Ovarian Cancer Support Group

I know how you must be feeling. I lost my hair on the second treatmnet of Taxol. It started by just coming out in bits, then one windy day when I was shopping, I saw my hair blowing away, next time I showered it came out as I washed it. I must admit, I cried myself to sleep that night. Next morning I told myself, better have no hair and get the cancer than keep my hair and die. I bought loads of pretty scarfs to color match every outfit and bought a 'new style' wig. I have always felt more comfortable with the bandanas, the wig went a bit loose and I was afraid it would blow off. My hair grew back after the treatment although it was grey and very frizzy. Six months later I lost my hair again, this time it wasn't half as bad - all my scarfs were washed and ready to go. I am now on Caelyx and once again I have a small growth of grey curly hair, but hey, I'm still here to tell the story. Keep positive and know that you are not alone. When you bump into someone also wearing a bandana, they usually give you a knowing smile and it really helps. Think of the money you will save not going to the hairdresser. Love Val

As far a memory loss goes it is more like having a senior moment. It is like walking into a room and forgetting why you went there.
As far as hair loss, I was very lucky and kept my hair so far. I say so far because I am entering into my next stage of treatment. See, I found out I am allergic to Taxol. So we switched to Carbo and Gemzar. But that was using the upper port. The bottom port will now be used with a differnt drug and I don't know if this will cause haiir loss. But I am ready with a wig and hats and scarfs.
Good luck to you whatever your outcome with your hair loss. And good luck with the chemo. May it work on you as well as it is working on me.

Ok, I'm beginning to figure this out. At first the idea of going bald is so scary that one holds one breath and hopes. Then the stuff starts to fluff out and down into your dinner plate. Disturbing. Quite disturbing. Worth crying over a bit. Then it gets worse. In the shower heavy clumps, swirl round the drain. It crops up on pillows, and in your collar, and falls down your back (careful not to wear black). Panic. Denial. Don't touch it, it'll make it worse!

This morning I came to grips with it. I took a walk up the hill and sat on a rock overlooking the sea, and I said to myself, "my hair is falling out...it's all going to fall out....I'm going to be bald... so?" So nothing. It just is, that's all. Then throughout the day today I was still nursing it a bit, and yet the abundant loss became annoying, I found myself bloody tired of knocking the stuff off my shoulders. I got fed up, went and got a firm short bristled hairbrush, and began some vigorous brushing. It piled up in the sink and kept on coming. But lo! We humans must have an enormous amount of hair, because even with all that brushing and the sink piling up with hair, there is still so much on my head that no one would notice, yet. I went out to the lawn and rattled my fingers through my hair (no more timidity now) and watched the late afternoon shadows showing it coming down, coming down. Now I feel I can't get rid of it fast enough. Who needs hair!. Now, I think tomorrow I'm going at it with scissors. Meanwhile I'm knitting a little blue and white striped cap--beanie like which will cover the whole head without the annoyance of a bill, like a baseball caps that keep us from seeing the sky. I may add little mouse ears on top, like an adorable hat Bibb (my daughter has). I feel free of it. I feel lighter! Goodbye hair! And it's ok.

I started losing my hair 10 days after my first treatment. I was on Taxol and Carboplatin. I started losing body hair first, then the next day I noticed my hair falling out. It was 11am on a Saturday that my first hairs on my head fell out.

At first, it didn't bother me so much. I had these wild ideas that I'd wake up with clumps of hair on my pillow and big bald splotches all over my head. It really didn't happen that way for me. It fell out the most in the shower, especially when I went to wash it.

It wasn't until the following Wednesday that I had my breakdown in the shower. I still feel the emotion as I write this. I felt so helpless with each touch of my hair, I got a handful of hair. So, I had my private cry in the shower and I let it out. I finished washing my hair, got out of the shower and called on my mother. I cried to her because I needed help picking out my hair to comb it. It was a jumbled mess of fallen hair and still connected hair.

I decided on a plan from there. I would not wet my hair in the shower until I was ready to wash it. The hair would cover the drain, then I would pick it up when the shower was over and throw it away. After my initial cry, I was fine. I just accepted that it was going to fall out and I was going to be a big girl about it. For me, it was just really bad in the shower...and it would fall out and stay on my shoulders and my back below my neck.

Now, most people will tell you that they couldn't handle it so they had someone shave it all off. But, I'm slightly weird, and I decided that I wanted to see how long it would take for it all to fall out. It really didn't all fall out until my last (6th) chemo session. I still have some (not many) long hairs that just wouldn't let go and are still with me!! I had to cut them off because they were getting too long and just looked stupid.

On my 14th day after my first chemo, I was thinning on top..right where my part in my hair was. I wore one of those head bands with the scarfs attached. They were new at the time, I got it from Lane Bryant. Now you can find them all over the place. It is a wide headband, so it was perfect to cover the thinning hair right on top.

It wasn't until about between my 2nd and 3rd chemo that I started to wear my wig. I wore wigs when I went to teach. I wear a wig to church. I wear these bandana things with a stretchy piece for the underside that my aunt got me at A.C. Moore for like $1 a piece. I wear these just when I'm taking the dog out, or hanging around outside with my family. I go bald in the house.

I got the best wig ever! Nobody knows that it's a wig, and when I tell them they are shocked. Some people just assume that I was lucky that my hair didn't fall out.

I've been done with chemo for about 4 weeks now. So, I'm expecting my hair to start growing back within the next week. It has started a tiny bit, but slow. When it truly starts again, it'll be abrupt and very noticeable. (I know this to be true because I had 5 free-of-chemo weeks between my 4th and 5th chemo, and it started growing back in that time period).

I'm with Julie on the memory loss. It's more like having a senior moment. It's not too much more than that.

If you've made it this far, sorry this was so long! I tend to talk way too much!