My Final 6 Months of Treatment

Wow it is now 9 months since my diagnosis!  Time flies when you are not having fun too.  At this point I have had a lumpectomy, Chemo, and Radiation.  I am told I have a 7.5% chance of recurrence after these treatments.  I am due to complete infusions of Herceptin every three weeks until March 2019.  And in September I started taking the Hormone therapy Tamoxifen.  The hormone therapy is supposed to reduce the risk of recurrence by another 50% to only 3-4% risk. 

​My reaction to the Tamoxifen has been mild but I have had side effects: dizzy spells, significant agitation with an urge to cry for up to 4 hours, and constipation.  I am managing these, but what is interesting is the side affects you would expect; hot flashes and no more periods, do not seem to have changed.  Tamoxifen is supposed to block estrogen form reaching cells and effectively force you in to menopause.  That does not seem to be happening.  The hot flashes are no different than earlier in the year, and I am now getting my period more frequently than prior to my diagnosis.  I will be talking to my oncologist, because there are people that Tamoxifen does not work for them. 

On the positive side, significant and sustained lifestyle changes are supposed to reduce risk of recurrence 3-4% as well.  I am working effectively to achieving those lifestyle changes too.  I have gotten my BMI to less than 25 – I lost 39 pounds, I am exercising every day – I track 10,000 steps every day.  I even did a 5K with Unite For Her on Saturday Sept 22nd.  Considering I have never been a runner, it is quite noteworthy.  In addition, I have slowly worked to eliminate toxins from my environment.  The last piece of this puzzle is stress reduction.  Exercise is a piece of it, but I also am very carefully considering what comes back into my life and looking at possibly starting Tia Chi.  It is less impactful to my wrists and joints than yoga.  If anyone would like to try it with me, let me know. 
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I am slowly starting to relaunch my business, Leveraging Financial Knowledge, LLC.  Other things in my life are still chaotic, so I am working to get those things under control as well.  I am finally feeling like I am back to myself and able to make progress.  The silver lining; I have had to go through my closet to find what clothes fit and what I need to replace.  I am back into my size 6’s in my closet, woo hoo!