One of the concerns that face women with Breast Cancer, is that the Chemotherapy treatments they are given, causes Alopeica (Hair Loss).
Being faced with the reality of cancer, and in most cases, a mastectomy. Sometimes the reality doesn’t sink in until their hair falls out. Well in Liz’ case, this was an issue she could not cope with at all. Infact, she was literally more upset about losing her hair from Chemo, than the fact her breast was to be removed.
After much research on the internet, we discovered Penguin Cold Caps. A cold head cap, specifically designed to be worn during chemo treatments to help prevent the loss of hair.
We decided to go ahead and rent these caps, and use them as designed to try and save Liz’ hair. Journey with us, while we show you videos & photos and our general review of this product, which is widely known in other countries. But only a few years new to New Zealand.
Requirements
Because we are not in Auckland, we had to organise a few things for ourselves.
- Chest Top Freezer (to store the cold caps in)
- Dry Ice Distributor (to help make the caps even colder & to keep them cold while at hospital)
If you live in the Auckland region, I think the team prepare the caps for you personally, then deliver them for each chemo treatment, then collect them when your done and prepare for them for the next treatment.
The Rest of The Penguin Cold Cap Kit
The rest of the kit was sent down by the Auckland Penguin Cold Cap team which included:
- 2 Large Chilli Bins
- 1 Digital Timer
- 1 Temperature Laser Gun (for checking the temp of the cold caps, very neat)
- 1 set of Cloth Gloves (essential, trust me)
- Penguin Cold Caps (each order may be different, but we had 14 for Liz’s treatments)
each cold cap came with a tight seal lunch container to help distribute the temperature evenly
Fitting the cap for the first time
The caps came with instructions specific to Liz’s treatments. Everything from pre-paring the caps before Chemo, to cooling instructions. How to fit the caps, what time periods each cap needs to be on for, how long before we start, and how long after the treatment has finished they need to be on for etc.
Here is a quick video on our first fitting, (VERY FIRST CAP).
Photo Diary
I have arranged the images into groups. you can clearly see how well the Penguin Cold Caps worked for Liz.
It is almost impossible to tell that there was any extra hair loss.
Photo’s before each chemo treatment
The neck shots above, are of the last 4 chemo treatments
(2 Dec 10, 23 Dec 10, 15 Jan 11, 3 Feb 10)
