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Re: Bracing Myself For A Swift Kick Into Menopause
Ladies, how much estrogen did your tumors have and how old were you when you went to an AI?
I have spent the better part of my day reading studies and trials and I keep seeing that trials dealing with hormone therapies say that the higher the ER levels the more beneficial the treatment will be. But one study stuck with me. It was a study showing the benefits of hormonal therapies in women of different ER %. They looked at women with ER at less than 1%, 1-9% and over 10%. Turns out women under 9% saw little to no benefit because the chemistry of their tumor was complete different of that of women with above 10%.
So I'm wondering what the benefit of hormone therapy or removing my ovaries will be since I am at 1% more of the group that saw no benefit. And I did 3.5 yrs of tamoxifen which has caused Hell. I'm struggling with this because my experience with Zoladex was horrific and if that's any indication of what my life will be without my ovaries, I rather take my chances without anything.
Also, at 41 I feel like I have ways to go before my body starts fluctuating hormonally as I enter menopause. And I know that that fluctuation can be a culprit in developing highly ER+ breast cancer. So couldn't I wait until I'm 46, closer to a natural age of menopause to take my ovaries out? Wouldn't that help my body naturally raise my FHA levels and reduce my estrogen swirling in my body?
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DX 10/2011
PET Scan + MRI 10/2011
Lumpectomy 11/11/11
Stage 2B +++ ER+(10%), PR+(5%), HER2+++(1 positive node, 1 micromets to second node)
AC started 12/2011 ended 1/2012
Taxol + Herceptin weekly for 12 weeks ended 4/2012
30 zaps of radiation done 6/2012
Tamoxifen 6/2012
every 3 weeks of Herceptin for another year.
Metformin Trial 8/12
10/12 MRI- CLEAR
01/13 BRAIN MRI- CLEAR!
01/13 Neck MRI- CLEAR!
FINISHED HERCEPTIN 1/9/2013...Woot Woot
Starting Walter Reed Vaccine Trial 2/13
CT Scans + ultrasound of abdomen CLEAR-5/13
02/2015 through 11/2015 emergency D&Cs for Tamoxifen induced uterine polyps which caused uncontrollable hemorrhaging
12/2015 blood clot to left leg caused by Tamoxifen. No longer taking it. On Xarelto, a blood thinner
12/2015 Ablation to prevent hemorrhaging from potential issues with Tamoxifen residue in my system
1/2016 continuing journey without hormonal therapy. Reevaluating the option of a hysterectomy and oopherectomy.
4/1/2018 2mm stroke. Yes, stroke! No cause ever found but they believe it was a migraine that went bonkers and created a tiny clot. No deficits. I was back to normal with 24hrs. Now on baby aspirin for life.
7/27/2018 hysterectomy and oopherectomy
01/07/2019 Mastectomy and expanders put in
3/22/2019 Vtach, almost died. Cause unknown.
7/22/2019 New perky boobs put in
7/21/2020 Off of all drugs but a baby aspirin because of the stroke in 2018.
www.mychemobag.org
www.facebook.com/mychemobag
8 YEARS NED
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