After nearly 7 years on my first line treatment of hormone therapy plus ovarian suppression I heard today that my cancer seems to be on the move to my bone marrow. Also two tiny dots have been found in my liver on the Ct scan.
Have got anaemia so going for a blood transfusion on Saturday. Been given options of Epirubicin, capecitabine or Abemaciclib. Oncologist pushing for Epirubicin as says works quicker than the other two but I will lose all my hair which is scaring the heck out of me.
I always knew this day would come and that my Tamoxifen would stop working but it was still such a shock today.
Oncologist didn’t say there was any other treatments if Epirucibin doesn’t work. I’ve gone from working 9 hour days to now having to give up work and I feel I don’t have much time left.
just looking for some words of reassurance really. Absolutely drained tonight.
I’m so sorry. We get lulled into this false sense of security, then wham! I originally had 2 tumours, one hormone-receptive, the other triple negative. It was that one that came back of course (within a year). I just wanted to say i) regard it as a condition to be managed, not a death sentence. It can help change how you think about it and ii) I was put on capecitabine as my first line treatment almost 2 years ago, I’m still on it and it’s still keeping things under control, to everyone’s surprise. It’s very doable once your body adapts - and no hair loss. If that is so important to you, it has to be factored into your decision. It’s worth doing a bit of research before committing yourself because each person’s experience will be different but obviously it worked for me. I have a friend who had a bad reaction to it, another who got quite ill and I know of people who’ve been on it for years. So…
Obviously it’s wise to trust and work with your oncologist but if he’s mentioned three options, it suggests the decision must be yours. Good luck xx
@daisyjane181 Sorry to hear you have progression. Please don’t give up hope and remember that if you try something and the side effects are too bad, you don’t have to continue. I had 4 cycles of epirubicin combined with cyclophosphamide as one of my primary treatments, and I didn’t find it too bad. I did lose my hair and did have a few uncomfortable days each cycle, but I probably suffered more from the package of things to help (steroids stopping me from sleeping, bone marrow boosting injections causing bone pain) than I did from the chemo itself. Everyone is different but you won’t know how ot is for you unless you try it. Good luck.