Soon to have lumpectomy and radiation

Hello Jools,  the dry mouth at night was awful so I used all sorts of sprays, gels etc but nothing was working.  A lovely lady in here suggested xyli melts and it really helps.  I use 2 every night and it does help.  The night sweats are a pain for sure.  Blankets on, blankets off etc.  

I used to take my anastrazole in the morning but my muscle aches were getting worse when I was out exercising so I switched to taking it at dinner and working better for me.  If that didn’t work I was going to try at night.  It takes some fiddling around and changing things sometimes.  
glad you are doing good.

I am in hormone blockers, Tamoxifen. Letrozole didn't suit me. The energy problem has affected me massively the last 3 days. I am trying to keep dancing but it's hard when feeling depleted. I have read about people who stop and then regret it if the Ca comes back. I'm keeping going, I think it's individual as well. I walk most days, not 10,000 more like 3 to 4,000. If I need a day off to recover I do that. 

I have the 5 day intense radiotherapy. Still exercising the arm a bit. Need to keep it stretched out. 30 lymph nodes removed 18 mths ago. Xx

Thank you for your reply, as you’ll know it helps greatly hearing from real people and their experiences.

I haven’t read many positive posts about the hormone blockers and out of this whole process it’s what I fear the most. It’s good to know that perhaps time of day taking them may help, hadn’t thought of that.

I am 48, premenopausal, reasonably fit and active and I’m petrified of hitting menopause like a freight train, it keeps me up at night. All through this process I’m taking each hurdle at a time and not looking down the road at the next hurdle, other than hormone blockers. I want as much info as I can on those to make an educated decision when the time comes rather than stepping in to it blind.

Only just been diagnosed so due lumpectomy and radio to come and I’m OK with what’s about to happen to me in the short term but I fear most having a poor quality of life. I’d love to know statistics on each brand and their individual outlook on age, cancer status and so on but it’s really difficult to find. They seem to aim the statistics on post menopausal patients. Thanks again

I am 63 and interested in the ages of those who have had  the lumpectomy with radiation and hormone blockers when you share your experience.   Were you able to work during your radiation? Thank you 

Hi Sparker. I’m 59 and have had a lumpectomy, finished radiotherapy today and have been taking tamoxifen for a few months . I haven’t been working during radiotherapy ,but I guess it depends on your job .I’m a primary school teacher and with having to travel quite a way to have the radiotherapy every morning and the tiredness from it plus the pills , it would have been impossible to work .

I'm 67 yrs,  I have met a few who have been through similar. One who I dance with and is about 5 yrs younger. It's about 12 yrs since her treatment. She said she didn't have side effects. I think it's individual really. My oncologist said don't get hung up about them. i didn't but all I know is Letrozole affected my knee and walking at times more than Tamoxifen. Something I read said that people who read about side effects are more likely to get them, I thought that was hilarious. 

Hi I’m 56 . I had lumpectomy 8 weeks ago and I started work 4 weeks post that .

i work part time and I use a computer , so I wanted to be sure that I had movement back in my arm . I can also WFH.

It was the right thing to do for me and work were supportive if I hadn’t wanted to work . 

i started radiotherapy last Wednesday, so work wanted me to sign off for that .

its a long day as it’s 50 minutes each way travel time, mid morning .

i have 2 more sessions to go and I don’t feel too tired ( yet ). 

at the end of this week , post radiotherapy , I’ll make a decision when to  work again , likely from home and on a phased return . 

 I’ve been taking Anastrazole for 6 weeks .

Hello Sparker,  good luck on your upcoming lumpectomy, radiation and hormone blockers.  I had my breast cancer diagnosis at 71 and I am 75 now.  Had DCIS in one and stage 1 IDC in the other ( small 3mm tumor with 6mm DCIS).  Had two lumpectomies which were not hard to recover from.  Had 16 treatments of radiation to both breasts and then a boost of 5 more as one of the margins for the breast with DCIS was about 1mm but there was no ink on it so tumor board decided the extra boost was appropriate.  I have small breasts too so no extra tissue without a poor cosmetic result if they went back for more surgery.  They boosted tumor bed.  Did well with that and now on anastrazole for 5 years so 3 more years to go.  One of the hardest things was giving up my HRT.  I am doing well and find that keeping active is so important.  Take care.  

I have had nothing yet, scheduled for lumpectomy next week but told I’ll be having radiation and hormone blockers. The latter is really concerning me but I’m somewhat relieved to hear better more optimistic stories of alternating times to take meds that help etc. I want to obviously increase my chances against this but quality of life is extremely important to me. I’m hoping to be working as often as I can throughout and in between as I’ve had a few days off this week to gather myself and too much thinking time isn’t good for me so I’ve hauled out the decorating stuff. 

My husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer a mere week after my BC diagnosis so we are craving some form of normality as well both be going through the process at the same time which is almost laughable

That’s very encouraging to hear. I’m determined to give them a try for sure but don’t know if I can compromise too much quality of existence to persevere on them. Such a tough choice to make. Very encouraging to hear that you’re doing good on them so thanks