Was newly diagnosed mucinous carcinoma

Kksupport

I was recently diagnosed with mucinous carcinoma stage 1 4mm in size. I have had biopsy and surgery. In the surgery they found out that the whole tumor was removed during the biopsy so the surgeon took some of the surrounding area an a lymp node to make sure there was no more cancer and there wasn't. After surgery had a balloon inserted in my breast to receive 5 days of radiation twice a day. I am now trying to decide to take hormone therapy there are so many side effects from it Does the good out weigh the bad. I am 67 years old. Need help deciding. My gut feeling is no. Any suggestions

solfeo

Hi Kksupport - so sorry you had to join us but happy you chose to reach out. I'm sure more people will be along to offer support soon.

If you do receive hormonal therapy at your age, you will most likely be offered an aromatase inhibitor. I am on tamoxifen so I can't speak from personal experience, but I will say I had the same fears that you do after reading about all of the nasty side effects online. I left the bottle sitting on my desk for almost 2 weeks before I could talk myself into taking the stuff, but I finally took the plunge and found out that just like everything else I've encountered during this journey, it wasn't as bad as I worried it would be. I do have side effects but they are all manageable. I have an aunt who has been on an AI for 6 years with no problems.

My suggestion is that if hormonal therapy is recommended you should give it a try, because you don't know if you'll have any side effects unless you take it, and even if you do have problems they might be tolerable. If you are in the minority that find the side effects absolutely unbearable, sometimes switching drugs helps, and if worse comes to worst you can always decide to stop taking it later. Try not to make this decision based on fear of the unknown. It will be a much more informed decision when you know how you personally react to the medication, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Best wishes!

suzygirl

As you probably already know, you have a very favorable prognosis. Has your oncologist given you an idea of the statistical rate of recurrence of your disease and how much taking hormone therapy might improve it? That will give your head some numbers to evaluate, if not your heart. I too had a mostly, not pure, mucinous tumor on one side, much larger, and clear lymph nodes. I had a low risk Oncotype Dx score so no chemotherapy or radiation (had bilateral invasive ductal carcinoma and double mastectomy). I was 66, two years ago. Despite low risk, I decided to at least try anastrozole. Many women have virtually no side effects. I have had hot flashes and night sweats, a self limiting depression and worsening bone mineral density. All these can be managed and I feel reallygreat, actually. I am doing everything I can to prevent recurrence. It's a personal decision, but my suggestion is to at least give it a try. You can always stop. But you have a really positive likelihood of good health regardless!