Yeah, for me they said it was either lumpectomy and radiation or mastectomy. But they recommended the latter. Radiation wasn't bad at all - but in retrospect, while a mastectomy isn't a walk in the park and comes with its own set of problems, honestly it would be a relief to not worry about it coming back. So there's that.
Hopefully her lymph nodes will be clean and she won't have to deal with chemo. Tamoxifen isn't bad - the biggest side effect is hot flashes. It has a slew of other side effects, and the internet will make you think everyone has them, but it's only a very small percentage of people that get the side effects. It really varies by person and being pre or post menopausal will make it vary too.
With the hot flashes, mine have been mild and not a huge bother. (And barely noticeable the longer I've been on it - 2 years now.) I know one younger person and one older person who had bad ones, but you can try anti-depressants and that apparently helps a lot. So at least you can treat the side effect.
Other than that, it's not bad. I haven't really had any other side effects. I'm sure she'll do just fine with it.
I'm sure this is overwhelming - it was for me. And I'm glad you can go to appointments with her. It was really helpful to me to have someone else there helping to keep everything straight. But once she gets the pathology on the lymph nodes out of the way, it will be hopefully be clear sailing from here on out.
If she does have to do chemo, talk to Trystan - do you know her? She's one of the California costumers and she's doing chemo right now. (She'll be fine, her lymph nodes were clean, but she had a more aggressive nearly triple negative cancer.) She might have some advice for dealing with it. But hopefully you won't need it.
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Hopefully her lymph nodes will be clean and she won't have to deal with chemo. Tamoxifen isn't bad - the biggest side effect is hot flashes. It has a slew of other side effects, and the internet will make you think everyone has them, but it's only a very small percentage of people that get the side effects. It really varies by person and being pre or post menopausal will make it vary too.
With the hot flashes, mine have been mild and not a huge bother. (And barely noticeable the longer I've been on it - 2 years now.) I know one younger person and one older person who had bad ones, but you can try anti-depressants and that apparently helps a lot. So at least you can treat the side effect.
Other than that, it's not bad. I haven't really had any other side effects. I'm sure she'll do just fine with it.
I'm sure this is overwhelming - it was for me. And I'm glad you can go to appointments with her. It was really helpful to me to have someone else there helping to keep everything straight. But once she gets the pathology on the lymph nodes out of the way, it will be hopefully be clear sailing from here on out.
If she does have to do chemo, talk to Trystan - do you know her? She's one of the California costumers and she's doing chemo right now. (She'll be fine, her lymph nodes were clean, but she had a more aggressive nearly triple negative cancer.) She might have some advice for dealing with it. But hopefully you won't need it.
Best wishes.