One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty Four Pills To Go

THE SCIENCE OF TAMOXIFEN

I come to it kicking and screaming to it, but today I must acquiesce and accept the reality of the last phase of my three-part breast cancer treatment. In other words, start taking the Tamoxifen pills, one each day for the next five years, adding up to 1,825 pills.

The first part was surgery, which went well. Very well. The second part was radiation, which also went well. The third part is the med. I want it to go well, too. Because I'm stage zero I don't have to do chemotherapy, but the conventional and standard thinking on stage zero DCIS breast cancer is that Tamoxifen further reduces the chance of recurrence. It's recommended though not required. I believe it brings the recurrence rate to 15-20%, compared to 30-35% with no Tamoxifen. If I'd had a double mastectomy the chance of recurrence would be the lowest at 5%.

That's all the good stuff. The bad stuff, for me, is simply taking a pill. I'm pill phobic. Which doesn't mean I don't take pills. It only means I loathe taking them. They make me feel as if I'm tied down, that I can't runaway to a deserted island and survive (my enduring fantasy). I would need a pharmacy under the coco palms. Ugh.

Also, the research on Tamoxifen shows side effects that are scary: blood clots, high blood pressure, weight gain, sweats. Geez. Five years of that? At least my doctor conceded that if I find the pill untenable we can make changes. 

I've queried dozens of women who take or have taken Tamoxifen. Generally, they noticed nothing. Only one horror story, but then she went off the med and got back to normal. 

I don't take many meds, and I what I do take are relatively routine for a person my age, but I wonder what would happen if I went cold turkey on the whole lot. Hmmm. Oh well.

T-pill #1, down the hatch. 

By the way, Andrea Roane did a piece about my cancer on WUSA-TV. Everything about it is spot on, with one very important correction. My radiation was not "17 weeks" but "17 days." A big difference. My course was what's known as the Canadian regimen: fewer zaps at a higher rate. You have to qualify and fortunately I qualified. Here's the piece:

  

Comments

[Lynn Novelli]

Hi Carol, I am reading your book signed by you. I love it. Lots of memories I went to Mount Vernon in the late 60's when it all started. I had fun but many paid a price for the high life. I think you included.

I am a 3x breast cancer survivor. I have had surgery, chemo, bone marrow transplant, radiation and pills. I never felt any side effects from the pills I am now off the meds and can't tell any difference except I have not had cancer in 7 years. I think the pills work.

Everytime i want to whine about all the stuff i have had done to treat my cancer, I remember that i am a survivor. Fondly, Lynn