[alicem]

Two weeks ago I lost my friend Liz to Breast Cancer.


She was the most vivacious person I had met in a long time. We met during my 2nd chemo infusion in February. Her story . . . She was diagnosed 6 years ago when she was 37, it was early stage. She was ER/PR+, but pre-menopausal, and her onc. prescribed Tamoxifen. She did not like the side effects from it, and because she thought her cancer had all been caught early, she decided to stop taking the Tamoxifen. Within 2 years, her cancer had recurred in her lungs and her bones. She fought valiently, but the cancer eventually won. I will NEVER forget how she second guessed herself with the "what might have been" if she had stayed on Tamoxifen.

I don't know how strongly ER+ she was, and this is Tamoxifen not an AI, and I know she was not Her2+++. In fact the last thing I ever heard from her as she got on the elevator to go contact MD Anderson were the words . . . "You are so lucky to be HER2, I wish I was, at least there is something you can do about your cancer."

I do not know about the head/neck/lung cancer thing. I do see that 10 instead of 3 out of 3094 got the other cancer. But I also interpret that as . . . 3084 out of 3094 did NOT get head/neck cancer. I don't know what the odds are of cancer recurring when you don't take your AI, but I suspect they are higher than getting either head or neck cancer.

I am so very sorry that you have this crappy disease. I am also sad that it interferes with your walking and your quality of life. But, you at least have your life. I just started taking my Arimedex, and am starting to experience the aches and pains associated with it. However, every time I think about not taking my medicine, I think of Liz, and down the hatch it goes. She might just have saved my life.