I had another routine follow up with my oncologist yesterday.
I'm having a few side effects from the Tamoxifen. I get bruising on my legs and sometimes my knees swell up after I go dancing. He wasn't surprised and said they should not get any worse. I'm telling myself that those symptoms are a good sign since that means the drug is working. If it is doing a couple of annoying things, well then it is busy doing the good stuff too.
Then we talked about genetic testing. He recommends that I do it. I agree. Since I am this young and my Mom did have breast cancer, it is better to be safe than sorry.
But! That does not make it any easier to hear or to go through.
Of course, I realize that if I do have that mutation, I need to know. I need to know for me, I need to know for all the other women in my fam.
But, I really don't need another white knuckler now do I?
I'll go through the anxiety of the interview. Then, if I do need the test, the long wait for results. If I'm off the hook after all that, that's awesome. If it came back positive, that's a nightmare. A good nightmare in a way because there is a lot of preventative stuff I can do, but that preventative stuff is surgical. More surgeries, more recovery. I really can't bare to think about that.
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I have been taking Arimidex since finishing my chemo the end of Nov., and I have been having horrible joint pains from it. It's affected my lower back, hips, knees, ankles and fingers. I told Dr. F. that I feel like I've aged 20 years in the past 3 1/2 months. When I get up in the morning, and even when I get up from sitting in a chair for any length of time, I feel like I could use a walker. Once I'm up and moving around, it gets better, but the ache is always there.
It has completely changed my life. I can no longer go to an antique mall and spend hours browsing through all the wonderful treasures. I can't straighten out my right knee completely, and therefore walk with a slight limp now. If I have to get down on my knees for anything (cleaning requires this), I can't just get myself back up without having something sturdy to grab onto to haul myself up.
It has gotten so uncomfortable that I finally asked Dr. F. on Wed. if there is something else I can try. He prescribed Femara. He said that joint pain is also a side effect of Femara, but that all women don't experience it, so time will tell if I'm one of the lucky ones. Please say a prayer that this works for me, because I haven't been one of the lucky ones so far! If there was a side effect to be had from any of the drugs I was on, it seems I had it!
I'm saying prayers that your genetic testing goes well.
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