Tammy Tacke was diagnosed with breast cancer late last year. While it wasn’t news she wanted to receive around the holidays, it was important that she went in for her mammogram when she did.
“I wasn’t going to get a mammo in 2024 because I was so busy, it was already December, and I thought no I’m getting ready for the holidays, I don’t have time for this. A little voice kept telling me, ‘you should get your mammo,’ and so finally I thought ‘OK, I will,’” said Tacke. “The doctor said I’ll call you the day after Christmas and he said we found cancer.”
After a double mastectomy, Tammy started chemotherapy.
“I had two rounds of different kinds of chemo, so the first round was eight weeks, and then they switched it to a different chemo, and that was eight weeks,” said Tacke.
Undergoing chemotherapy can often mean patients lose their hair as one of the side effects, which was a concern for Tammy.
“My main concern was my daughter. She is 31, and has Down syndrome and she lives with us, and she would have been very anxious if she would have seen all my hair fall out,” said Tacke.
Cooling Cap To Reduce Hair Loss
However, thanks to a cooling cap technology called DigniCap, it helped reduce that risk.
“How it works is if you can cool the scalp down, it decreases blood flow to the scalp during chemotherapy so it limits the amount of exposure that your hair follicles have when a patient is receiving chemotherapy,” said medical oncologist, Mary Lee Villanueva, MD. “Typically they would wear it for about 30 minutes prior to chemotherapy, and that’s what Tammy did. They wear it during infusion, so it’s cooling that scalp, and then she wore it for two hours after.”
By the end of June, Tammy completed her chemotherapy, with minimal hair loss. And is now cancer free.
Get Your Mammogram
“For me, my faith was very important, but my family and my friends, everybody was so great and you don’t have to do it by yourself. Everybody can help you, and they will, all you have to do is ask, so that’s the best part. And get your mammogram, don’t wait until that little voice has to nag you, get your mammogram to make sure everything is OK,” said Tacke.
A simple but important message: yearly mammograms matter.
“The earlier we check mammograms, the earlier we can detect cancer,” said Dr. Villanueva.
Avera offers DigniCap scalp cooling for hair loss prevention as an option for patients receiving chemotherapy at all six Avera Cancer Institute locations.
Learn more about breast cancer prevention and treatment or schedule a mammogram appointment.
