Due to an intense family history of breast cancer, I was advised by my British oncologist two years ago to begin preventative tamoxifen. For these two years, there was no ultrasound or any other gynae monitoring.
Last year, I moved from the UK to Europe. When I told my new (non-British) oncologist about the tamoxifen, his jaw hit the floor- horrified, he insisted I cease it at once due to the “appalling possible secondary effects.” Sure enough, five months later, I began to bleed…and bleed…and bleed…and bleed. After three weeks of this, and now suffering from life-threatening anemia, I was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery which revealed a thickened endometrium of 13.8mm (over 14mm is pre-cancerous; over 15mm is cancerous).
I’m now awaiting the biopsy results - my surgeon is confident that it’s not malignant - just a horrible “anarchic” endometrium - not something I ever suffered from before- a direct result of the tamoxifen.
I feel like I dodged a bullet. It’s also been eye-opening to witness the difference in standards (waiting times, cleanliness of hospitals, efficiency of monitoring) between Europe and the NHS.