I started my "hormone therapy" as they call it - that's the medication, Tamoxifen, that I get to take for the next 10 years - on Monday, July 13, 2015. I haven't really noticed feeling any different so that is good. Of course it's most common side effect is hot flashes, which I'm already dealing with. The other common side effects are things like vaginal dryness (or discharge), decreased libido, weight gain (or loss), and mood swings. Awesome. I already have more than half of those things, too, so whatever. There are some more serious side effects (like other cancers) that can happen but they are very rare. This is what the paper work from my doctor said: (It doesn't say weight gain but he mentioned that one at my last appointment.)
I'm still doing acupuncture in the hope I can eliminate (or nearly) my hot flashes. I think it has helped from when I first started, but I still have plenty. I've been trying really hard to keep track of them... I've tried to keep track several times and seems like I never do very well. It's not always convenient to write it down, or even to log it on my phone. But this time I'm really being vigilant about it. Here is a good little article about acupuncture.
On Tuesday (the day of acupuncture) I had 9 throughout the course of the day, plus at least one in the night. On Wednesday, I had 9 again, plus a couple in the night. Today I've had 10. I was thinking about stopping acupuncture because frankly I'm pretty tired of going to any medical-related appointments, but I've come this far so I'm going to keep doing it at least for a few more weeks. If I don't see more improvement then I'll feel ok giving up on it. That's why I'm committed to keeping track. And no, I have not created a spreadsheet. Not yet... you never know, I do love my spreadsheets!
My radiated skin is pretty much all healed. I've been putting good lotion on every morning and night because this skin does feel a little different. I'm supposed to do plenty of stretching and massaging to break up the scar tissue. I can wear underwire bras again which does wonders for my figure. I have a pretty good tan going on thanks to multiple days on the lake and so you can't even see the radiation "tan" lines.
And what about my hair? It's super short, but it's almost long enough that I can say a healthy woman of sound mind and body might willfully choose to have her hair cut this almost short. I looked back at the pictures I found of short hair styles I liked before I had it cut pre-chemo, thinking maybe some were this short. Well, not quite, but getting closer every day I suppose. Sometimes I comb it now. I have shampoo and conditioner in my shower again, which was an exciting milestone! I took it all out when I lost my hair and just used baby shampoo on my head. I've been taking Biotin which is supposed to make your hair, skin and nails super healthy. Also my eye lashes and brows are coming back. The lashes are short, but pretty thick and my brows are filling in again. Yay!
I have a message that I need to call St. Luke's to make an appointment with them. The message didn't really specify what the appointment was for or who it was with but I think it must be for my "survivorship plan" appointment. I haven't called them back yet.
Here's some disheartening news, I was looking for some other info online and noticed all these search results related to breast cancer survivors and weight gain. Apparently there was a study about this just published yesterday... lame, lame, more lame (these are probably all basically the same article). Time to take up running or something I guess!
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