[alicem]

Karen -

I so agree with you about having to take one more drug.

For the last 15 years of my mother's life, she must have taken 20 pills a day. Now some of them were vitamins and over the counter drugs, but I just hated to see her at the breakfast table every morning - - counting them out. I was even audacious enough to ask her not to do it in front of my girls (they were pre-school age at the time, and I was worried they would think it was candy or something like that . . . sorry mom ). I swore then and there that I was going to do everything in my power to NOT be in her shoes.

I have hated every pill I have had to take these past 10 months, but I realize they have been necessary as well as beneficial. I hate that I will be taking Arimidex for 5 years but . . . if it reduces my risk of ANY recurrence by even 1%, I will take that pill. I have been taking it for about a month and the only side effect I notice is some mild bone pain. I do find that if I get out for a walk or a bike ride that I don't notice the pain at all.

Now as to why I decided to take the pill, I have written about this before in another post . . . http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...729#post201729. You can go there to read about the details of my friend, but basically, she decided to stop taking Tamoxifen because she didn't like the side effects and she didn't like taking a pill. Her cancer was caught early so she figured she would be fine. Her cancer came back into her bones and her liver and she died one month ago. Before she died, she told me that she wished she had put up with the side effects. She told me that she will never know if it would have made a difference. She was not bitter, just sad. She left behind a wonderful husband and 2 young children.

I don't know if the Arimidex is making a difference for me or not. But, I don't want to second guess myself 5 years from now. That is my choice. I fully understand your choice just like I understand women who choose not to do chemo, or who choose not to have reconstruction. I have done what I feel is best for me and you need to do that for you as well. I just wanted to tell you Liz's story so that you have enough information when it comes to making your choice.

I can't tell you how often I wish that science was about 10 years further down the road so some of these decisions would be clearer. But I am where I am and grateful for it because it could be so much worse. I am grateful that this is not the breast cancer of my mother's era.