Hi Cally,

I am sorry that you find that you have to join us here, but welcome to Cancer Chat.  I have had 2 bouts of primary cancer and I am only 2 years younger than you. My first bout was diagnosed 7 years ago. I had a lumpectomy followed by Tamoxifen for this. Radiotherapy was recommended, but I refused it until uncertainty about a lump in my other breast was sorted. This took over 11 months, so by then I saw two consultants about radiotherapy and got two totally opposing viewpoints. In the end I took the advice of the gentleman that I placed more trust in and decided not to take it.

Almost a year to the day later I found a second lump in the original breast. This time I had a double mastectomy followed by Letrozole. I don’t think that there was much difference between the two drugs as far as side-effects are concerned.

To be fair, although I had to change from Tamoxifen, because it was deemed that it hadn’t worked, I suspect that I hadn’t got enough clear margins after surgery, and this may have contributed to the re-growth more than the Tamoxifen not working. The surgeon seemed very surprised to see a recurrence, as my cancer was low grade.

This is a difficult one to call and, I’m afraid that only you can make this decision. Get as much information as you can from your care team and try to weigh up the odds. I could certainly cope with the side-effects and I’m pretty sure that your care team will be anxious for you to at least try it out. Yu can always stop treatment at any time or change to another drug if necessary.

Please keep in touch and let us know  what decision you reach and how you get on. There is always someone here whenever you feel like talking.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx