Decisions, decisions

[Lien]

Hi all,

I quit taking Arimidex and Zoladex last nov, when my 5 years were up. After about 5 months, my periods returned (can you believe that? I'm 51!)

I also developed a small swelling on my nipple, that doesn't look like Paget's disease, and a mammo & Ultrasound were fine. They did see some dilated milk ducts, but that could be caused by the swelling. My breasts also become sensitive around the time I ovulate. Neither my breast surgeon, nor the mammacare nurse practitioner think the swelling looks like cancer. They all independently looked at it and said it looked okay.

So I went to my onc and asked whether I should go back on anti-hormonals. She discussed my situation with a group of experts from the National Dutch Cancer Institute and they said that doing two more years of Amrimidex would be an option. It could reduce my risk by a few percent points. She didn't say how much.

I know there's a new version of Adjuvant Online that could show me my statistical risk, but I can't log on for some reason. Perhaps it doesn't work with Mac Os X yet.

If the risk reduction would be significant, I would consider it, but if it's just a case of making an already small risk just a bit smaller, I would hesitate. Now that I'm off anti-hormonals my libido has come back, which made a huge difference in my marriage. I hadn't realized how much not having sex influenced the relationship and also my sense of wellbeing. Oh, and my Dexa scan came back with a slight improvement in the lumbar region, but still borderline osteopenia. I was pleased with that.

Could someone please try to log on to Adjuvant and do the estimate for me? I'm 51, ER/PR positive, was Her2++ initially, confirmed by FISH (I guess, as the result came back positive), clear nodes, 0,6 cm IDC (surrounded by DCIS), clear margins. I've had 4.5 years of Arimidex and Zoladex

Thanks for your help. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Oh, and I didn't get Herceptin, because it was not available at my time of diagnosis.

Jacqueline