in the shower.  I was hoping it wouldn't fall out at all, so I didn't have my head shaved, but I was sorry when I tried to clean up the mess in the shower.  The woman who ordered my wig in my cancer center predicted when it falled out to the day.  I was glad I'd ordered the wig early.  Our cancer center had its own wig shop and the wigs were paid for by the local Rotary Club, which was great. 

I hope everything goes smoothly for you.     

EZLiving66 said:

Thanks, Pinky!

I'm hoping things go smoothly with the chemo but my chemo nurse says everyone is different.  The cap of my wig is very soft but I can also wear a liner under it if I have to.  When I'm home, I'm just going to wear my cotton beanie.  We live out in the country and I can't even see any of my neighbors so don't have to worry about scaring small children - LOL!!  My sister wants me to send her pictures of my bald head so she can "study" it.  She is a scientist.  By the way, she worked for Amgen when they developed Neulasta.  She works for Johnson & Johnson now so she's my go-to person when I have a question about cutting edge cancer drugs.  She always knows some expert in that field.  

Take care and I'll file a full report after my chemo next week.

Eldri

Eldri, you are right, everyone is different.

My wig shop showed me the COOLEST trick.  You need at least a large t-shirt, measure 15" from the bottom up and cut it off for a tube.  You place the hem t-shirt over your forehead and let the 15" go over the top and towards the back of your head.  You take the sides, pull it to the back and twist the rest of the t-shirt so if forms a roll and bring it around over the top of your head. I loved doing this.  A super soft t-shirt....ahhhh.  

I think if you google you can see videos for it.  I got t-shirts at Goodwill, but you really have to inspect the bottom of the shirts.  "Designer" t-shirts had good colors, or you got things like Minnesota Vikings purple.  Yuck.  (Sorry Viking fans)

EZLiving66 said:

What a great idea!

Our son played three sports in high school and two in college and for EVERY sport for EVERY year they sold t-shirts and other clothing for mandatory fundraisers.  OMG, do we have the t-shirts here!!  He also is a huge Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packer fan so we have those shirts too.  I bet there are over 200 t-shirts at our house between the three of us.  The hospital where I'll have my chemo also has FREE Packer hats - knit ones, cotton ones, baseball-style, etc. 

I'm planning on going to the Packer/Bears game on Thanksgiving - I'll have to design some kind of Packer-bald-lady headgear and then tie my cheesehead on top of it - LOL!! 

Some women look great bald.....but, I am NOT one of them !!!

Go Pack Go!!

Eldri

the Look Good Feel Better class.  It is so comfy.  I went home, found a T-shirt that was way too big for me, and took the scissors to it.  I even bought a new cheap t-shirt because it is so easy and comfortable to wear.

AWK said:

Thanks for sharing this and Go Skins!

Even with my short short hair I get cold and I have some old redskins tShirts around here.  Yes I am a die hard 'Skins fan and I also support any team playing the Dallas Cowboys!  Now I will do this for game day and dog walks!  

Go Redkins!  #HTTR!  

Anne

Or at least that's what I'm going to call myself since my hair did not come back after chemo for breast cancer (Taxotere and Cytoxin) and I've been dealing with covering my head since 2010.  I did not wear wigs during chemo and was perfectly comfortable in hats and scarves.  I now wear wigs, along with hats and scarves at home (and sometimes I go out with a scarf or hat like to the gym).  If anyone wants any specific head covering advise, feel free to PM me.  I think I've tried them all.   I do think my current bald is a different bald than while having chemo (no scalp tenderness), but I've got some great wigs that are inexpensive and would be happy to share any information I've gleaned over the past 5 years. 

Suzanne