Zolodex
 

I have surgery scheduled for August to remove my ovaries, since I'm ER+ and my oncologist wants to put me on Arimidex. In the meantime, he wants me to begin Zolodex injections to shut down my ovaries.

Has anyone had these injections before? For some reason, I'm really nervous about it. They apparently have to inject you in the stomach. Am I just being a whimp? I've had hundreds of injections over the past 2-1/2 years; maybe I'm just getting tired of getting stuck with needles . . .

Re: Zolodex
 

I haven't had these shots but did have other injections in my stomach, one of the nurses gave me a tip to relax the tummy muscles as much as possible (hard as that is) but she was right and I didn't feel a thing. I think she explained it's only when the muscles are tight that you feel any discomfort. I also had an ooph for the same reasons as you and it was the easiest surgery ever and recovery was quick, I had no regrets and finished eight years of Arimidex last summer, good luck!

Re: Zolodex
 

That is such a relief; thanks for the quick response! I'm feeling nervous about the ooph as well, so that makes me feel much better. You'd think I'd be a pro at this; it's weird that I'm worried. I've had a bunch of surgeries and invasive procedures since being diagnosed, and I generally haven't felt concerned about the procedures themselves (just about the biopsy and test results). Maybe I'm just getting tired of the pre-op/post-op routine. My veins are in poor shape, so it's difficult to start the IV, and it seems to take me longer and longer to recover afterwards. Hopefully this will be it for a while.

Re: Zolodex
 

Glad I could help a little, good luck and I'm sure you'll be fine!

Re: Zolodex
 

I had an ooph too and it was so easy and an easy recovery. You will do fine.

Re: Zolodex
 

I am a nurse and have given lots of injections in the abdomen. One that typically burns is Heparin. To ease the discomfort, I would put a little ice over the area I was going to inject and this helped significantly. I also injected it SLOWLY so the tissues could better absorb and this seemed to help as well. Saying all of this, I think part of the unease is due to the location of the injection which is certainly understandable!!!!

Re: Zolodex
 

Hi, I was on it for 5 years and didn't find it to be much of a problem. The time-release capsules look quite large, but I actually hardly felt them usually. At least, when the right doc was doing the shots. And the times when I did feel them, it was over in a sec. so not much of a problem. Really, I'd much rather have these shots than chemo!

After the 5 years, my periods returned, even though I was over 50 at the time, which was a bummer. I'll be 56 tomorrow and they have stopped about two years ago, I think. I decided against the ooph because my tumor was tiny and my risk of recurrence seemed small.

I am tall and skinny with low bone density, so I figured a bit of hormones wouldn't be so bad for my bones. But we are all different and we have to make our own choices. I've heard the ooph is a breeze. So you won't have to have 5 years of Zoladex shots, like I did ;-))

I'm sure you'll do fine with these shots. Oh, and one time the needle hit a vein and I had a huge bruise on my stomach. Didn't hurt though, and I just waited for it to go away. So if that happens, don't freak out.

Hope you breeze through your treatments too and never, ever have to deal with cancer again.

Jacqueline