PET Scan & Ooph

Scans are the worst! If possible, I think they suck even more than surgery. Chin up!

Just had an ooph a few weeks ago. Healed fast and well with no problem or side effects.

Jab, in my case it was recommended so that I could go straight on an AI instead of tamox. My cancer was/is lobular, and there is evidence that the AIs are more effective for that. I was close to menopause anyway.

Thanks peacestrengh - I too am a strong +er/+pr (I think it translates into 100% - my pathology was done based on the allred scale). I am 49 and have been using the Merina (hormone based IUD) so not sure of the status of menopause, but will find out soon as it was just removed last week.

Oceana I'm not sure if the numbers stay the same or not - It's the tumor that is being measured so I would think (could be totally wrong here...) that any additional cancer cells left in the body would have the same ER/PR characteristics.

Jab, there can be good reasons not to do an ooph, as far as I know. In my case, there was family history (mom) of ovarian cancer, but no family history of cardiovascular health problems. So there was good reason pro and no real reason con.

I have two docs, and one of them DID think it was overkill, whereas the other one, the one involved in the AI vs tamox study, was very much in favor. I went with the one who agreed with me He must be right, right? But seriously, the one in favor is the breast specialist, whereas the one against is a general onc. He knows his onc stuff, like which poison to give and how much, but he has no special knowledge of breast vs lung cancers, except in general terms.

Also, I have to say that I have learned to trust my gut through all of this. 2 hours after DX, I decided I would prefer a BMX. [This after they outlined for me what the follow-up on the "good" breast would be]. It is very personal, and there is no right/wrong really, but I just knew that getting the remaining boob squished and biopsied every 3 months was NOT for me. Besides, I like symmetry, even if the symmetry means two, neat vertical scars where the boobs used to be. The post-surgery path showed extensive LCIS on the supposedly prophylactic side, so good riddance.

@ It still pisses me off no end that so many docs seem to think that it is perfectly normal and fine for a woman to be partially disabled by childbirth and that she should just accept it.

The pre-op examination for the ooph showed that I also had some giant fibroids in my uterus, so we decided to do a partial hyster (leaving the cervix and the "neck" of the uterus) to get rid of them while we were at it. After the surgery they told me that my abdomen was full of horrible adhesions, which they kindly cleaned up. I no longer have a pot belly (caused by my bladder and uterus being glued to my abdominal wall), I pee normally and am no longer in pain. The path showed pre-cancerous cell changes in the endometrium.

My surgery was da Vinci robot surgery, done by an excellent surgeon (apparently there are 2 leading da Vinci specialists in the world and he is one of them), so that probably contributed to the good outcome and the easy surgery. I was up and running in a week.

So, for me it has been a win-win so far, but it really all depends on your personal history and circumstances. I would though suggest that you discuss this with more than one doc.

Jab, the preference for an AI over tamox is specific to lobular cancer, which is what I had. It probably is not relevant to your situation.

The birth control pill adds hormones to your system, whereas the AI completely kills any and all estrogen in your body. It is like super-double-plus menopause. If migraines usually decrease with menopause (I don't know), they should also logically decrease with an AI.

The tamox works differently, in that it blocks the receptors on the cancer cells from using the available estrogen (as I understand it). I have no idea what it would do in relation to migraines, but this is certainly something you should discuss with your docs. You could also ask in the hormone treatment forum here if anyone has experience with this.

From what I can gather a lot of patients drop the hormone blockers without telling their doctors. The first year, my onc would ask all sorts of questions to make sure I was taking my pills. It got to be sort of funny, so I finally told him that I might be a bitch who complains a lot, but I am not a stupid bitch, so he can rest assured that I will be a good girl and tell him if the SEs are too much for me (they really haven't been so far, but there is huge variation on that). Point being that most docs are aware that these are not easy meds, yet they also know that the meds are very effective, so most docs WANT you to talk to them about any problems you have while on them.