Exfoliating Your Post-Chemo Scalp

When my hair first started to regrow after AC chemo, my scalp was itchy and flaky. But an exfoliating scrub made from ingredients I had in the house made SUCH a difference! I got the idea from French blogger Les Karnets de Mel in her post about a hair regrowth workshop she attended (it's in French).

She notes that you should exfoliate your scalp once a week to eliminate dead skin cells:

1. Use an oil base (such as coconut or shea butter) with an exfoliant like sugar, coffee grounds, or crushed hazelnuts.
2. Apply in a circular motion with light pressure for 2 minutes.
3. Use a sponge and water to rinse.

I used sugar with shea butter, which I happened to have in the house. I exfoliated in the shower, and it felt safer to use sugar so I don't worry about coffee grounds stuffing up my shower drain. 

This is such a cheap, accessible remedy because most of us have some kind of oil around the house - like olive oil - and sugar. Try it and see how it goes!

After the mastectomy - radiation? more chemo?

It's been 2 months since my double mastectomy. For the last couple of weeks I've felt like I am in limbo waiting for the next part of treatment. My oncologist recommended getting a second opinion from a doctor at Dana Farber about what followup chemo would be needed since I didn't have a pathological complete response. In Boston, they requested my slides (actual slices of my tissue/tumors) so they could examine the slides themselves, but they got lost on the way and it took at least a couple of weeks to receive and examine them. When I got the second opinion, the doctor clearly said that she can only give a recommendation for chemo, but is not sure if I need radiation. Back at home, it seemed like nobody could tell me either - my surgeon said to ask my oncologist, and my oncologist said she'd have to talk to the radiation doctor and surgeon. I started getting nervous that it was taking so long to get to the next step of treatment, but I also was grateful to have a little more time before I had to go into doctors offices in the COVID-19 era!

Anyway, I finally had a call with the radiation doctor today, and he said he would NOT recommend radiation for me. I did have some cells at the deep margin for one of my tumors, so technically my margin was positive. But when he talked to the surgeon, she was confident that she removed breast tissue all the way to the fascia (tissue between breast and chest wall muscles), so radiation would not be needed. He also expressed that radiation is a tradeoff, and since I am relatively young, he would be worried about the risk of secondary malignancy (cancer caused by the radiation) over a longer time outweighing the benefit of doing any radiation in this case.

So that's good news to not need radiation, but it also means I'll be jumping into more chemo soon - Xeloda. Normally this is a drug used for stage 4 cancer, but it performed well in a clinical trial for triple negative adjuvant chemo. Since a tiny bit of my residual cancer was HER2+, I'll also get Herceptin every 3 weeks through IV. Xeloda is a pill you take twice a day for two weeks, then have a week off. I'm nervous about the hit on my immune system with COVID-19 around, but of course I want to do anything I can to fight cancer! And at least I won't have to go into the doctor's office weekly for infusions.

Having a Double Mastectomy...and a Toddler

I was really nervous about my double mastectomy - not for me, but for my 2 year old. I'm writing this post in case it helps other moms going through the same thing!

About 2-3 weeks before the surgery, we started telling our son that Mama was going to have a "big ouch" and he would have to use "gentle hands." When he would ask to be picked up, I'd remind him that I could pick him up now, but after my big ouch I would not be able to pick him up for a while. If he was a little rough with me, I'd ask him if he could practice using his gentle hands.

The message definitely got through, because he'd repeat "mama, big ouch, gentle hands" and pat me gently. (It was so sweet!) I think it's good we didn't go into any details, I didn't want to scare him too much.

My mother-in-law came to visit the week of my surgery to have another set of hands, and a bit of a distraction.

I stayed 1 night in the hospital after the surgery. I video chatted my husband and son the morning after surgery and said I'd had the "big ouch" but was feeling fine. Then, I went to my parents' house to recover. I was planning to stay until my drains were out, but after about a week or so I was feeling so good that I decided to try going home, and it worked out fine.

While I was staying with them, my husband and son came to visit for dinner a couple times. I think the first time they visited was just a couple of days after my surgery. I was nervous that he would get too physical but it was fine! I wasn't bedbound or anything, I could sit on the floor and lightly hug him - I put a pillow in between us to be safe. He seemed nonplussed and played a lot. I think it was good for him to see me in person and see that I was OK. While I was staying there we often had a quick video chat in the morning or to say good night before bed.

Back at home, I had to keep reminding myself not to pick him up because I was so used to it, but he was understanding. One thing that helped was getting one of those kitchen helpers so he could climb up and stand next to me at the counter, since he likes to see what I'm doing.