Hey Marge and Ctmom

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Google 'orthodox Jewish headcoverings'. Ultra orthodox women traditionally shave their heads and wear wigs (traditionally), over the past several years many have chosen to keep their hair and wear hair coverings instead.

There's some really nice ones out there that would work great for folks undergoing chemo. Remember too that the coverings will help keep your head warm, and hence you warm as well.

Marg, have they already said you will need to undergo chemo? I know with my boyfriend that that decision wasn't made until after the lumpectomy and lymph node removal was done. She didn't need chemo, just radiation and 5 years of tamoxifen (this stuff can have nasty side effects as well). Tamoxifen is based on whether the tumor has estrogen receptors or not.

Keep us posted.
 

ctmom05

Member
This ole gal is done with treatment for now - but I still have my port in .. .. .. it's kind of on stand-by.

I am more of the bald baby head band type of person than a tatootler.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Thanks for the ideas, guys. I was already thinking along these lines - I remember when the very first Star Trek movie was being made and Persis Khambatta was playing the gorgeous Ilia. She had to shave her head for the role and there were times when she wore some gorgeous head scalp art to various functions.

I don't know what's in store. I'll be having a lumpectomy and a few lymph nodes biopsied. Depending on what they find, we have a number of different paths. If the nodes are negative, then it will probably just be radiation treatment targeting the tumour site, and nothing more. Or the doctor might decide for whatever reason that I need chemo as well. ANd there's no way of knowing if the chemo I get (if any) will make me lose my hair. If it does, my friend has offered me her wigs since she doesn't need them any more. But her cancer was really bad, this one is nowhere near as big. Plus she was younger and has the gene. I'd be absolutely astonished if I have the gene, we're almost cancer-free as a (very large) family.

What bugs me about the possibility of losing my hair - I've been seeing a really good hairdresser with a view to helping my home hair dye treatments grow out gracefully, with streaks and foils. Not cheap. And we're nearly there. If, after all that careful work on her part and expense on my part, I lose my hair - I could have saved the dough.

But at least my hair looked OK for the weddings. There is that. And at least this didn't happen with the weddings happening at the same time. We're past that crisis.

We're still in summer here, but if I need chemo and I lose my hair, it will be as we go into cooler weather. But even at its coolest, I won't need too much on my head to stay warm.

One point my friend told me about though, about chemo baldness - scarves slide off easily.

It's not glamorous, but there's a hat style here called (among other things) a wrap hat, or in some cases, Araphat hat. I've had one for years, then found another one at the beach a couple of years ago. Local builders wear them for sun/wind protection. I sometimes wear one when driving. It's like a baseball cap with legionnaire's cap with scarf, all built in together so you can change the way you wear it according to what sort of coverage you need. I often find I need good wind protection, especially at the beach when the wind in my ears gives me a bad earache. But these hats will probably be my standby, if I need anything.

http://www.frillneck.com.au/catalog/index.php

Love 'em!

Marg
 
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