kaye301@aol.com

Hi Richard, sorry to hear that all this is going on with your wife. I think
Tim's response explained things quite well. I was wondering if it might be
helpful, if not already done, to get a 2nd/3rd opionion, including one at a
center involved in research.
I would think chemo might also be indicated along with radiation if that has
not yet been done. Additional surgery might be indicated but that would depend
on extent of tumors, I am guessing.
Did your wife have positive lymph nodes at time of diagnosis? If not, has any
further testing been done?

kaye301@aol.com

breast tissue itself, so works independently of the estrogen production
pathway and works both in pre- and post-menopausal women, >>

If it just blocks the estrogen receptors on the breast tissue, why would it be
recommended for those who have had mastectomies?

tim jackson

I presume you mean double mastectomies, where there is nominally no breast
tissue left to get cancer? Anyway the answer is that any stray cancer cells
which may potentially form into metastases are breast cells, and it is these
that we particularly want to inhibit.

In all other cases it reduces the risk of new primaries in whatever breast
tissue remains on either side. I think in fact Tamoxifen is not usually
given after double mastectomy if the cancer was early-stage. (This would
probably only be done if the genetic predisposition to bc was very strong.)

Tim

kaye301@aol.com

<< In all other cases it reduces the risk of new primaries in whatever breast
tissue remains on either side. I think in fact Tamoxifen is not usually
given after double mastectomy if the cancer was early-stage. (This would
probably only be done if the genetic predisposition to bc was very strong.)


Tamoxifen had been recommended for me--even though I had bilateral
mastectomies. I was told that it would reduce my risk of recurrence. However,
from the research I could never find an article that clearly indicated that;
yet, I was told that the studies indicated it did such.
Because I was Her2+ I refused Tamoxifen--and was allowed Arimidex--the only way
I could get it was by refusing the Tamo.

austrobok@yahoo.co.uk (jon

Did she receive radiation therapy?

--
Jon

marvin

these hormone things only work if the tumor is hormone dependant too - if it
is not hormone dependant then you may as well eat candy!

steve williams

My wife was 33 when her cancer first appeared and 34 when she had a double
and all the following chemo/radiation/tamox.

When her cancer recurred into her lungs, they chemoed for that and things
were looking OK. They did Zoldaex in the gut (big ole needle they needed to
give some sort of pain killer just to administer the zoladex (the zoladex
capsule is the size of a grain of rice so you can see why the big needle).
Was painless though with the pain shot.

She was also placed on Armidex. She seemed to tolerate them well except her
period stopped completely. However, the cancer then hit her brain and the
onco took her off the Armidex since it wasn't worth it at that point.

I can't speed for the taking longer to reduce estrogen levels or the
overwhelming of tamoxifin.

But for the toleration of Zoladex and Arimidex, it was no sweat for my wife.