Andrea ▶ NJ

Andrea | New Jersey
Age: 47
Diagnosis: Triple negative breast cancer
Chemotherapy Regimen: Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Taxol
Total Treatments: 8 
Infusion Center: Princeton Medical Group

Tell us about yourself.
I was 47 years old when I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, when a new nodule was spotted during my annual mammogram. I was interested in scalp cooling after recently seeing my dad use a manual cold cap during his chemo treatments. He managed to keep a lot of his hair, but had to change the ice packs frequently because he was using a manual cold cap and not DigniCap.

Did you have a successful experience using DigniCap?

I am happy to say I finished my final chemo treatment with a full head of hair. My doctor is so impressed with my results! He asked me to write something up for him to share with his other patients. The nurses were great and really knew what they were doing.

I treated my hair like glass throughout my chemo treatments. That was my motto and anytime I went onto the DigniCap Facebook group I would post in the comments. “My advice is to treat your hair like glass and only wash it when you absolutely need to and the morning of chemo.’’

Post chemo was a great feeling, but very emotional too. It was a huge relief to know I had completed that journey and I could begin to move forward. I spent my summer at the Jersey shore relaxing and getting to a new norm. I had my hair; while not as much as before chemotherapy but I looked good and felt good!

“Keeping my hair helped tremendously when my treatment was over because I felt I could move forward without a constant reminder of being bald if I had not used DigniCap.“

Why was keeping your hair during chemotherapy important to you?
I wanted to make sure I didn’t look like a cancer patient for my three children, ages 16, 14 and 10. I had talked to a lot of women and they had opted against scalp cooling but told me the wigs are hot and itchy. I did go wig shopping and had one that would have been perfect, but in the back of my mind I felt like I would still be a year out from my last chemo treatment with no hair, and constantly being reminded of what I had just endured with the chemo, mastectomy and reconstruction.

How did keeping your hair affect you, and those around you?
Keeping my hair helped tremendously when my treatment was over because I felt I could move forward without a constant reminder of being bald if I had not used DigniCap. It gave my children normalcy because they didn’t have to see their mom with no hair or wear a wig or handkerchiefs on my head. I was able to look as much like my pre chemo self as possible through four months of treatment, and after! I was told a wig would be really hot and the new growth of hair would come in differently than what I had before if I lost my hair.

What advice would you give to someone who is going through a similar experience, or who has recently been diagnosed and is considering scalp cooling?
First, I would 100% recommend DigniCap to other patients. Second, and to be fully transparent, I could not do it without a painkiller, although I know many women that don’t use any pain medicine. Ask your oncologist for a pain killer and/or anti-anxiety medicine. It is a shock on that first day of treatment. They had only given me an Extra Strength Tylenol, which did not touch the pain. I understand everybody has a different pain threshold but during my mastectomy I only took Tylenol and Advil, so I thought I would be OK. After I got Ultram for my second treatment and moving forward, I was good to go. The first 30 minutes is rough with the coldness and some pressure. My doctor has since added Ultram to his protocol for all DigniCap patients.

Finally, try to get prior approval from your insurance company before starting. The way I looked at was a wig was going to cost the same as DigniCap. I have yet to get reimbursed from Aetna, however I’m working on it and doing an appeal. I do believe that if I had set this up prior to my treatments, it would have been smoother, and they would have worked with me on this since I did not use Aetna’s allotted $1000 credit for a wig. But my treatment plan went so quickly I did not have time to set that up beforehand.

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