Hello Anne

You also are having side affects that make it all the more difficult to deal with what is happening with the cancer diagnosis. 

I have started hormon treatment anastrozole daily and will be starting radiotherapy in the comimg weeks, i thought once the operation was completed and the growth was removed i would feel ok but i have always had a need to know all the details and the waiting for scans and test results along with biopsies is at times unbearable. I like you suffer with allergic reactions to medications and i know how distressing this can be so you must be relieved to now feel there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Please let me know how you get on with the treatment you are having, I have been told i will not be having chemo at this stage? but i am to have a bone scan on Friday.  I am lucky i have a wonderful consultant looking after me and the nurning staff are so kind these things help us all to cope.  From Liz

I have just returned from my first radiotherapy session and can report that it went well. I managed to keep still for the required time but both arms ached after holding on to the bar. They feel a bit better now I am at home and have done my arm exercises ( as recommended by the radiographer). Fortunately I can use my normal moisturiser Nivea Soft for breast, shoulder area and underarm because it does not contain sodium lauryl sulphate. I was given a gown to bring back and forth to all the sessions but was given the option of using my own dressing gown. I will continue with the one I have been given as it is very light and I will take it with me in a carrier bag.

I rejected the offer of chemotherapy because the extra protection above radiotherapy is only5%. My consultant surgeon recommended 15 sessions of radiotherapy plus the hormone blocker Letrozole. When I saw the oncologist he upped the sessions to 20 to give the area where the lump was taken out an extra zap! I also had to have a bone scan because a side effect of Letrozole is to thin the bones. I was prescribed Adcal -D3 along with Letrozole.I have been taking these for the last three and a half weeks.

You are right about the kindness of all the staff involved and I am very grateful that they explain everything when asked. An extra reassurance is that I shall have yearly mammograms for five years and regular bone density scans. I would presume your treatment will be smilar to mine with the exception of Letrozole.lt sounds as if anastrazole is part of the same family of hormone blockers

Let me know how you get on with your treatment. I know the waiting time can make us feel miserable but we get there in th end. By the way, I had to wait an extra week to know the result of my biopsies because my consultant surgeon had to recover from Covid!  All these waits and delays are very trying!

Look after yourself and try not to worry

Best wishes Liz

Anne

.

Hi Ann yes it looks like you and I are on very similar pathways it was good for me to hear you are started on the radiotherapy and like me the hormone therapy The hormone therapy for me on day 9 is ite a deal as it is causing mood swings and sickness although some of this is I think the Covid that is also 10 days in. I was told chemo is not advisable in the elderly if it can be avoided  My bon were diagnosed 8 years ago with oesteopenia a step away from oesteoporosis but I followed a diet high on calcium for the years after the diagnosis and was told a year ago that I had not developed o eoporosis so fingers crossed my scan will give the same result  It sounds like your oncologist is helping you through this journey and you understand all that you have too have done to get well agai I will I expect when all my results have come through see a oncologist like you have.  I hope the following weeks keep improving for you let me know your progress my thoughts are with you ️Liz