I was diagnosed following a routine mammogram and underwent lumpectomy followed by sentinel node biopsies. It was grade 2 but nodes were clear. I didn't have to make a decision as was told I would be having radiotherapy and 5 years of Anastrazole. The side effects are quite mild, just a bit of aching joints and some hot flushes occasionally. It's a small price to pay for keeping cancer at bay. The radiotherapy was fine, just left me very tired but now 3 weeks since the last session I am getting my energy levels back.
You were fortunate to discover this through the breast screening programme. I'm sure that there are times when you don't think this, but hopefully this means that you've found it early on and can do something about it.
Do you really have a choice to make? It sounds as if your consultant is suggesting Taking Tamoxifen for 5 years as well as radiotherapy. This is a fairly normal procedure. You should have a word with either your consultant or your breast care nurse about this. They will have figures for treating your type and grade of breast cancer and, you may be better placed to decide for or against treatment when you understand the procedure better.
Tamoxifen does have side-effects and some of them are not very pleasant, but life's wort fighting for. if you find that the side-effects are too bad, there are other medications that you can switch to. I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer in the past 10 years and am still managing to live a reasonable quality of life despite my treatment.
I hope that your care team can help you with this decision. At this stage, they will have discussed the optimum treatment for you with their MDT (multi disciplinary) team, so this is a joint decison from a number of different professionals concerned with your care.
