New to this…hope I’ve got it right!
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2016, left mastectomy in May & axillary node clearance in June. Five months chemo - FEC for nine weeks & Taxol for 9 weeks with 2x1 weeks rest due to side effects. Radiotherapy during Jan 2017 - 15 sessions over 3 weeks, all done & dusted by the end of Jan.
Started on Letrozole the day after the radiotherapy finished, all OK for around a month with nothing to report & then I found that I was beginning to feel miserable and unhappy, no energy or enthusiasm to do anything and prone to bouts of weeping. I decided that I had to see my oncologist so got an appointment & saw him and explained how I was feeling, by the time I saw him I wasn’t feeling so low so he persuaded me to continue for another month as he felt that I ‘might have turned the corner’, and would see me again then to see how I fared.
I appear to have ‘turned this corner’ and I am feeling considerably better, but in the last 2 weeks I have lost most of my newly grown (post chemo) eyelashes & eyebrows. My hair had grown as thick as it always was and I had produced curly hair which was a surprise as my hair was always straight! My hair has now thinned and hasn’t got any longer. I have read various information about Letrozole & hair loss & it seems that the hair growth will return after the treatment is finished, in my case this will be 10 years & as I am now 74 I’m not sure that I can wait until I’m 84 before I have a good head of hair & some lashes to apply my mascara, I’m naturally fair so have never been without my eye make up…vain I know, buts thats how it is!
So what to do, I’m mighty close to stoppng the Letrozole, this I won’t do without speaking to my oncologist as I do understand the importance of taking it, but at my age I’m wondering if quality of life over quantity of life is the better choice.
I’d be interested to hear any opinions or if anyone has had a similar situation to cope with.