CancerCompass message board discussion started by Cathy53 on 6/20/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,25252,0.htm Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I have stage 4 CA but my primary CA in the lung was removed, as well as a brain tumor in the temporal lobe that was mets.  This was done in 1/07. I then had radiation to my head and have been taking Tarceva since 5/07.  I seem to tolerate the Tarceva fairly well - it mostly makes me tired, even since I tried taking it at night instead of the morning.  It does cause GERD so I have to watch my diet.  I went through months of a mild rash followed by extremely dry flaky skin that seemed to by cyclic, but that has thankfully subsided.  My problem is hair regrowth.  The radiation was done over a year ago - I had 4 weeks of tx to my head only. My hair has grown back everywhere but the top of my head - picture Bozo the clown, and that is what I look like (only with brown hair).  Taking the Tarceva may be contributing to my problem, but my doctor won't let me stop it; she did allow me to change the schedule to ev. other day Tarceva to encourage growth, but there is very little difference after 5 wks.  I live in Florida and wearing a wig every day for over a year has really gotten me down.  I know I am lucky to be alive, and thankful I haven't had any problems so far.  But I would really like my hair back!  Has anyone else experienced this?  And if so, how long before you finally got all the hair back.    Cathy53 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT I don't have any suggestions for regrowth but I did have a very thin top during my first chemo drug. Right now I am bald with some hair starting to grow back. What I did for myself when my hair was too thin on top is to buy some cute hats and wear them. My hair showed on the sides and back and so no one new I had the thinning on top. There is a catalog from the American Cancer Society called TLC. www.tlcdirect.org. I bought some hats from them. Now that I am bald I only wear my wigs when I want to dress up. Other times I wear my hats or a scarf. It is so much more comfortable. Cindy D. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thanks for your input.  Unfortunately, I am not a hat person, and look quite terrible in hats. I also got sick of trying to tie scarves, which I'm not good at, and wearing turbans (which I got from the TLC catalog).  For me, the wig is the only thing that looks decent on me, but it is very hot now in Florida and wigs are way too hot to be wearing on a regular basis.  In fact, anything covering your whole head is too hot!  So I can only keep hoping that one day the top of my head will fill in with hair.  Cathy53 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT