PET/CT in September

I had an appointment with my breast surgeon on Monday. She ordered another PET/CT scan of my chest/lungs. The last scan in June showed scarring in my lungs. The radiologist who read the results is "brilliant" according to my surgeon and is rarely wrong. He said in the report that it didn't look like a malignancy.

But more worry. Constant worry about something...

Oophorectomy

"Oophorectomy is sometimes recommended when the hormones produced by the ovaries are making a disease such as breast cancer or severe endometriosis worse.

In some cases the ovaries are removed in an attempt to reduce the possibility of developing a future disease, such as ovarian cancer. This is called aprophylactic oophorectomy."

--from WebMD

I am scheduled for surgery on August 5th. The doctor said the surgery takes about 30 minutes and she will make 3 incisions and it's done laparoscopically. She'll remove my ovaries and Fallopian tubes. The BRCA 1 mutation increases my risk for ovarian cancer and the surgery will also stop the estrogen production since my cancer is estrogen positive.

Not looking forward to being sick from anesthesia again. Ugh!

Effexor XR

Effexor is the drug that is supposed to help with my hot flashes. It's an antidepressant but is given in a lower dose for hot flashes. I've been taking it for 2 days and I'm not liking the side effects so far: loss of appetite, mild nausea, grogginess. I do think its helping with the hot flashes and I'll give it a week to see if the side effects go away.

Hot Flashes

From Breastcancer.org:

"A hot flash is a sudden, intense, hot feeling on your face and upper body. Hot flashes can be accompanied by a rapid heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dizziness, anxiety, headache, weakness, or a feeling of suffocation, followed by chills. Hot flashes are caused by a decrease in estrogen. When estrogen levels drop or estrogen receptors are blocked, the body’s temperature control system gets confused and the result is hot flashes.

Hot flashes are a symptom of menopause. If you’re having treatment for breast cancer, hot flashes can be more intense and last longer, particularly if menopause was medically induced."

I've had hot flashes since starting chemo and they have been worse lately since I started on the Tamoxifen. My oncologist prescribed Effexor (a mild anti depressant) to help with the hot flashes. So we'll see how that works...

Good blog article

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3539970

Tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is a drug that interferes with estrogen. It is a SERM (Selective Estrogen-Receptor Modulator) and it binds to the estrogen receptors in the breast cancer cells so that the cancer cells can't use estrogen to grow.
Tamoxifen has been used for over 30 years to treat breast cancer and for over 10 years to reduce the risk of breast cancer. It is usually taken for 5 years. I will switch to an aromatase inhibitor drug once my ovaries have been removed.
Side effects of Tamoxifen haven't been too bad so far. I have noticed an increase in hot flashes and occasional leg cramps but that's about it...so far.

Oh, by the way...

Apparently there are more side effects from radiation than were explained to me at the time.
In addition to the cough I've had since my last treatment (apparently a portion of the lung is in the
field that's radiated) I now have rib pain on the left side of my chest. I was told that is also from the radiation. Lovely. I wonder what else will show up...