I was diagnosed with UC when I was 41, had s-pouch surgery at 43. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 55. I am now 66 y.o. I had surgery and chemo. It was caught early. My family on both sides has history of UC ( mom and paternal cousin) and breast cancer on both sides, so don’t know if all the steroids I took for UC were a factor. My UC was diagnosed before all the new biologicals were available. I had 4 rounds of chemo, I was a little more constipated than I was used to. Side effects were tiredness, low energy, no appetite, some nausea, but I continued to work my part time job as a hospital pharmacist and anti-nausea meds helped. Lost my hair, but wigs are great!

I dont know why the hair loss thing is so gut wrenching to me. Ive never felt like a beautiful person and was bullied my whole life. My hair is long, thick, and wavy and its the only thing i like about my appearance and to imagine it all falling out makes me want to puke.

Losing your hair depends on the chemo drug. Some may thin your hair without losing it.  I thought losing my hair would be the worst, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was referred to a beautician, that was also a cancer survivor. She fixed me up with a wig that was similar to my own hair/style and trimmed it to fit my style.  Around home, I just wore a baseball cap.