[Magdalen] Cold caps in chemotherapy

[Roger Stokes]

One of my nieces was, for a time, a representative for a firm supplying 
the refrigerators for this treatment.  From what I gather it was not a 
good firm to work for as she was the one employee who was not part of 
the family and her "beat" was the whole of the country, lugging the kit 
around in her car.

She now deals with and demonstrates edoscopy equipment in a much smaller 
area and with smaller bits of kit.

Roger

On 19/08/2015 12:58, Sally Davies wrote:
> Dear Pub friends
>
> I have an interesting assignment from my sister, to write a piece on her
> website about cold cap treatment which is a strategy for preventing hair
> loss during chemotherapy.
>
> I just spoke to a former patient who did that and managed to save her hair
> - which was long and still is!
>
> It involved quite a rigmarole, they had to get Dry Ice in (from elsewhere)
> for the caps, change caps every twenty minutes on "chemo day" and ensure
> that any skin not already protected by hair (such as the ears) was covered
> to prevent frostbite!
>
> But after six sessions of chemo - lovely natural hair. This patient had
> been through chemo baldness before, as a teenager, and had been traumatised
> by it so she was highly motivated to manage the cold caps
>
> Not for everyone I'm sure and perhaps wouldn't even work for everyone, but
> she says that overseas (US/UK) chemo treatment facilities offer the caps
> routinely and even have specialised apparatus for fast freezing them.
>
> Has anyone in the Pub come across these? And if so, did they work or was
> the head-freezing just useful as a distraction during an awful time in a
> person's life?
>
> Sally D
>