Forum Discussion
Anyone OVER 73 when diagnosed, had surgery & chemo and taking Tamoxifen or refused it?
I couldn't tolerate Letrozole. Decided to take my chances without. Now today my oncologist is trying to persuade me to try Tamoxifen. My gut instinct says no - given the range of pluses and minuses in side effects of Tamoxifen. According to my type of tumour and treatment, and my age (75) I have 78.8% (!!!) chance of being alive in five years, and 53.1% of being alive in 10 years. I want whatever years I have left to be as free of side effects as possible. I want to stop thinking of myself as a cancer patient, and focus on quality of life: trying to get some JOY back, ffs. But I suppose I should try to glean the experiences of others in my age group before deciding.
19 Replies
- It's all good lovely. More inclined to laugh than get upset
- Ok! Whoops I didn't mean to upset you!
Take care - Yes @iserbrown I have read it several times. Hmmmmmm.........probably best leave it at that LOL.
- @kezmusc - have you read the Hormone therapy booklet? See comment above
- Have read it now. Some interesting perspectives I'd not encountered before - particularly the idea of a pattern of taking three months off from Tamoxifen each year seemingly having no detrimental effect in comparison with being on it all the time. I've decided and agreed with my oncologist that I'll do nothing until I come out the other side of my surgery (which is likely to be in April/May) - was to be changeover to implant, will now be get rid of it and go flat. I'm not in ANY doubt about that decision. I'll meet with oncol again at the end of May and revisit whether I'm willing to consider trying Tamoxifen.
Thanks so much to everyone for thoughts. - Thanks @Giovanna_BCNA
- @Giovanna_BCNA Thanks so much.
- https://www.bcna.org.au/understanding-breast-cancer/treatment/hormone-therapy/
It's on the website
Click within above and you should find it - Hello @Flaneuse
See link below to booklet mentioned by @iserbrown
https://www.bcna.org.au/media/5850/hormone-therapy-and-breast-cancer-booklet-112017.pdf
cheers - @iserbrown Is it in the My Journey kit? or on this website?
