I was just wondering if anyone else on FEC has managed to keep some hair. I am due to have my 3rd dose on Tuesday and just before my second dose i started losing my hair,however i decided against shaving it as i couldn’t bring myself to lose what little i had left.
Now i still have a fine feathery down like a babies and whilst i’m quite pleased i’m still hanging on to some i can’t help having nagging doubts that maybe my body isn’t responding to the chemo in the correct way and therefore not doing it’s job.
I still have all my body hair,eyelashes and eyebrows.
Has anybody else kept some hair on this chemo? would love to hear.
Hi Tracey, I thought the same thing as I haven’t lost much of my hair, maybe my fec is not working and tumour size seems hasn’t changed at all. My 3rd fec is due on the 27th of oct and I haven;t lost any body hair at all, just back of my head lower bit , but only I know no one can notice. On my next oppointment with oncologist I will ask this , on my 3rd fec he will look at the size of the tumour and if not shrinking I will have to change it to another chemo. I also haven’t shaved my hair , I have so much hair I probably have just thinning and get away with it might be lucky.
I saw the oncologist today and she seems to think that hair will go eventually. Wasn’t that impressed with her though as she came through a door into the examing room asked some questions then said just wait there,which i did thinking that she would be back but she didn’t come back,instead a nurse appeared. I didnt manage to ask all the questions i wanted to ask so i left feeling rather let down,more like a box to be ticked than a person. I suppose i should have been more assertive and normally i would but at the moment just feel emotionally weak and so just left.
Thanks Fizbix and Gill for answering,hope your tumour shows improvement when you see oncologist Gill,it must be an anxious time for you,we all have or have had breast cancer but it seems it never the same experience for everyone,my chemo is for prevention now i presume yours is to shrink it to a size for surgery,even if FEC hasn’t worked they will have another one they can try.
I completed 6 x FEC last month (hooray!) and didn’t lose all my hair. It wasn’t anything to write home about but it didn’t all fall out! Elsewhere I lost most of my ‘downstairs’ hair, had lovely smooth underarms but legs needs an occasional ladyshave if I spotted some rogue hairs. My normally hairy forearms (don’t I sound lovely?) were much better ie not so manly, but, again, not all the hair went. Also I held onto a fair few eyelashes and my eyebrows didn’t go either. I had scans during and after chemo (I have secondaries) and I know FEC worked as a recurrence in my breast shrunk by well over 60-70% so have faith that it is working for you and total baldness is not the only sign that it’s working.
Good luck with the rest of your treatments and hope you’re not suffering too much.
Nicky x
I had 4xFEC,4xTax.I still had a good head of hair after the FEC -I did use the cold cap but the chemo nurses hadn’t seen anything like it! I lost every hair on my body with the Tax!
I’ve just finished 6 FEC and although I shaved it to a number 2 it didn’t all come out - I had a very light covering but not really much to shout about. It also started to grow again before my last treatment (9 days ago - wahoo!) and I’ve gone from having a velcro head to a light covering of fluff. Like Nicky I lost my “downstairs” hair, and lovely smooth underarms with the odd rouge hair on my legs. My eyebrows have thinned but are still hanging on. I was so pleased when I had to shave my underarms the other day and I never thought I’d say that!!
by the way - for anyone else “with hair” and worr ing that something may not have “happened” that should have …
although i kept mine it is now slightly thicker and a lot curlier - it used to be flat on my haead it now stands up - it used to be very greasy now it isn’t - so something has definitely happened even though it didn;t all go at once
Had 4 x EC followed by 4 x Tax, with the cold cap freezo-head thing for the first 3 EC. Held on to a bit of hair throughout - buzzed down to a No 2 and that was fine. Hair went into shock after Tax and was too scared to drop out. But cheerio, eyebrows and eyelashes.
Nine weeks after last Tax eyebrows suddenly appeared (hooray) and eyelashes are well on their way. Hair has shot back in the last few weeks. Still very short but hey, it’s proper hair, it covers my head, how brilliant is that? Welcome back, hair, even if you’re the wrong colour.
Was in hospital waiting room today, which was packed, so took only seat available, by the door. Everyone passing that i knew ruffled my sprouting crop on their way. Which was nice at first, but after the first 3 or 4 it got dead annoying and stood by the window instead, out of range of the well-meaning hair-rufflers.
Not too much correspondence between hair loss and attack on tumour in my case: the EC stopped working while the hair was still leaving. Stabilised under Tax, and I know that isn’t everyone’s experience, but the Tax clobbered the tumour, so i don’t care that my hair’s grown in a bit greyer. Just pleased that it’s grown back, and so soon!
I’ve just had FEC#4. My husband and daughter shaved my head after FEC#2 but I now have a few head hairs that are about 5mm long and growing. However…now they’re long enough to get hold of they pull out really easily, so I think they’re just ones that hadn’t fallen out earlier but got shaved off. Now when I cleanse ( I do my whole head now and not just my face) I get hairs coming off on the cotton wool, so I guess they won’t last for long…
I’ve lost virtually all my lower eyelashes, but still have quite a few top lashes and my eyebrows, although I think they’re a bit thinner these days. Downstairs hair was the first to come out…and beautifully smooth it is too!! Legs and armpits haven’t seen a razor for weeks. I still ahve hair on my arms though…guess that’s coz it grows slower than in other places?
might be lucky.