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Has anyone not gone thru radiation and hormone blockers?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: 6 hours ago | Replies (55)Comment receiving replies
22 years ago I had DCIS. They couldn’t get clear margins so mastectomy. Sentinel nodes negative. I was 47. They wanted tamoxifen, I declined. Told no more mammogram in L breast. My new PCP ordered bilateral mammogram 3 weeks ago. Just under 1 cm tumor in my mastectomy breast. Await breast MRI results to see chest wall. Histology rated stage II. I did NOT take tamoxifen 22 yr ago. I am not one for regrets so I remain hopeful and incredibly grateful for getting to finish raising my 3 kids. I didn’t take tamoxifen because of the blood clot possible side effect. My pathology shows this cancer as 91% ER +. At age 70 I have several herniated disc and resulting arthritic pain so i am pretty negative on the side effects of hormone blockers. This sites chat has been really good. I will listen to radiologist but not convinced I will do it- more concern for side effects of chest wall radiation than about just breast radiation Lumpectomy will happen as soon as all the tests get done. I think my age gives me some leeway. My original surgeon told me I am in 2% range for this happening in mastectomy breast. She believes this is a new primary tumor. Oncology to be seen and weigh in. Best of luck to you.
Replies to "22 years ago I had DCIS. They couldn’t get clear margins so mastectomy. Sentinel nodes negative...."
Update. There is a axilla lymph node on MRI of breast that is possibly metastatic. MD recommended ultrasound guided biopsy. Seeing 2nd opinion surgeon tomorrow but thought I would have more information by now. My chest wall was clear. Have been using ChatGPT and finding it very helpful. Can log in with Google or Apple. Of course want biopsy of lymph node. Seems like I have taken a bit of a break the last 3 days. Time to get back to it. Go warriors!
I had 100 ER with a lump LCIS 5.5 years ago. After surgery I chose not to take tamoxifen as the results were abnormal but not cancer. 4.5 years later, same breast, I had a .07 cm HER+ ER+ 91% and PR+ 1%., stage 1A tumor with no node involvement. I had Surgery, chemo and Herceptin, then partial radiation for 5 days. After that I had a triple dose of herceptin every three weeks for the rest of the year. I began anastrozole and had a rough time on it and began having irregular heartbeats. I tried exemestane and felt like I was on prednisone...buzzing all the time, then letrozole and my GP stopped me from taking any AI's until I could flush out some of the other chemicals. Now I take anastrozole and am doing pretty well 3 months later. I am 73 with osteoporosis, so am required to take fosamax. I look forward to getting finished with the AI...4 yr and 5 mo to go! It interrupts my sleep. The good thing about Fosamax is that you can stop it at any time. The shots must be continued for life.
I have had three good ultrasounds( every 6 mo) since the surgery in Nov 23. I believe knowing what I know now, I would have taken the Tamoxifen. I am having some calcifications in my vessels due to the radiation. Best of luck to everyone!
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I’m very sorry you are going through this. I belong to a few DCIS groups and there are so many women who did radiation and tam and still faced bc again a few years later.
I recently had to make a decision- I needed a mastectomy but if I were to keep my healthy breast, I’d have to take a hormone blocker. I knew my body would not handle that well- so I got a DMX which I had to fight for.
I’m thinking of you and sending much love.