I was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer 7 years ago, it had spread to spine, ribs and pelvis, though not severely. Since then I’ve been taking Letrozole and Palboclib, the latter 75mg, and on a 5-week cycle rather than 4 because my neutrophils never managed to recover with one week off. I have a CT scan now every 6 months, and there’s been no further spread of disease, no sign at all really now apart from some scarring where the bone cells won’t repair. I don’t experience any side-effects apart from getting tired more quickly than I think someone of my age should (I am 73).
For some time I’ve been wondering whether I really need to continue to take Palbo, would Letrozole alone keep it at bay, but whenever I mentioned the idea to an oncologist I was told there had been no trials and I shouldn’t take the risk. However I had an appointment today after latest CT scan (which is all clear as usual) and the oncologist said if I wanted I could go on to Letrozole only with a scan every 3 months. This was a phone appointment, and the next appointment, in 10 weeks time, will be face-to-face so that I can more details before deciding.
I feel generally very favourable to the idea, but would like to hear from anyone who has already gone down this route, or knows about any trials.
Hi BarbaraH2ba3d7 and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community, and although my breast cancer didn't spread I can understand you wanting to talk to others to find out what treatments they've had.
The online community is divided into different support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the secondary breast cancer group as you'll then connect directly with others whose breast cancer spread.
To join, just click on the link I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and proposed treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
