This important article was written by a psychologist who required chemo

[SorellaLaBefana]

It offers some hope for a fortunate few with money to minimize a common chemo complication—but shows the heartache of the majority of people being treated.

I've quoted a bit more extensively than usual. Hopefully this won't get the post removed for it is a long article.

With most chemotherapy comes hair loss, and with hair loss can come the loss of one’s agency: Until chemotherapy, I was in charge of who would know about my diagnosis. As a practicing psychologist, I didn’t want my condition to be apparent to my patients. The focus of therapy should always be on the patient, not the provider...

It was a relief and a surprise when I discovered scalp cooling...

However, these benefits are denied to many cancer patients because cold caps are generally not covered by insurance in the US, and many hospitals are not equipped to provide this service...

I was stunned that neither I nor many of my colleagues in medical fields other than oncology had ever heard about cold capping.] It was also shocking to discover that insurance companies often consider hair loss from chemotherapy a cosmetic issue...

In contrast, a patient of mine who had breast cancer three years ago and was not offered scalp cooling wept at the sight of my full head of hair throughout my chemotherapy. She had struggled with her hair loss, feeling she had been reduced to being only a cancer patient...

Measured against the total costs of breast cancer care, the cost of scalp cooling is minuscule and not necessarily more expensive than a wig. In my case, scalp cooling cost $1,200 over the course of my four chemo treatments. (My patient paid $5,000 for her wig.) Yet without insurance coverage, this option is only available to those with financial means...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/19/opinions/cancer-chemo-cold-caps-scalp-cooling-mulqueen/index.html

HealthCARE system—not in America

[mopinko]

1. man. why dont hospitals have them and use them during treatments?

ffs.

[marble falls]

2. It's hard enough to have cancer. It is bone crushing when the cancer become you. That fight was ...

... eevery bit as tough as the actual treatments.

[niyad]

3. Heartsick KNR

[niyad]

4. Heartsick KNR

[CrispyQ]

5. Dignity is only for the rich.

The rest of us need to be reminded how lacking we are.

Basic healthcare? Affordable education? Leisure time? Guaranteed retirement? The "finer" things in life are only for the rich. People have no idea just how wealthy the wealthy really are.

If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.
~Chris Rock

American Wealth as Pie
the good part starts at 45 seconds.

And this is dated! 2014, I think.

[Staph]

6. Two points from a cancer survivor.

Ten-year survivor here, endometrial cancer, returned twice.

1. I was told by a very wise person to celebrate losing my hair -- it means that the chemo is working! The kind of chemo that we normally think of attacks fast-growing cells, like cancer cells, and hair follicles. When your hair starts falling out, it's a good sign. And for women like me, it means that you don't have to shave your legs and armpits either.

I know, it's awful with nothing but fuzz on your head, with most of your eyelashes and eyebrows gone so that you look like a scared rabbit. I wore a wig or scarf or cancer cap, too. But after a while I quit wearing them except for dressy occasions. Bald is beautiful. Just ask Jada Pinkett.

2. $5000 for a wig! Ten years ago I paid a couple of hundred dollars for a wig, and the cancer center gave me a coupon for a free one, too. Granted, they weren't human hair wigs from the Zsa Zsa Gabor collection, but they were decent enough. I still haul out the red bob wig from time to time, just for fun.

[Joinfortmill]

7. Thanks for this.