My Boob-Voyage: Decisions

I see my Oncologist in two weeks. I've made the decision not to take chemo. Chemo-therapy has terrible success rates. . . . . about 3%. My crappy cancer was not in the lymph nodes, so chemo won't be necessary, although it is often recommended as a preventative.

Now for all you health care professionals reading this, it isn't my intention to offend, so don't take what I say as a personal attack. Chemo kills more people than it cures. It steals quality of life, and is a huge billion dollar industry that does not consider patient suffering.

I'm told I will need hormone therapy since my crappy cancer was estrogen and progesterone positive. I would need to take it for 5 years. The side affects have me taking a step back and reconsidering whether it's right for me to take the risk.

I don't have hot flashes;

I have power surges!

The loss of estrogen can influence cognitive function, including verbal memory and fluency; can increase the likelihood of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances; and can lead to the loss of interest in sex. (This reason alone has me hesitating!)
Anti-hormone therapy also causes pain in the joints, and I'm pretty sure my fibromyalgia has that one covered. There is more evidence that it increases the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.

God created us as a fine tuned instrument, each part, cell, organs and hormones all working together, having an important role. It kinda freaks me out to consider what would happen without any hormones.

At this point I've started to think of this crappy cancer as more of a chronic disease.
It is not finished with me just because my
TaTa's were whacked off. I'm not through dealing with it. In fact, the odds of it coming back is out there taunting me.

I'll be having genetic testing soon. If I'm HER1 or HER2 I'll be looking at another surgery to remove my ovaries. This gene triggers the growth of cancer cells and I'd be watched even more closely.