starting weekly Taxol & Herceptin - hair loss?

[Bev]

Hi LL,
Lost all to AC. During 12wks T & H, hair started growing back around my ears and the back of my head. By the time I had 12 wks T & H, enough hair had grown around the sides to make me look like I had male pattern baldness. I think the top took 3 months post T & H treatment to start growing back. I was worried it was permanent.

It sounds like you'll either slightly thin on top, bald on top, or less likely, lose more. I think it would be a good idea to at least pick out a wig. If the hair loss looks like it's going to be too much, you could wait to order it then and wear hats for the week or so it takes to come in.

Hope you'll get lucky and not lose too much. BB

[Tricia]

LittleLegos (cute name)

I wish you the best with your choice of treatment!! I had taxol/Herceptin first and I was getting every three weeks.... after the first dose right before the next one...my hair was gone...it started thinning really bad and then within two days it was coming out in clumps....and was gone. My husband and I said a prayer and then he shaved it off... I had wigs already purchased and my friends gave me a hat and scarf party... and I really thought I was going to struggle with being bald..... But the losing it was the roughest part.... and I rarely even wear my wigs now... I am beautifully bald... wink wink. As for side affects... I had a tiny bit of nausea VERY DOABLE..... and then my Onc went to a Meeting at UCLA and took me as a case study since I was only 31 with stage 3b and no family history....they suggested Carboplatin/Herceptin/Taxotere and it about kills me for the first 7-10 days after treatment... But I can't feel the tumor anymore and it was 7cm wrapped around my rib cage and into my chest wall..... so bad when they went to do a lumpectomy it was everywhere and so they closed me up and said that they couldnt do anything else except do pre-op chemo to try to shrink it to give me the best chance at clear margins. So I have taken more advice from the ladies here than anywhere.... I do they yucky TCH and I take all the meds to help me get through and I write and read on here and I make it one day at a time.... and Now which is amazing to me...I only have one more chemo March 26..... that is my last pre-op chemo and then surgery in mid/late April. SO good luck and God bless and KNOW you can do it. God gives us so much. Cancer has changed my life and honestly in a lot of good ways.... No one wants it and no one deserves it but we as strong women find the strength, courage and the heart to fight on...and be there for the ones that come after us.

[chrisy]

Hi lego

I had 6 cycles of weekly taxol/carboplatin/herceptin for 3 weeks then 1 week herceptin only.

Almost all my hair fell out around the 2-3rd week. That was the bad news. I was "lucky" enough that it was winter, so I could just wear hats all day long! Never was much of a hat gal before that...

Other than that, I did very well with this combo. I had no nausea (probably thanks to the premeds!) and pretty much was able to work full time throughout this treatment. Although I think towards the end I must have been quite "dull".

I was also lucky with my blood counts and actually felt pretty good most of the time, a little tired but not unable to function and carry on life as usual.

Everyone reacts differently, but I found the weekly T/C/H pretty tolerable; I hope this happens for you, too!

[hutchibk]

Hi - I am currently on Taxol/Herceptin every 3 weeks. I have been since August 06. I will be until the cows come home. It is keeping my tumor markers stable and seems to be keeping my 3 little chest nodes and my little bone spot at C2 stable.

I started to lose my hair at 14 days EXACTLY. I then lost my eyebrows and eyelashes in due course (about a month later, totally bald head and face).
My hair started to grow back after 2 months, but not the kind of hair that you want to wear out in public, I promise. I have the hair line, density, texture and color of a 95 year old man! HA! I wear my gypsy scarves every day (and I do have a bad-scarf day from time to time, LOL) and when I am feeling like being a little dressier, I don a wig.

My eyelashes and eyebrows have not budged an inch. No re-growth at all.

You will find that it's not the hair on your head that you will miss the most, it is the eyelashes and eyebrows!!

[Gerri]

Boy, do I agree about the eyelashes and eyebrows! I have lost mine (between chemo and herceptin) three times. I think losing them bothered me so much because it made me LOOK like a cancer patient - something I tried so hard to avoid. I found that eye shadow, eye liner, and eyebrow pencil worked wonders. No one at work even knew I was "bald" on my face. The good thing is, that once they start growing back they come in rather quickly.

I started losing my hair on day 18 of my AC treatments. Once it started coming out I shaved it all off and started wearing my wig. I had great hair pre-BC, but got even more compliments on my wig (even from people I didn't know) than I ever got on my hair - that helped tremendously. It is now growing in slowly but very thick, a bit curly and NO GRAY!! I actually like it short and will probably wear it this way for a while.

Best of luck to you Little Legos on this journey.

Attitude IS everything!

[hutchibk]

I agree about eyeliner, pencil and shadow. I have become quite the expert at "approximating" natural eyelashes and brows. Most people are none the wiser...
but you have to get good at NOT rubbing your face too much, even when it
itches from allergies, etc... or you risk "wiping your face off" !! LOL!

We should start a thread here with make-up tricks, ideas, successes, trials and errors!

I know I have a few up my sleeve, and some products that have proven pretty
helpful.

[kymelody]

I began losing hair on A/C treatments at about day 17 -- it was falling out to the point I just had my husband shave it off. I had some growth before the last of those treatments, but it was funny feeling, almost sore and it fell out again anyway. I have 5 treatments of Taxol/Herceptin remaining and just now have a little hair growth (about a 1/2 in of white down feeling hair). Maybe it will hang on and continue to grow ???
Have almost totally lost lashes (gone on bottom, few remain on top) and very thinning eyebrows. I can pretty much draw in the brows and fade them out with a brush. They were such a light color anyway, losing them hasn't been that noticable. But I sure miss my lashes and they look pretty pitiful trying to put mascara on them when you can almost count them individually !! Thank God for eyeliner. Uncle Fester anyone ???
I am ready to have my hair back ...... 3 months of being bald is longer than I would have ever imagined it could be.
I switch it up -- some days its a wig, some days its a hat, some days a scarf ... I am all for making a fashion statement, and I am thankful for the most part its been winter, but now that spring is here, I would really like to have hair !!!