Going my way: Decided to stop cancer treatments

@mimi09 How do I find Dr. Emanuel exactly?
Did you mean you are the one in flip flops?..lol
I found it interesting what treatments you are agreeing to receive, and the ones you do not want. I am going to look up DCIS and ILC. Not familiar with those "terms." Do they only refer to breast cancer?
Thank you for any information you have time to share. Blessings 💕

@nannybb yes in her sandals or flips because my story is different from her in some aspects so I really am not standing in her shoes.
In 2002, DCIS -Ductal Carcinoma In Situ- was early stage cancer. Lumpectomy, margins not clear, second lumpectomy, 30 fractions of radiation. Easy peasy except for the decision making stress.
Clear sailing through every mammo from 2002 until 2024 when same breast nipple inverted and there was slight discharge. That was diagnosed as Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. I was 78 and doc wanted to do mastectomy and reconstruction.
That's when I'd had enough because I was also being divorced by my husband after 57 years. I researched, prayed, talked, questioned, listened then made my decision. Nothing thanks until I was totally convinced of the ate that was right for me.
Google Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, wiki as a start. Then just keep reading...
And pay forward to the next woman whatever you learn during your journey. We all need to share whatever we discover and encourage the next woman to do the same!!

@mimi09 Thank you, thank you. Believe me...I worked OB-GYN and saw quite a few things I had no prior firsthand knowledge of.
I have spoken to numerous women and girls regarding self checking, not only manually, but visually.
In my family, we have two generations of Paget's disease of the breast, so I have told my granddaughter, grandniece and other females what to look for.
Paget's is rare. It presents as a scaly or crusty rash on the nipple. It can itch, burn, or ooze. I am posting this information for others on this forum, so they too are knowledgeable in knowing what to look for or give advise. It might be a long post, but it is important. In my grandmother's case, she had advanced dementia. She had been bedridden for some time. Her doctor came to my mother's home to diagnose her. His advise? Do nothing. Let it basically be how she would die. We, as a family, made the decision for her to have a double mastectomy. She survived and lived years longer. I do not believe my mother told me immediately when she saw signs on herself. She had always been like that. Did not like attention placed on her. So I don't know exactly how long she had it before treatment. She only had that one breast removed. After my father passed, it showed up the same way on her other breast. She had a biopsy and the doctor cleared her, saying nothing further needed to be done.
Within a month, she came down with pneumonia. She was hospitalized and they found a lump in her abdomen. It had metastasized to her liver.
My mother never wanted chemo or radiation, and her doctor did not press her. At ever visit, I walked back to privately ask the doctor the prognosis. He only gave one when it was totally untreatable. Cancer is an ugly, ugly disease. 😮‍💨

@nannybb thank you for being brave enough to be truthful in telling your family’s history. We should all be able to do that for several reasons, but IMHO when we share our experiences we educate others allowing them to make decisions based on others’ experiences. That to me is more valuable than knowing the medical particulars. I want to know what symptoms someone else has experienced, how they made decisions, what they learned from those decisions, and how they handled the outcome.
My SIL’s 2 grandmothers, mother and her mother’s 2 sisters all had breast cancer. At 32 they advised SIL to prophylatically have bilateral mastectomies. She did not. She is now 80, a month older than me and cancer free. She on the other hand had C1,C2,C3 fused about 30 years ago, a very scary procedure.
We all have some medical issue, many more serious than others. Who am I to think I should be spared??

@mir123 I was mostly asking because I wondered if what you are on is a newer version. When my mom was on Tamoxifen, there was an ongoing controversy over it. Maybe what you are taking is better. Mom's cancer was several years ago. Thank you for responding. 💕

@nannybb yes in her sandals or flips because my story is different from her in some aspects so I really am not standing in her shoes.
In 2002, DCIS -Ductal Carcinoma In Situ- was early stage cancer. Lumpectomy, margins not clear, second lumpectomy, 30 fractions of radiation. Easy peasy except for the decision making stress.
Clear sailing through every mammo from 2002 until 2024 when same breast nipple inverted and there was slight discharge. That was diagnosed as Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. I was 78 and doc wanted to do mastectomy and reconstruction.
That's when I'd had enough because I was also being divorced by my husband after 57 years. I researched, prayed, talked, questioned, listened then made my decision. Nothing thanks until I was totally convinced of the ate that was right for me.
Google Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, wiki as a start. Then just keep reading...
And pay forward to the next woman whatever you learn during your journey. We all need to share whatever we discover and encourage the next woman to do the same!!

@nannybb Tamoxifen wasn't the first drug suggested for my post-menopausal estrogen positive breast cancer--at least in my experience. Letrozole was the oncologist's first choice, and I've stayed on it without problems. I gather that if the class of AIs doesn't work Tamoxifen might be suggested, but no doubt cases vary.

@nannybb It's good to be aware that, because some women have trouble with the standard dose of 20mg of Tamoxifen, some are decreasing to 5 mg (sometimes called "Baby Tam"); my Doc says "It's not approved by the FDA" but there is a new 5 year study in the US to see if it's as efficacious as the 20 . I understand it's been approved by European docs. I believe this is a European study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36917758/

Yes, DO find the u tube video where Dr. Zeke Emanuel speaks and answers questions because he did NOT ever say “why I hope to die at 75” = that title was made up by the Atlantic and he wasn’t happy about it = so, the u tube
video is titled WHY I EXPECT TO BE ALIVE AT 75 !! Big difference. I think his opinion that too many of the magic pills or magic diets we are bombarded with every day, are misleading to say the least, and, geared toward those who wish to profit off of misleading information. I will be 75 this year, and I do not hope to die. I can maybe, slightly, understand someone at age 20 saying this, but, that is because they are so young and think that anyone 75 must have one foot in the grave. Some of our hard working and overworked pioneer relatives probably were in bad shape by age 75. They did not have the benefit of life saving medical procedures that we all enjoy now, and, they would have loved to have had those options if only we could ask them! We all need to remember that it’s a whirlwind of circumstances that bring us to whatever level of health we are currently in, at whatever age. Making decisions to try things that our caring doctors ask us to try, is, ultimately up to us. Nothing wrong with that. But please never be mislead by a publication, like the Atlantic, when they make up headlines and claim that so and so famous person, said so. Do research. This is your life, no one else’s. My personal belief holds fast to God’s word concerning life and the end of life. No one can force you to “believe” anything that you choose not to believe, but I think it is important to do research and be open to finding peace in your soul. Last year I had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. I have an appointment next week for the surgical PA to check a BB sized bump that I hope is simply a fat necrosis bump. But I want to find out and I do not plan to stop attending to myself just because I am a certain age. I had polio at age 1. I have a brother who thinks life would have been better for everyone if I had died. That is his opinion and he is still allowed to have it. He is not the one who endured everything that went along with having polio, nor would I wish it on him. Many leg surgeries, feet with rods and screws, etc. I firmly believe that all of us, whatever our medical treatments, have helped future generations have better treatments , simply from what was learned from ours. Everything in life is this way and I don’t mind or hate that I have been a “lab rat” as some people describe it. Live and learn.