Hi,
First time posting here, i hope everyone is well.
I was diagnosed with invasive lobular, estrogen positive cancer in my right breast in May. My treatment was right side mastectomy with immediate Diep flap reconstruction. I also had lymph node clearance (one of my sentinal nodes had cancer cells in it). My recovery is going well and im preparing myself for the next step, which will be radiotherapy therapy starting in 4 weeks (a 3 week course). My oncologist also talked about hormone treatment - the exact tablet and injection is to be confirmed. He also said that i will have target therapy which is something that hasn’t been mentioned to at all so i an reaching out to see if anyone can offer help and advice. What can i expect from taking this type of medication, how will it make me feel, what are the side effects and risks? I’d be really interested to hear if anyone has taken this type of medication before. Thanks for taking the time to read my post 
Hi Elsa77
Welcome to this caring forum. I am stage3, ER positive, HER2 negative. I am taking Letrozole, this causes hot flashes and insomnia. In addition I am also taking Abemaciclib which is a CDK4/6 inhibitor. This is an awful medication. I started on 150 mg, 2x daily. I suffered severe diarrhea and daily abdominal pain. After 3 weeks , my dosage was reduced to 100mg , 2x daily. This agrees with me better in that the diarrhea stopped but I still get the occasional abdominal pain. I was told I need to take the Abemaciclib for 2 years. Hope the above helps. Wishing you well going forward.
Hello Elsa, your story is quite similar to mine last year. I am taking Letrozole for 7 years - my side effects are mainly hot flushes and joint/muscle ache but after checking with my surgeon, I have started taking a Glucosamine supplement plus a fish oil capsule every day. I also take magnesium for my stomach (I have long-standing GERD) plus calcium as I refused the zolondronic acid due to reported nasty side effects. I am nearly 62 so figured quality was better than quantity. Anyway, two weeks after starting glucosamine plus fish oil I am definitely less achy and stiff than I was and I am even thinking of starting some gentle jogging again.
It’s fair to say that some of the treatments offered do reduce the quality of life enjoyed pre cancer but my lovely surgeon stressed at the follow up appointment how important it is to keep taking the hormone therapy as studies have shown that it does help protect not only the breast that developed the cancer but the other breast too.
All the best with what is coming and chin up, you can do this! Love from here.
Thank you for your reply, Siggi. I am sorry that you had a rough time with the medication to begin with, really great to hear that you were listened to and things are better for you now. I have a young daughter so i am hoping that i can overcome/minimise side effects so that i can still run around with her. Your advice has really helped. Sending you lots of best wishes
Hi Moggy, thank you for taking the time to reply. You’ve given me lots of helpful advice there. It’s excellent that you’ve been able to ease your aches and pains so that you can jog again. I have concerns about how my quality of life may be effected, so ive made note of your advice and will relook at the daily supplements i take. Thanks for your positive message, take very good care .
Your post was interesting, I am going to look into these supplements
I am also nearly 62 and taking Letrozole but feel older due to the aches and pains etc, I’ll gladly try anything. Take care x
I was 64 when my diagnosis was made. Lumpectomy, radiation, and Anastrazole for 5 years. My best recommendation is eat as well as you can, eliminate sugar, and keep moving as much as possible. Side effects I have is fatigue, which has gotten better, insomnia, some weight gain, some hair loss, but not as much as some. I do feel better if I can just stick to a good diet and exercise, but is challenging at times. Best wishes. As far as radiation, I just noticed some fatigue mid afternoon. No burning, itching or dry skin. I did use a lotion recommended by my oncologist. There were times I wanted to quit the AI meds, but I did not want the cancer to return so I kept going. Next March, I will be finished and glad I continued. So far, I have osteopenia from the medication, but that’s it. Hopefully the symptoms will totally go away after meds are finished.
Hi Elsa77,
I was diagnosed triple positive IDC in March. I’m doing the flip of your treatments. Chemo first 4xEC and then 12xPacitaxel. In addition, I started a target therapy which is called Phesgo. It is a combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab to target the HER2 protein which is positive and encourages the cancer sells to grow. It may be something like this that they are talking about with targeted therapy. I will go onto a hormone therapy in addition to reduce estrogen and progesterone levels after mastectomy and radiotherapy.
Phesgo is an injection every three weeks. There is another targeted therapy option which is IV combining an targeted drug and chemotherapy. It’s very clever. The targeted drug locates the cancer cells and delivers the chemo directly. I think both targeted therapies are fairly new to the NHS within the last 5-10 years.
Hope that helps. I am just a patient, so please ask the specialist nurses for confirmation of details.
LKM xx