Happy Male Capper

Women aren't the only cappers that have received our caps and enjoyed the comfort and warmth they provide! Here is a note we received today:

Hi Joyce's Chemo Cap Project,

My sincere appreciation to the memory Joyce Schmitt volunteers Jan and
Vivian that have given me a hat to warm my head. On Tuesday January 31, 2012, I finally had the barber cut it all off down to the skin.

Last night I mentioned to my wife Jean that I needed a hat to warm my head.
Chemo finally took enough of my hair and the bald look is now mine.
But my head is a bit cold and I want to avoid the headaches from being too cold these past two nights.

And this Morning while at the Texas Oncology Radiation Center in Plano I
found this wonderful hat. Soft, correct size and a nice color for a guy!!
What a surprise. So thoughtful.

Very nice indeed!!!!

Joyce Schmitt must have been a someone very special.

Thanks. And may God Bless you.

DONALD H

Thank you note from a 'Happy Capper'.

We received this very nice card and a generous donation from Anita. It makes us happy to know that we brought comfort and smiles to someone who received our caps.
Thank you, Anita.

Lisa's Story and Advise

Lisa sent us this added article that was in the Breast Cancer Website. She tells her story and gives very good advise!

Yearly Mammogram Caught Breast Cancer

My gynecologist put me on an estrogen patch after my hysterectomy, against my better judgment. Less than two years later, at age 50, a yearly mammogram and subsequent testing revealed a cancer tumor in my left breast. I had a lumpectomy in October, 2009. My surgeon said the tumor was too deep for me to feel and find. The sentinel lymph nodes were cancerous, so the underarm (axilla) lymph nodes had to be removed and 14 (over half!) were cancerous. That meant stage 3 -- chemo and radiation. I am currently in chemo, and winter is a good time to go through this with wigs and hats. I have a great husband, caring friends and wonderful people involved in my medical care and in my breast cancer support group. I also have an uncomfortable and ugly port in my chest and am dealing with lymphedema (arm pain and swelling) which can happen when you have lymph nodes removed and after radiation. I wish researchers would find out what causes cancer and cure it but, in the meantime, all we have is early detection. My advice is to get a yearly mammogram, especially when going through menopause, make sure they are taken and processed digitally, and avoid HRT if you can.

Lisa
Richardson, TX

Note and Pictures of a Happy Capper

Took a pic with my webcam in my favorite cap which I wore today in Baylor Plano's Infusion room. I still have my rosy cheeks from chemo (third of six). It doubled as a great blindfold. I pulled the front over my eyes a little while listening to a CD for a half hour during treatment. I still have most of my eyebrows and eyelashes but without the cap you can see the top of my head very, very clearly through the thinning gray hair. I'll also send you a picture after my first treatment before I lost any hair. I wear another cap at night when my head gets cold. And I have a third cap that is heavier knit and has a brim for when I'm outside wearing a coat in this cold weather.

Going to check when ya'll are at the Allen Senior Center. I saved the tags and pins and you can reuse them and I can help pin them on the new batch. Just need to know when you need me. My schedule is open except my weekly chemo days which are Wednesdays at 1PM in January.


Here is me after my first chemo in November, what my hair looked like. (Had gotten a shorter haircut so I wouldn't be shedding such long strands of hair.)

I had taken a cell phone pic in front of the bathroom mirror recently showing a friend what my chemo port looks like.



And my new look with a wig when I'm not wearing caps and hats.

And I want to wish all the knitters and cappers a happy and healthy 2010 and beyond!!

Note from Barbara

Hi Ladies,

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful thing you've done with your chemo caps. I cared for my 55 year old sister here in Allen for about a year. She went to UT Southwestern for chemo for a very long time. She loved to go to the chemo cap box to look through all the lovely caps you all made. I believe she had one for almost all her outfits and last Christmas picked out the festive red and green ones. She even added little brooches to some to spice them up. She was single with no family and because of the cancer, had to sell her home and alot of her belongings. So whenever she got something she could call hers, she cherished it. I'm afraid we lost her in July, but she had a note on her to-do list to write and thank you for her caps. So, I would just like to thank you for brightening up my sister's life a little. I'm sure your caps have brightened up many other lives too. Thank you so much!

Barbara

Thank You From Susan

I have picked up a few of your caps at Texas Oncology by Baylor Plano Hospital. They are great, especially to wear around the house and to wear to bed. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to make a difference for those of us going through chemo. I have been amazed at the outpouring of support I have received from all kinds of people as I go through this process (diagnosed with breast cancer via annual mammogram in July).
Your friend Joyce (Schmitt) must be smiling down on you!
Warm Regards,
Susan

Thank you Susan for your kind words. We are so happy that our group can do something for other people and sometimes make them smile.
God bless you on the road that you travel. Our thoughts are with you during this journey.
Jan and Vivian

Additional Note from Lisa in Richardson

Feel free to use anything I have written to you. I have been telling lots of folks about your caps and about Joyce. A neighbor just had a lumpectomy last week and will hear this week whether lymph nodes are involved (which makes a BIG difference, as you know). I had a lot of lymphs removed so I'm on chemo right now and may do radiation after all that, and I am learning how to prevent lymphedema and am going to physical therapy and will be getting bandages to put on my affected arm.

When I am bald and wearing the caps, I plan on figuring out where exactly the Allen Senior Center is and come down and help pin the tags on the caps and meet the lovely people involved in your wonderful endeavor. I am not sure if I am going to be posing for many photos in course of my treatment (torn on whether I want to remember it with photos or not), but if I have a flattering shot in a cap, I will send it to you, or pose with your group when I meet y'all.

I still have a week with my own hair. They tell me the two drugs I am on will certainly result in hair loss. We'll see.

Again, Another Email from Emily

I am a patient of Dr. Stones and I want to tell you how much I enjoy the chemo caps. I have used them on days I don't really need a wig and they make me look and feel good, and healthy. Thanks for making these caps.

Emily

Email Received from a Capper in Richardson TX

I am not dreading going bald in the next week and a half, partly because my husband and I picked out a few caps from the box in the Baylor Plano infusion room. They go with different outfits and they look great and I am so grateful that you provide them to people undergoing chemotherapy. I almost bought one or two in a store before I started chemo and then I was so happy to see that people care enough to provide them for free for patients. The other day I was in chemo and I saw a bald young mother with two young daughters and they had a couple beautiful pink knit caps they were going home with.

I think it is a wonderful way you are keeping Joyce Schmitt's memory alive. The caps from the box mean so much more to me than any hat I could have bought in a store. I think a cap will be so much easier to wear than a wig!

Lisa

Call from a 'happy capper'

Yesterday we received a call from Carla. She just received her first treatment yesterday and while she was getting her infusion, looked down and there was this beautiful purple (her favorite color) on top of a pile of caps in a box. She was so happy to know that she could have the cap and wanted to thank us for it. Her husband told her that the cap was meant for her. I agreed. I told her she could take another cap and she said "Oh no, this is the one I want and I will cherish it. Let others take the other caps". She is a very nice lady. She told me that she would make caps if she could knit but she doesn't know how. I told her that her call to us means so much and that is enough for her to do. It's so good to hear from people like Carla!

A Surviving Capper's Generosity

Today we received a nice donation of yarn and 6 caps from a capper! Claudia, from Frisco, received one of our caps last fall. She didn't like to sit around so she knit us some caps. She's a very busy lady working on a lot of projects. She had a lot of extra yarn so she wanted us to have it. We really appreciate the yarn. She's in remission right now. If anyone knows of ovarian cancer survivors, please send their story to our email so we can add it to the blog. If fact, we would like survivor stories from everyone. This blog is to help people who have, have had or have someone they love with cancer. All stories would be read. Meanwhile, thank you, Claudia, for your super donation. The yarn will make a lot of beautiful caps and the caps you made will make 'cappers' so happy! God Bless you.

Note From a Capper's Husband

Hi
My wife is getting chemo treatment, and when we were in North Texas Cancer Center on 15th St in Plano we saw your basket and sign. She crochets blankets for Project Linus, which donates blankets to premie babies. She is also interested in making caps for your project. How do we get started?
Thanks
David


Vivian's answer to David

We use very soft yarn. Most of the yarn we use is a Hobby Lobby brand called "I Love this Yarn". Most of the ladies that make the caps live in the Allen area. We meet at the Allen Senior Center on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. We also knit or crochet at home. We would love to have your wife join our project. The need for the caps is increasing and we have been delivering around 100 a week to 5 cancer centers in this area.
Some of the ladies make the caps at home and either bring the caps to the center or mail them to our mailing address.
I am going to attach several of our crochet patterns.
If she needs more information or additional assistance please let us know.
Thank you again for wanting to join our project.
Vivian

Thank You's From Cappers

Dear Joyce's Chemo Caps,
I am a breast cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy at UT Southwestern's Simmons Comprehensive Care Center. Just this week, I lost my hair.. One of the wonderful nurses at the clinic showed me your chemo caps and I was absolutely delighted. I picked out the most beautiful, soft, warm, pink cap that is so comfortable. I wear it all around the house and I just love it. My cap makes me smile and brings happiness in an otherwise dreary situation. Thank you for providing such wonderful caps.. You are such a blessing to others!
God bless,
Heidi De Diego
-------------

Hello,
I just wanted to thank you for the chemo cap I picked up at the Plano Texas Oncology site about one month ago. I saw it in the basket and I picked it up and was so happy to have it.
It is very comfortable and I like it a lot. I wear it more than anything else. it came at a very good time.
In case you are wondering which one it is, it is a dark pink with a light pink band around the face. it is pretty and I enjoy wearing it.
Thank you again, you are very kind and thoughtful to do this. Next week when I have my next chemo treatment, I will be halfway done. I am very thankful to have a chance to recover from my breast cancer. I still will have to take herceptin treatments for a year, but they don't make me sick like the chemo does.
I am sorry that you lost someone dear to you. Your ministry touches my heart and I pray for you and your family.

Note received from one of our 'cappers'

Hi girls,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for making these wonderful caps.

I think you are all wonderful, special people to understand our bald headed need for cover...attractive, colorful, (or neutral), warm, easy head gear.

I have so enjoyed, and shared the ones I've picked up at UT Southwest. And, I will wash them up and return them (do you have a recycle program...case you want to bring em back in for a button or something?) when I have some hair again!

I would like to make a cash donation to help with your yarn supplies or whatever your supply needs are. Could you give me a mailing address and tell me who to make the check out to?

Thank you very much. Karen

Note received from one of our 'cappers'

We received this note from Dawn today:

Thank you and the Allen Seniors for the cap. I got a new one today while at the North Texas Regional Cancer Center to match a couple of pair of my pajamas.

I had another one which I still use and has withstood many washings.

Your time and effort is greatly appreciated by those of us who have little or a lot less of the hair we used to have!

I replied and asked her if it was ok to put her thank you on our blog. This is the response that we got from Dawn.

Perhaps my cancer experience would be helpful to others. I was diagnosed with stage 4, an inoperable tumor, lung cancer (I am a non-smoker) in the fall of 2004. I have been on 3 different sets of drugs, each has worked very well up to a point and the side effects have been manageable and allowed me to live a ‘normal’ life. I have the side effects but they have not been devastating as they are with many people. The tumor has been reduced significantly over this period of time. Earlier this year, in March, the side effects were more than I could tolerate and my doctor decided to give me time to recover. The tumor has been stable so I am still off chemo and I am feeling so much better and will have tests and learn more the first part of November.

God has blessed me through every part of this journey and I am walk daily hand in hand with my Healer. I hope I can encourage others to know that God is in control and wants the best for you. I also have many friends and relatives who care and are always there and I Praise God for them and His guidance.

Dawn

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Dawn. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. I know it will help someone else that is going through the same thing you are and will help others that have a loved one or friend that needs encouragement.

Note from one of our "Happy Cappers"

It is so endearing when we receive a note from one of the people who receive our caps. We call them 'Happy Cappers' in our scrapebook. It makes everything we do worthwhile and we feel so good to know that our caps are enjoyed and helpful. Here is a note that we received today in our email. It brought tears to our eyes!

I wanted to take time to type this email to tell you how much joy your box of hats has brought me. Every time I'm in chemo, one of my highpoints, is looking at all the beautiful hats you wonderful ladies have made. I have 3 now that I LOVE. I wear them all evening and at night. They are so comfortable. I know you thought this would be a small gesture, but I'm here to tell you, it is much more than that. It brings love, caring, and giving to strangers in a time of such deep illness a smile, a comfy cap to nurture them, and a smile at the giving of such beautiful women! It is especially special to me, because I can still see my mom Knitting slippers and afghans and I would always wear the Knitted slippers when I was ill for some reason, they always brought me such comfort. Mom died 20 years ago and I still wear the one pair I have left all tattered and worn that my mom made. So I find your hats so nurturing and loving and know the size of the hearts they come from.

Wanted you to know I (we) are eternally grateful!
Much Love and HUGE HUGSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Nancy C