Hormone Treatment

Hi Vicman and c22, so sorry to hear about the Mum-guilt and trying to juggle it all - I get it totally, although mine are older, 2 at university (coming and going from home) and one graduated, home, in first job(s), internship etc. The teen years are So tricky, and having been through them (albeit without canacer) I can say that there is Nothing much you can do right as a parent of teens - mine were not exactly rebels but still, I found I just had to ride the 'waves': try not to get too upset about it - they are just being teens! If it helps, I  also think that, although they may be grouchy about the trivial effects (to us, eg adapting holiday plans) I wonder if this is actually a good thing in that they are thinking along the lines of 'normal life' - I was initially a bit hurt when mine were less than helpful on my return home after surgery, happy to see me but no extra effort around the house or 'looking after' me in any way really unless told to lol. In the end I thought, well I have just done too good a job in reassuring them - they're not scared, just inconvenienced and being teens! This might be a bit rambly, (blame the HT!) but hope you get the drift - banish that Mum guilt! They will be fine!

And on the topic of HT - I was on HrT prior to diagnosis - gave that up within 2 weeks in May - not too bad - started Letrozole after surgery, just 2 weeks ago - so far, not bad, fingers crossed: Re Vicman's thoughts about a 'worse' menopause', I think, yes it probably is, reason being that the AIs (as opposed to tamoxifen) don't work on stoping the ovaries making Oestrogen (as AIs are usually given to post menopausal women whose. ovaries have stopped anyway), but after your natural menopause, your body still produces some oestrogen in different ways, from fat cells for eg and other ways, the AI type of hormone therapy stops oestrogen being made in this way. So yes, i guess I am going lower (hormonally) than I ever would have been with normal menopause. But anyway, fingers crossed, not too bad so far - I recognise the sweats and occasional emotional meltdowns, but so far so good. XX