I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Susieq:

No, we don't get that gravy at least not in Canada - guess I'll just make the regular gravy and add rosemary.  Thanks,

Sandy

Hillck - that sounds like a perfect plan. Nothing more heavenly than a room full of puppies.

Morning Friends,

Blue .. have fun today, sounds like you have a busy weekend planned.  My weekend consists of mowing.  Tim is on his way to TX, so I need to amuse myself.  Why did I think it was such a good idea to have five acres of land!

Welcome Ang .. I don't cook, but I do love to hear everyone's dinner menu. 

Hi Athena!

Hillck .. I think you have the best plans of the day so far.  I would love to be in a room full of puppies, surrounding by all that puppy breath!

SusieQ .. dinner sounds great!  I've never had lamb before.

That PM thread was kind've fun.  I know it got cantankerous, but it was exciting.  Guess the mods took Patzee at her request and deleted the entire thread.

Hope everyone has a great day!

hugs to all,

Bren

Hi Ducky -- I was in your place re Femara almost 3 years ago, so I sort of know how you're feeling!  The very long list of possible side effects is enough to put anyone off.  But, since I had an overload of estrogen, I started the drug.  Took a few weeks to start feeling the SE's, which consisted mainly of joint aches, especially in my wrists.  Oh, and the inevitable spare tire!  I'm still a bit creaky, but I joined a health club, kept up my daily walks, changed my diet, upped my intake of VitD3 and I've had good checkups ever since.  Will they continue?  Nobody knows for sure, but I'll continue Femara for another 2 years.

Of course, everyone is different, and SEs, if they happen to you as they did to Bren, can be overwhelming.  But.....you'll never know unless you give Femara a try.  Statistics ARE just statistics, but we don't have much else to go by.  And, there are some choices if Femara is too tough for you.

Sending you good wishes for a successful relationship with Femara! 

Oh Rabbit -- that was just about the funniest thing I've seen all year!  Thanks for sharing!

Blue....hope you found some fabulous treasures at the estate sell.

Cindy....I can only imagine what would have been said at the water department if you had put that on the memo line.Lol! Puppies!  Are you teaching an obedience class?

Bren....I also wish the PM thread was around. It was entertaining. Was it deleted right after the Yiddish posts or did something happen after that?

WhiteRabbit.....Loved the link. I had to share it on my Facebook page. Not sure how they kept the dogs from digging into the bowls and to wait for the food on the fork to eat.

Trying to pack a bag to head our for DC tomorrow and decided to take a break and catch up. 

Everyone who is taking ALs seems to be referring to the 5 year mark we've been lead to believe will end the AL medication. Has anyone recently brought up that 5 year mark with their onc and had a suspicion that he/she might not be sitting on that rock so solid any more?  I've taken arimidex for 4 years with the joint, spare tire, sleeplessness and a multitude of other SEs and pretty much just "sucked it up" and plowed on. A few months ago, I had my usual appointment and mentioned that I only had 1 more year to go.  After several hemming and hawing grunts he basically said that he was going to keep me on it as long as he could talk me into taking it. He stated that the current study results were over a 5 year period but by the time my 5 years were up that there looked like new data would support the continuation of medication indefinitely (or at least another 5 years). My reaction was mixed, this drug takes the sap out of me but if it's working, it means I may not have that second diagnosis.  Just wondered if anyone else had heard anything similar.

I haven't, Kadeeb, but the thought depresses me.  Heck, the thought of switching to an AI from tamoxifen depresses me.  My onc hasn't been pushing me to switch - which I think puts me in a minority on this board - and I haven't pushed *to* switch.  (One thing I've noticed about my health system is that it's pretty conservative about treatments for early-stage BC.  They seem to want to really weigh the evidence before changing protocols.  So, no CYP2D6 testing, and a slower timeline for switching chemopausal patients to AIs. I'm personally comfortable with that approach, but realize it would not be right for everyone.)  But he has mentioned the possibility of going on an AI after my 5 years of tamoxifen.  Blech.

Part of my reaction is emotional - as long as I'm taking that pill every night, I'm still a cancer patient, and dammit, at some point I don't want to be a cancer patient any more!  And part of it relates to the SEs (oops, I mistakenly typed SEx just now, shows where my mind is!) of AIs - not just the aches and spare tire, but also bone loss and, yeah, SExual problems. 

I would be very, very interested in hearing from others on this.

L

 I think it has to be decided individually based on our recurrence risk to start with.  Risk vs potential benefit.

We also don't know the effects of extreme long term estrogen depletion.  We have estrogen for a reason so what else are we messing with when we do without it?   Truth is that we are among the first ones to take it so I don't think they have those answers yet. 

Tonight we are having hormone-free beef stew with organic tomatoes, celery, carrots and fingerling potatoes.  Heading to our local Italian markey for some divine bread. Then dessert will be cookie dough coconut milk ice cream. I'm making myself hungry!

Ang7 ... there is a lot of that going on.  I got a notice about a report from the PM thread.  But it seems to be just single reports.  Unless you get a notice that your post has actually been removed it is all a big bunch of nothing.  If that happens the mods can fix it.  Let them play their silly games IMO.

We do need t-shirts or buttons or something to pass out though ...  

....it so happens that the data from the famous womens health initiative which made the hrt-breast cancer link and led women to abandon hrt in drovesdid not distinguish between estrogen and progestin in warning against hrt. data showing estrogen-only outcomes was not reported. this data came to light earlier this year -at asco, i believe- showing that the bc risk did NOT pertain to estrogen only....

lindasa.....I too, have wonder if having an excess amount of estrogen could have been the cause of my BC.

Lewing.....I am on Tamoxifen now, and will be, until I go through menopause. My Onc said at that time he would switch me to another med, can't remember the name of it. Can you please tell me what side effects the Als could cause that you are concerned with. Other than some pretty intense hot flashes from the Tamoxifen I feel fine being on it.

Patty, my main concerns about AIs are bone loss (tamoxifen is actually bone protective) and vaginal atrophy/sexual dysfunction.  Also the stiffness and achiness that so many women seem to experience while on AIs.  Like you, I've had minimal SEs from tamoxifen - hot flashes, sure, but it's hard to say if those are from the tamox or just from menopause generally. 

Linda

I am at 4 years and have taken 3 different AIs with 3 mons on Tamoxifen but could not deal with break thru bleeding and a D&C at 59. They have all caused joint pain. I am on Femara now and have the joint pain along with bone and muscle pain, fatigue, hot flashes,and .dizziness. Oh and maybe the indigestion is from that too and the tendonitis. I have been on it for 5 months and WILL stop taking it when I see the onc in July. I probably will go back on Aromasin but he's going to have to do some smooth talking to keep me on it for more than another year.

I can not see spending my whole life in pain.