Hi Alison,
You’re right about the blood tests; I have one now each time I see my onc just to check if I’m properly post-menopausal. Still have borderline levels although I haven’t had a period since chemo 2 years ago. I wonder if they’llcome back …? I’m sure your onc will do this test for you if you ask.
Take care, Chatta
i’m hoping the ovaries are out before then Chatta, even tamoxifen didn’t stop mine, and am due on now, and don’t i know it, so wondering if the zoladex with stop my periods at least till the ovaries go, how good that would be
Alisonxxxxxxx
hi
there is an interesting clinical trials going on about this issue at the moment (perhaps someone has mentioned it before). its called the SOFT trial and is looking precisely at whether tamoxifen alone, tamixofen with overy suppression (either Z or removal) or arimidex and ovary suppression is best. results won’t be know for quite a few years but this is an area where there is clearly quite a bit of uncertainty and the differences are probably quite marginal (my onc says). i will need to make this decision sometime early next year after chemo and more surgery. my onc said in cases like this, instincts are important. he said he has the technical knowledge but actually in a situation like this where things aren’t so clear, psychological orientation and well being count for a lot. basically, he said if you have a strong instinct about the wya treatment should go, we’ll go for that. i found that reassuring on two counts - one that my voice will be heard on this and second the nhs is not in any way counting pennies over this issue…
has anyone checked out prof. baum’s views (from uch i think) on this? apparently he has made some strong statements saying he thinks going straight to arimidex maybe a good option even for us pre-menopausal women…but i haven’t tracked down his papers/speeches.
anyway, thanks for all your thoughts and experiences.
jo
x