BB Blog — Breast Cancer

Looking for fashionable stylish headwear whilst going through chemotherapy treatment for Cancer? Just added to the website, the Liberty Grace Bold Beanie

A gorgeous Liberty Art Fabrics floral print in a lovely blue, tan and ecru colour-way. Super silky-soft and comfy for younger women suffering temporary medical or non-medical, more permanent Alopecia hair loss. 

Losing your hair can leave you feeling very self-conscious, but the Grace Bold Beanie is so easy and comfortable to wear with no styling required that you will forget you're wearing it and can just get on with your day. 

Designed using the highest quality cotton stretchy fabrics with minimal seams to fit snugly and comfortably on the head, they are suitable (breathable and temperature controlling) for night wear and a stylish night cap for a good nights sleep. 

Made in the UK by a busy mum who has experience Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy for herself and felt the market needed pretty headwear for younger women with Cancer. Also new to the range, PICC line cover sleeves and Liberty Head Scarves and Head Wrap also in this fabulous Liberty flower print. 

Looking for a gift for someone going through cancer? Get the Liberty Grace Bold Beanie made into a gift rose or send in a bear hug card.

Limited Edition While Stocks Last.

See also our wide range of cancer hats and gifts for Men, Teen Girls, Boys and Kids.

Sara has a new blog posting over on 'A Great tit' about the latest curve ball...

"The last month has been really hard and very stressful. I may as well have been floating about the ocean on flotsam – I’ve felt that helpless.  I am not some pink ribbon bedecked Boudica spoiling for a fight; I’m a scared little kid that wants someone to come save her.

Physically I’m doing very well. I’m virtually pain free and to a stranger I must seem perfectly healthy. Following my last scan, I was told that I’m responding to my current treatment regime better than your average patient.  Well of course I am! And I’m mighty proud of myself. In fact, if there was a treatment leaderboard I’d like to think I’m at the top! “Go big or go home!”

Perhaps it was this ‘super patient’ skill that made them offer me an additional treatment, who knows, but it was quite the curve ball! Totally up to me, window of opportunity not open indefinitely, we need an answer – c’mon! Chop, chop!

(For those of you who may be interested, the drug is called Abemaciclib, it’s a CDK4/6 inhibitor. I’ve only recently conquered the pronunciation, so I’m not going to try and explain what it’s meant to do. Google is your friend!)

First time around I took and endured everything that was offered or prescribed.  I wanted to live and that was the treatment goal. This time it’s different. There are treatments aplenty available to me, but none offering a cure, and the possibility of life without any treatment is no longer an option.  Consequently, my choices are measured and defined more by the quality of my life than my longevity. If it’s possible to have both then obviously I want to seize the chance – if only everything was clear cut, but it isn’t."

Truly great news - get your breasts and pecs checked. Superdrug has become the first UK high street store to offer breast cancer checks in a new partnership with CoppaFeel!

They've collaborated to offer breast awareness sessions in health clinics nationwide, where people of ALL genders will be given all the low-down on boobs & pecs. 

The retailer’s new service, which goes live today (Tuesday 19 March), will involve no-touch consultations which will be offered at Superdrug’s around the country.

Breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! and Superdrug teamed up for the partnership, with patients being able to pre-book nurse appointments in any of their 56 clinics in order for trained nurses to instruct them on how to thoroughly check their breasts for cancer symptoms.

"I wanted a wedding not a funeral': Bride who was diagnosed with breast cancer just a WEEK before her big day kept it a secret from guests because she 'didn't want their pity" says Charlotte Drake, 34 from Oxfordshire. 

She pushed for referrals after being told it was just a cyst and is now urging all women to check their breasts. As do I of course.

'A  woman who was diagnosed with cancer just days before her wedding has told how she and her fiancé came to the decision to keep her condition a secret and go through with their ceremony.

Charlotte was diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump while checking her breast while lying in bed. 

The brand manager, who had dreamed of being a wife and mother since the age of ten, decided to go through with her nuptials to Luke Drake, now 32, in May 2014 because she wanted to have 'a wedding, not a funeral'. 

Despite having no family history of the disease, Charlotte was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that could have killed her within two years.'

Whilst everyone is different, there are some common basics to hair loss with chemotherapy treatments for cancer, especially the drugs for Breast Cancer. 

The healthy cells in the hair follicles that support hair growth can be affected by chemotherapy treatment.  As a result, people with cancer who are given chemotherapy may lose the hair on their heads, eyelashes, eyebrows, and elsewhere on the body.

When hair loss occurs, it usually starts within 2 weeks of treatment and continues to get worse for 1-2 months. In my case I had my first round of chemo and it was just starting to fall out as I had my second infusion 3 weeks later. I had already shaved my head in preparation. Despite my terrible memory, its always going to be a pretty distinctive as it was my youngest daughters 1st birthday. 

Does it hurt when your hair falls out? Well my personal answer to that is yes. Its the kind of hair pain you get when your hair was tied back to tightly as a child. 

Similarly, a person's hair does not start to grow back immediately after their last chemotherapy treatment. The delay is due to chemotherapy drugs taking time to leave the body and to stop attacking healthy dividing cells.

Most people receiving chemotherapy will begin seeing a limited amount of thin, fuzzy hair a few weeks after their last treatment. Real hair starts to grow properly within a month or two of the last treatment. This was certainly true for me.

A small fraction of people who are given chemotherapy may never regrow their hair. Specific drugs increase the risk of permanent hair loss. The Breast Cancer drug Docetaxel, which is sold under the brand name Taxotere, has been known to cause permanent hair loss in some people. I had this drug, but my hair has grown back.

Knowing a little bit about hair growth can help a person understand hair regrowth after chemotherapy.  All hair goes through periods of rest, during which it does not grow. Furthermore, when the hair hits a certain length or when it is pulled, it falls out. So the scalp is always shedding some hair.

This basic timeline indicates what happens after chemotherapy: