I can't believe than anyone would have chemotherapy when there are far less painful and far more successful alternative treatments available.

For an excellent book that presents the alternatives to the hideously painful and sadly ineffective "conventional treatments" of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy read "Cancer - Step Outside the Box" by Ty M. Bollinger.

Not this stuff again! Every time there is an article about cancer treatment you folks show up and tout books on alternative treatments. It is unspeakably cruel to those going through the proven effective treatments. You have no clinical trials and no scientific evidence that these alternative methods work. If you did, they would be used. This is an article about cold caps -- do you have anything to contribute to that discussion?

Maybe people tout books on "alternative treatments" because there are alternative treatments for cancer that actually work as opposed to the conventional treatments which have about a 3% success rate.

By the way, did you actually read the book? Yeah, I didn't think so.

How about if you actually read it and examine the information presented before passing judgement? You know, it's always useful to know what you are talking about before you start talking.

So read the book and come back with a sensible rebuttal rather than a silly statement that boils down to "That's just not so" because that is hardly a valid rebuttal to facts.

If showing people the way to actually curing their cancer rather than suffering the misery of conventional "treatments" isn't a useful contribution to the discussion, then I am afraid I don't know what would be. Advising people to put a cold cap on their head so they keep their hair while suffering the living hell that is chemotherapy is like putting a band-aid on a broken arm. That's what I call a non-contribution to the discussion.

Yeah, then go on over to Winnie-the-Pooh and prepare to be astounded. There is no sensible rebuttal to absurd, unproven statements purporting to be factual.

Yeah jack and there is no point in talking to people who have decided that they believe what they believe and "please don't confuse me with the facts". There are none so blind as those who will not see.

It's funny how people like you will instantly believe anything a doctor tells them but won't even look at possible alternatives. A discussion with such people is as impossible as trying to rational discuss religion with a "true believer".

The topic is a cold cap to prevent hair loss while receiving chemotherapy. There have been a lot of good comments on-topic. Pros and cons of the use of the cap have been discussed courteously.

What does the posting of a fictional "cure" for cancer have to do with this topic? Provide objective proof that there is a cure and I am certain we will all be joyeous. Otherwise your comments are just attention seeking behaviour and ranting.

Merry Christmas Jherk...oh, I mean "politically correct best wishes for the holiday season/winter solstice/whatever-floats-your-atheist/agnostic-boat".

It's funny that the best argument you can come up with to rebut what I have to say is "that just ain't so" and childish name calling.

I invite everyone reading this to read "Cancer - Step Outside the Box" by Ty M. Bollinger and also investigate surgery, radiation and chemotherapy as treatments for cancer. I think everyone should look at all the facts and then make up their minds.

I have to wonder though why you have to shout and scream and try to insult to prove how right you are and don't even want people to look at all the facts. What is your agenda Jack? Why exactly don't you want people to look at all the facts and decide for themselves?

Still off topic. The topic is cold caps, not a book of fiction or someone's perseverations.

This article has a shout and scream button? Where? I haven't found it! Are you sure it isn't those other voices in your head?

I inquired about something similar to this 20 years ago when I had Hodgkin Disease. My oncologist told me that the cold would prevent the chemo from getting everywhere in my body. So, I lost my hair, which was horrible at 22, but I got over it and made the best of it.

It seems to me this should be up to the individual facing chemo. The patient should be informed of the risk vs the reward and allowed to make the decision for him or herself. A lovely consent form acknowledging that you're aware there is a risk (however small) of chemo not effectively killing cancer cells in the scalp and that there does exist the possibility of frostbite or whatever but you choose to take that risk should be about all that's needed.

Amen, Robert. I had about 10 months of chemo and radiation and managed to keep most of my hair, but would have traded every hair on my body to give up the other side effects. Hoping for the best for your wife.

Mr. Wheeler, your last sentence says it all. I am going through chemotherapy right now, and I will be for the next 5 months. I have lost my hair - but I don't really care. (I do care that I've lost my eyebrows and my eyelashes have thinned.) What I really, really care about is that I've lost my memory. Some of the loss is attributed to surgery, some radiation, and some from the chemo. I have "forgotten" nearly everything I learned in school; family vacations and most recently where I hid the Christmas presents! However, I am still here! And that's all that matters.

@DebraB & Robert Wheeler: One Christmas/Holiday wish: May you, DebraB, Robert and your wife get through this ordeal, remain cancer-free and live a healthy and prosperous life.

MTRI: You are entitled to your opinion but you are presumptious to state that some of the other comments are made out of ignorance. You do not know the qualifications of others and calling their opinions "overwhelming ignorance" is nothing more than name-calling. What are your qualifications?

hey, I'm all about different options, but to turn down chemo? Believe me, I am a stage 4 patient for about a year now. I am fortunate enough that i go to CTCA and they offer so many vitamins and chemo mixtures that I haven't lost all of it yet, it's thinned drastically, but it is always an option with each treatment we try. Life and family are more important than hair.

I say if this thing works, go nuts, but choosing hair over treatment is a bit much.

I agree. For most people it is not about "vanity" or having an ego. It's about social acceptance. It is hard enough having the illness without having to worry about people rejecting you, staring at you, or thinking you are ugly. It is very insensitive to say that someone is afraid to lose their hair because they are "vain". Frankly, "vain" people don't care what other people think of them. It is modest people who are insecure and want to please others.

lI have had chemo. I have lost hair, all of it. It is not pleasant. But no one, no one ever treated me the worse because of it. I learned that people respond to me, not my hair or lack of it. In addition, I agree that while I understand women's fear of losing their hair, it turns out to be the least troublesome of chemo side effects.

not that I know for sure if this is the case with the picture, but remember, when hair grows out with many chemos, it comes back different. Mine thinned and came back thicker and a different color (a lot more grey for sure, haa haa) but a much darker brown.

What an utterly trivial point to make.

And if someone with "mousy brown hair" chooses to call it "dark blonde" who made you the boss that can tell them they can't?

Sheesh.

Hated them? Seriously?!? These are the people that gave you the medical treatment that has obviously made it possible for you to be here today. Do you know the meaning of the word ungrateful?

Nurses can really be uncaring sometimes, can't they? It's always great when you get nurses that "get it". I'm an easy going person, and a well behaving patient, but I've had more than my share of mean nurses.

It is so unfeeling when these people who are supposed to be "helping" instead make fun of the issues worrying their patients. Nothing is more re-affirming than a little acknowledgment that it sucks to lose your hair, and that you yourself would hate it too.

Eagle, just because someone has the label "nurse" doesn't automatically mean that they are kind, empathetic and caring. I know there are lots of wonderful nurses out there - but I had a bad experience with one when I was delivering my son (nasty bitch) and my family has run into a whole bunch of crappy ones during my father's many hospital stays. Believe me, there are a lot of unfeeling, uncaring and downright mean nurses out there.

Re: Marlene, Seriously, You would rather die than lose your looks?? Well, you aren't going to look very good dead either. That's pretty vain. Sad that it seems to you, that you have nothing else to live for except your looks.

@Eagle: Someone who is a nurse for 30 years should be able to easily start an IV. She couldn't and I HATE needles. She told me that I could not ride my bike, could not eat pizza or do my hikes. I am a long distance cyclist and would do 85 mile rides the day before chemo. I ate and drank whatever I wanted and went on my 9 mile hikes. She even "tattled" on me to my oncologist, who promptly told her to get off my back. She can kiss my tight, firm a$$. The only reason I got through this was because of my cycling, and its one of the reasons I am still here and others with my exact same diagnosis are not. May they rest in peace. I was not a compliant or complacent patient. Such hatred I never knew until I faced this disease since I've been healthy all my life. I have been in remission for almost 9 years and if the disease knows what's good for it, it will stay the hell away from me and so will that nurse.

@trish: Admittedly, I am vain, but that doesn't go hand in hand with being an unctuous person. I care deeply about my appearance and never, ever regretted maintaining same. I live for myself first, then my husband. I was lucky enough to be able to finance my college education, support myself from the age of 17 until I met my husband at 46, marry well and retire early. You could say I am a late bloomer boomer. So, you see, I have plenty to live for and pride in my physical appearance and well being takes a number one spot in my life for which I make no apologies.

@Suze& fiscalconservative: To some nurses its just a job, and they can't wait to clock out. I worked in health care administration prior to my retirement, and saw my share of excellent care givers and really lousy ones. To reaffirm that it sucks to lose your hair doesn't help the issue of losing it, but at least you feel like they are on your side. You have no idea how many people blew off the no hair thing. I hope that this cold cap thing works.

If you know someone who is faced with the issue of losing her hair via chemo treatments, please be sensitive to it. Don't tell someone that if they lose their hair that it won't matter to you. To a chemo patient, it does matter.

Marlene, I totally understand. I loved my hair and I am devastated that I let the doctors convince me to do chemo that caused me to lose it. Everyone said, "It will grow back." Some people even said it would grow back better than it was. That was laughable. I had the most beautiful hair anyone could imagine. It was pure silk, all the way to my waist. I turned heads when I went anywhere. It was the first thing anyone noticed about me. But, I chose my life over my hair, and later learned there could have been ways to have saved my hair, like this friggen cold cap that no one mentioned to me, yet many of these posts make it sound like the idea is nothing new. Why didn't anyone mention it to me? Why did they let me lose my beautiful hair? Now, the crap that is on my head makes me hate my appearance. No one looks at me anymore. Men used to scramble to open a door for me, and now they let the doors slam in my face. My hair was my only asset and it is gone. I"m heartbroken. It's been four years, and even though I color the crap that is growing on my head, it has no luster , no silky texture. I would help you shave the nurses heads. No one was compassionate toward me. I hate my doctors more than the nurses, though. They trivialized my worries and never gave me any alternatives.

it varies per patient/chemo/vitamins and a myriad of other factors. Everyone is totally different, but I've seen some keep hair everywhere but the head. There are hundreds of chemo drugs out there. Unfortunately, there is no way of saying with absolute surety, what one type will do to one person.

It's kind of a pain that way.

I forgot to say...

Thank you for ASKING. I am always happy when people ask questions, rather than make generalizations or consult wierd websites. Never hesitate to ask. It's not Debbie Downer at all.

It depends at what stage of chemo you are at when you start to lost your hair. I lost my hair after 3 treatments, my eyebrows & lashes were lost much later.

I lost all of my hair EXCEPT for eyelashes and eyebrows. Chemo induced hair loss is a fickle creature...

Thanks everyone. Loved the input.

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing - just guessing, mind you - that the people who went through the chemo and made the decision to keep their hair instead, probably did "consider this".

People pay good money for waxings, and pluckings, gels, creams, and lotions for hair removal. I never understood the "I want it" if I don't have it and "Don't wan't it" if I do, attitude about hair. The makers of Rogain and Nair are just laughing their butts all the way to the bank.

Good for you !

I was horrified at the thought of losing my hair when I was diagnosed with Leukemia (AML, to be exact) two years ago. But you know something? My bald head made me feel sexier and more confident than my coiffed hair ever did. Heck, I liked it so much I'm STILL rocking the bald look, even though I have been cancer free for a year and a half.