Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Cold Caps For Chemotherapy

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Cold Caps For Chemotherapy: October is National Breast Cancer Cancer Awareness Month.  One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.Octo...

Cold Caps For Chemotherapy

October is National Breast Cancer Cancer Awareness Month.  One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

I remember a friend who was battling breast cancer and my mom loosing her locks when she was battling lung cancer both sharing the lost of their hair.

For women being treated for this disease the most difficult thing about chemotherapy is losing their hair.  Hair for many women is a great part of who they are.  Lost of hair immediately may sent out the signal something is wrong long before you are ready to share your cancer diagnosis . 

When the treatment kills cancer cells, it kills healthy hair cells right along with it, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen.

But for many women that doesn't happen. There is a technique called cold caps used for decades in Europe, But almost unknown in the U.S.But for many women that doesn’t have to happen. 

The cold cap is chilled with dry ice to 30 below. As it warms, a new one is strapped on tightly every 20 to 30 minutes.  This goes on for 8 hours "It's not really pain.  It is an overall feeling of just I want this off my head, "Wolff said.  In the most recent study, roughly 66 percent of women kept more than half of their.

Doctor have different ideas about why it works.  One theory is that it constricts blood flow, keeping the chemo from reaching the scalp.  Another is that it freezes  many of the hair follicles and the chemo is simply shut out.

“Is it working?” Petersen asked.

“It is working. I have the majority of my hair. The oncologist told me this morning that I would have been completely bald had I had not used the cold cap,” Wolff said.

She gets moral support from her husband – CBS News’ Barry Petersen. Yes, they are together on this journey.

“Why is maintaining your hair important to a woman?” Petersen asked.

“I think it gives you a sense of control. It gives you a piece of dignity,” Wolff said

It doesn’t work for all chemo drugs, or for cancers carried through the blood like leukemia. There are concerns that blocking the chemotherapy could let cancer spread to the scalp, but doctors don’t believe it’s likely.

“Our opinion is that the risks are very, very small, if any,” said Dr. Tessa Cigler, an oncologist at New York’s Weill Cornell Breast Cancer Center.  

Cigler sees a positive impact from the caps.

“I think some of it is a look-good-feel-good” effect for patients, she said.

The other effect she’s noticed is on doctors and how they respond to women who still have their hair.

“We’ve been surprised at how our interactions are a little bit different,” Cigler said, adding that it’s in a “more positive” sense.  

Using these caps can cost a patient several thousand dollars out-of-pocket; they are rented by the month.

Another version called DigniCap circulates coolant through one cap. It received FDA approval last December, but it’s far less available since it must be leased by hospitals. Users then pay by the treatment.

Neither of the options is reimbursed by insurance.

That’s why Bethany Hornthal in San Francisco helped found the non-profit “Hair to Stay,” to help women who can’t afford the cold caps. The organization has offset the costs for more than 170 women.

“I think that insurance needs to step in here and to level the playing field,” Hornthal said.

In New Jersey, Susan Melchione demonstrated the DigniCap for us. She decided it was worth the cost.

“I can go out and just be who I am and not have the breast cancer define me,” Melchione said.

“What does that mean, not have the breast cancer define me?” Petersen asked.

“Not live the cancer, but live going through the struggle or the treatment of it, and coming out the other end and being fine,” Melchione said.

All the women we spoke to for this story, doctors and patients, stressed the importance of awareness. While there can be hefty out-of-pocket costs, women can’t make the choice to save their hair without knowing about the treatment option – and most doctors are not talking about it. 

Petersen said he is happy to report that his wife had her last chemo four months ago, and she was able to keep her hair.

Retrieve 10/22/2016

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cold-cap-treatment-breast-cancer-chemotherapy-women-keep-their-hair/

http://www.polarcoldcaps.com/?gclid=CNKc4OeK788CFcNZhgodDcsPsA

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: October 19, 2016 TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESC...

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs:


  October 19, 2016
 TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESC...:   October 19, 2016  TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS OCTOBER 22, 2016 [New York NY] – On Saturday, October 22, from 10 a.m....

  October 19, 2016
 TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS OCTOBER 22, 2016

[New York NY] – On Saturday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the [local agency] and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its 12th opportunity in six years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Bring your pills for disposal at local disposal site .  (The DEA cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.)  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

During both my Mother and Husband illness I found it inconsiderable that after their death I had costly medication, that I could not be used or easily dispose of.  Cancer medication and pain pill are very costly as much as 3600 or more a month even when my husband was in the hospital they would not administer his medication they would ask me for his pills.  In the end I had a bag of pill someone else who could not afford medication could use.

Last April, Americans turned in 447 tons (over 893,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at almost 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement partners.  Overall, in its 11 previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 6.4 million pounds—about 3,200 tons—of pills.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.  Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the October 22 Take Back Day event, go to the DEA Diversion website (For more information)

https://apps.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/NTBI/ntbi-pub.pub?_flowExecutionKey=_c61FD13BD-1E48-4A5D-CD21-9192EBE2414F_k038D9851-C57E-E8B4-BC61-8DB

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is most common cancer among American women. Getting  mammograms regularly can lower the risk of dying...

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Muriel Lights' Candle Designs: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is most common cancer among American women. Getting  mammograms regularly can lower the risk of dying...

Muriel lights Melts

  https://www.etsy.com/listing/470655894/muriel-lights 

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