WooHoo - tomorrow is last chemo

I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
fairly uneventful!
Marsha

P.S. When will my hair start growing back?

Mizz Marcia Ryder wrote:
> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
> fairly uneventful!
> Marsha
>
> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?

Excellent - you did it!

Most folks' hair starts to return shortly after their last treatment.
You should feel something growing up there real soon. I think you'll
be able to tell something's growing there after a couple weeks.

"allan" <wizard10000@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1163679736.047282.229120@f16g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> Mizz Marcia Ryder wrote:
> > I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
> > tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
> > on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
> > fairly uneventful!
> > Marsha
> >
> > P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
>
> Excellent - you did it!
>
> Most folks' hair starts to return shortly after their last treatment.
> You should feel something growing up there real soon. I think you'll
> be able to tell something's growing there after a couple weeks.
---------------
That's *most* folks. It took my hair a year and a half to completely grow
back, and even so, it's much thinner than it was before. But you'll
probably fit into the "most folks" category. I just wanted to mention this
so you won't freak out if it *doesn't* start to grow back in a few weeks.
All the best, Eva

"allan" <wizard10000@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1163679736.047282.229120@f16g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> Mizz Marcia Ryder wrote:
>> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
>> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
>> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
>> fairly uneventful!
>> Marsha
>>
>> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
>
> Excellent - you did it!
>
> Most folks' hair starts to return shortly after their last treatment.
> You should feel something growing up there real soon. I think you'll
> be able to tell something's growing there after a couple weeks.

One of my friends had chemo and was delighted when his hair began to grow on
his head. He'd been bald for years!

Mary
>

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:38:55 -0000, "Mary Fisher"
<mary.fisher@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
>"allan" <wizard10000@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1163679736.047282.229120@f16g2000cwb.googleg roups.com...
>> Mizz Marcia Ryder wrote:
>>> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
>>> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
>>> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
>>> fairly uneventful!
>>> Marsha
>>>
>>> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
>>
>> Excellent - you did it!
>>
>> Most folks' hair starts to return shortly after their last treatment.
>> You should feel something growing up there real soon. I think you'll
>> be able to tell something's growing there after a couple weeks.
>
>One of my friends had chemo and was delighted when his hair began to grow on
>his head. He'd been bald for years!
>
Good grief! I've never heard of that before.

I didn't lose all my hair, but what remained was very strange and
whispy...........I thought.

Turns out that when it really grew back it had changed from dead
straight to very curly. I don't know what to do with it. It seems
somehow to be a bit unsuitable at my time of life, and I was quite
satisfied with my pewter helmet of fine shiny short hair.

Nowadays when I wake up I have an impenetrable tangle of curly hair
which has somehow arranged itself so that I look like Stan Laurel.

Another cancer survivor I know, who was having chemo at the same time as
me, has also grown curly hair after having straight hair all his life.

"Mizz Marcia Ryder" <MizzOtis@regrets.com> wrote in message
news:lhP6h.31362$Cq3.30205@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com. ..
> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
> fairly uneventful!
> Marsha
>
> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?

YayYayYay! I hope you'll speak up in the future about your fairly
uneventful chemo, when new folks show up worried. Sometimes *I* worry that
those of us with bad or painful experiences are more likely to speak up, and
scare newbies disproportionately to what's likely to happen for them.

My hair started growing back pretty fast - noticeable within the first
month. First it was just a fuzz, then kind of like a crew-cut. When it got
to maybe 1/2" long, it was as if I woke up one morning and . . . sproing! I
had 3,000 cowlicks all over my head -- it was all tight curls! My hair
grows fairly slowly, so I think it was 3-4 months before I felt comfortable
enough to go without my wig at work, where I'd been trying to look
semi-normal throughout.

The curliness happens to a lot of people, and I've known quite a few who
liked it -- we call it the "chemo perm" <g>. But, for most, it doesn't last
forever. Does seem to last a surprisingly long time, though -- it probably
took 2 years or more for mine to get back to its pre-chemo degree of
curliness. It was more than a matter of the curly part growing out. Some
people experience a color change, also -- *not* necessarily turning grey.
For example, I know one woman whose hair went from auburn to brown (sadly,
since it had been a lovely auburn - not that the brown was an ugly one, but
of course brown is less unusual than the auburn).

Here's hoping your hair comes back fast, and that you love the result!

Ann T.
Remove 'dontsendspam' from address

<x{yz}enophil44@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:72tol2lgokie9tnp3en1vrvosrcdn2i1pd@4ax.com...
>>
>>One of my friends had chemo and was delighted when his hair began to grow
>>on
>>his head. He'd been bald for years!
>>
> Good grief! I've never heard of that before.

Nor had I, but I saw it. It wasn't thick and dark, it was more like a baby's
hair. He was over 70, not a spring chicken.
>
> I didn't lose all my hair, but what remained was very strange and
> whispy...........I thought.
>
> Turns out that when it really grew back it had changed from dead
> straight to very curly. I don't know what to do with it. It seems
> somehow to be a bit unsuitable at my time of life, and I was quite
> satisfied with my pewter helmet of fine shiny short hair.

I was too when my head was shaved for a craniotomy. It was fascinting to
stroke it every day!
>
> Nowadays when I wake up I have an impenetrable tangle of curly hair
> which has somehow arranged itself so that I look like Stan Laurel.

That's the pillow, Geraldine, mine's like that too and I've never had chemo!
>
> Another cancer survivor I know, who was having chemo at the same time as
> me, has also grown curly hair after having straight hair all his life.

Mine just won't go straight. Bit of a nuisance really but I don't have to
look at it :-)

I have no idea how long it will take Marcia's hair to grow but it will be
worth waiting for. In the meantime do as I did and enjoy the feeling of
freedom, and the saving in hair colourant!

Mary

"A.P. Thorsen" <annthorsendontsendspam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:eji6fm$311$1@news.msu.edu...
>
> "Mizz Marcia Ryder" <MizzOtis@regrets.com> wrote in message
> news:lhP6h.31362$Cq3.30205@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com. ..
>> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
>> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
>> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
>> fairly uneventful!
>> Marsha
>>
>> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
>
> YayYayYay! I hope you'll speak up in the future about your fairly
> uneventful chemo, when new folks show up worried. Sometimes *I* worry
> that those of us with bad or painful experiences are more likely to speak
> up, and scare newbies disproportionately to what's likely to happen for
> them.

What good advice, Ann.
>
....
>
> Here's hoping your hair comes back fast, and that you love the result!

Seconded.

Mary
>
> Ann T.
> Remove 'dontsendspam' from address
>

A.P. Thorsen wrote:
> "Mizz Marcia Ryder" <MizzOtis@regrets.com> wrote in message
> news:lhP6h.31362$Cq3.30205@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com. ..
>> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
>> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
>> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
>> fairly uneventful!
>> Marsha
>>
>> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
>
> YayYayYay! I hope you'll speak up in the future about your fairly
> uneventful chemo, when new folks show up worried. Sometimes *I* worry that
> those of us with bad or painful experiences are more likely to speak up, and
> scare newbies disproportionately to what's likely to happen for them.
>
> My hair started growing back pretty fast - noticeable within the first
> month. First it was just a fuzz, then kind of like a crew-cut. When it got
> to maybe 1/2" long, it was as if I woke up one morning and . . . sproing! I
> had 3,000 cowlicks all over my head -- it was all tight curls! My hair
> grows fairly slowly, so I think it was 3-4 months before I felt comfortable
> enough to go without my wig at work, where I'd been trying to look
> semi-normal throughout.
>
> The curliness happens to a lot of people, and I've known quite a few who
> liked it -- we call it the "chemo perm" <g>. But, for most, it doesn't last
> forever. Does seem to last a surprisingly long time, though -- it probably
> took 2 years or more for mine to get back to its pre-chemo degree of
> curliness. It was more than a matter of the curly part growing out. Some
> people experience a color change, also -- *not* necessarily turning grey.
> For example, I know one woman whose hair went from auburn to brown (sadly,
> since it had been a lovely auburn - not that the brown was an ugly one, but
> of course brown is less unusual than the auburn).
>
> Here's hoping your hair comes back fast, and that you love the result!
>
> Ann T.
> Remove 'dontsendspam' from address
>
>
I'll agree with Ann that the curliness tends to be temporary, or at
least reduces over time, and that it takes a year or two to get back to
something like normal.

What I understand is happening is that the hair follicles have been
atrophied by the chemotherapy, and when they start working again they
aren't very straight, so the hair comes out with a curl in it. As they
recover, they straighten out, but from a hairdressing point of view you
don't really notice this until it has got long enough that you trim off
the curled part.

Yes it can also cause colour changes, sometimes because the hair was
already mostly growing-in grey and you just lost all your coloured hair.
Also I've heard of temporary strengthening of colour, as if perhaps
the follicles producing grey hair had died off.

I can't say I know anyone who thinks that chemo 'improved' their hair
over the long term, but most do not find long term damage to it a problem.


Tim

"A.P. Thorsen" wrote :
> "Mizz Marcia Ryder" <wrote:

>> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
>> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
>> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
>> fairly uneventful!
>> Marsha
<snipped>
> YayYayYay! I hope you'll speak up in the future about your fairly
> uneventful chemo, when new folks show up worried. Sometimes *I* worry
> that those of us with bad or painful experiences are more likely to speak
> up, and scare newbies disproportionately to what's likely to happen for
> them.
>
Ann,
That's a good idea to post a "good news" story. I have been wanting to
do that anyway. So-o-o-o, while I'm visiting the folk on the farm over
the holiday, I can draft it and post it upon my return. It certainly is
the perfect project for THANKSgiving Day, right?

Y'all have a good one!
Marsha

"Mizz Marcia Ryder" <MizzOtis@regrets.com> wrote in message
news:mJM8h.30075$pq4.12624@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com. ..
>

>> YayYayYay! I hope you'll speak up in the future about your fairly
>> uneventful chemo, when new folks show up worried.

Seconded.

>> Sometimes *I* worry that those of us with bad or painful experiences are
>> more likely to speak up, and scare newbies disproportionately to what's
>> likely to happen for them.

We're all still around though :-)
>>

> Ann,
> ... It certainly is
> the perfect project for THANKSgiving Day, right?
>
> Y'all have a good one!
> Marsha
Looks as though there'll only be thee and me round here tomorrow, Tim!

Mary
>

Forget balloons...buy a nice bottle of Wine!
I am so happy for you.
My hair started t grow back about 3 weeks later...my last chemo was in
September...and my hair is 1/4" so we're not going to need haircuts soon!!
You also still will feel yucky as the chemo takes time to leave. I still
ache and had waves of nausea but mostly have aches in the joints.
Go to Breastfriends.com and buy yourself a cute pink baseball cap. I love
mine.
Keep us posted.
Pami

Mary Fisher <mary.fisher@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:

> "allan" <wizard10000@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1163679736.047282.229120@f16g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> > Mizz Marcia Ryder wrote:
> >> I'm so excited and ready to get my balloon(s) at the clinic
> >> tomorrow. Thanks for all of you that have given good advice
> >> on this ng. I'm thankful this part of my journey has been
> >> fairly uneventful!
> >> Marsha
> >>
> >> P.S. When will my hair start growing back?
> >
> > Excellent - you did it!
> >
> > Most folks' hair starts to return shortly after their last treatment.
> > You should feel something growing up there real soon. I think you'll
> > be able to tell something's growing there after a couple weeks.
>
> One of my friends had chemo and was delighted when his hair began to grow on
> his head. He'd been bald for years!

sounds like he got hormones too -prostate cancer by any chance?

--
madiba

"madiba" <down@thekraal.com> wrote in message
news:1hpsnax.12no8vv1a5h0bqN%down@thekraal.com...

>>
>> One of my friends had chemo and was delighted when his hair began to grow
>> on
>> his head. He'd been bald for years!
>
> sounds like he got hormones too -prostate cancer by any chance?

No.

In any case not all prostate cancer patients get hormones, my husband hasn't
had any.

Mary