Scalp Cooling Caps

Hi Chris! I used a company called Penguin Cold Caps. They are based in New Zealand but most of their caps seem to be here in Australia. I have just sent the set I hired on to a lady in Melbourne. I actually ended up delaying chemo by a week to get hold of the caps. It costs just under $600 per month and the dry ice is around $250 per month. As I mentioned, you keep them in your freezer and then get the dry ice the day before your chemo. Four or five hours before chemo starts you transfer all the caps into the esky. The first cap goes on an hour before chemo starts (I used to just get to the hospital an hour before I was due to start chemo). The first two caps are for 20 minutes to get your head nice and cold and then all caps after that are changed every 30 minutes. You really need someone to do the changes for you as once you're hooked up to the drip, you can't really move that arm and as I said, it was my husband that did all the work and I just sat there! You can only wash your hair once a week in organic shampoo and no hairdryers, tongs etc. For someone that used to wash their hair every other day, I thought it was going to be a nightmare but it really hasn't been. My hair has dried out with the chemo so doesn't need as much washing and I have used some dry shampoo here and there. I kept the length long enough to keep it tied back as I couldn't really style it. I have bumped into people I know that don't know my situation and they still have no clue (probably just think I need to get my roots done!!). For me, that's what a lot of it has been about, not just about whether I have hair or not. It's about telling who I choose to tell (without it being immediately obvious) and carrying on as normally as possible in between chemo sessions and looking relatively like my 'old self' has helped me with that. I respect everyone's decision to deal with it in their own way and this was just the way that helped me. I hope this all makes sense, I am sitting on the train on my way to my first radiotherapy session. If there is anything else you'd like to know, just shout. I'm happy to help :)