Taxotere with ice hat

I just had that discussion with my oncologist and nurses today since I had my first Jevtana infusion. As I understand it, Jevtana is made by same company (Sanofi) as another taxane, Taxotere, and is just a newer improved version. Unfortunately, Jevtana is not a first line treatment though so I'm only receiving it now.
Anyway, I did not use ice with taxotere and lost most of the hair on my head and pretty much all of the other hair on my body. Only recently has the body hair started to come back but the hair in my head sans eyebrows and face came back pretty slowly and steadily over the first 1-2 years after chemo. Full disclosure, I had nearly 4 years of ADT2, 2 big surgeries and a series of radiation which may have impeded recovery and hair growth.
We talked about using an ice cap, which you can purchase. I was told they were expensive. I decided to skip it since I expect my hair to grow back after treamtnt again anyway. I put ice packs directly on my hips, pubic area and shoulders and can barely feel them but when on my head it is like an ice cream headache.
The clinic told me today that the ice pack works for some and not for others. I'm also aware that some people lose their hair with taxotere but others dont (I was in chemo before with a guy who didn't or at least it wasn't complete loss).
You might have been looking for better data than this but thought I'd throw it in the mix just the same.

Not sure which is worse of two evils. Ice cream headache or potential loss of hair.

In any event thank you for the information and the links.

Mr. Bill

Rockyfords,

That sounds promising. Pretty much what Onc. said. That hair would only thin. Maybe it does have something to do with the gray.

Thanks for the reply,
Bill

I buzzed about 2 wks post 1st treatment (late June)-

Last treatment was mid September

I have been admiring my looks in the mirror for a good month now ;-); quit wearing my cap all the time while out then too

so call it about three months- gonna need to get a trim soon I think

rf

tarhoosier-

Thanks for that - I passed it along to a man in my support group who was looking for places to buy it. They seem to be out of those particular mits, but I found a few other products that I hope will work.


cooling cap

cooling mits

cooling socks

I noticed on Amazon the following post that had a lot of good tips.

an Elasto-Gel hypothermia cap user said...
I used 7 of these caps while in chemotherapy once a week for 3 months. The chemo drug was Taxol. My husband and I arrived at my chemo place every week with a large cooler filled with the 7 caps and dry ice and two large bags with other chemo supplies. When the caps were not in use, we kept them in our upright freezer in an open position so they would be easy to manipulate while preparing them for the cooler. To prepare them, we purchased dry ice every week and broke the ice up into Ziploc bags. We placed one Ziploc bag into each cap and closed the cap with the cap’s strap in order to place in the cooler on it’s side. We placed the remaining Ziploc bags with dry ice in the cooler around the caps. Other supplies we had were: chin strap (the Elasto-Gel cap did not rest against the very top of my head so I got a chin strap to make sure the cap had contact with the top of my head), “Soft Comfy Sleep and Chemo Cap” (also purchased at Amazon) to go over the Elasto-Gel cap, two oblong pans for hands and feet to be in cold water to avoid peripheral neuropathy (it worked), pitcher to pour water into the pans, two pair socks (one pair to wear in the water, one pair to put on after), clear latex gloves (for hands when in the water), wide tooth comb, spray bottle, three hand towels, a heating pad, a warm jacket, and two blankets. The first cap goes on 15 minutes prior to the administration of the chemo drug. I would spray my hair with water (hair needs to be damp), put the shower cap on that comes with the Elasto-Gel cap, then the Elasto-Gel cap, chin strap, and finally the Sleep Cap. This would be the time I also turned on the heating pad on my lap, put on the warm jacket, and wrapped up in the blankets. We switched out the caps every 20 minutes while I was receiving Taxol and then for two hours after I was through receiving Taxol. My chemo treatments were roughly an hour and a half so we would drive home and continue changing out the Elasto-Gel caps until the two hours were up. All of this was quite a process but it worked. I kept my hair! My doctor said he had not seen anyone NOT lose their hair while on Taxol except me. I would suggest buying one cap and trying it to see if you can tolerate the cold. We purchased some dry ice and I tried out one cap that was cooled with dry ice before I purchased six more caps. The success rate of these caps also depends upon the chemo drug. I looked online and found that the drug Taxol had an 88% success rate so I decided to try it. I am so happy I did.

I had the exact same experience as Rockyfords....all the dark hair fell out leaving all the gray. I am salt and pepper as well...mostly salt so it looked really bad (thin) so I shaved it off. It all grew back about two months after treatment ended and is more white now as well. At first it was all white then the dark started to fill in.

I never wore a hat and worked through every treatment I've had. Chemo kicked my butt for 2 days solid (days 4 & 5) so we scheduled them for Tuesday's so my weekends were shot.