OVARIES OFF / OOPHORECTOMY
I have a very difficult situation here. I am 41 this year. I was diagnosed with breast cancer end of 2013. I was 38 then. I was very blessed to have found the cancer early. It was stage 1 (I was told), grade 2, HER2 +. Because of my age (being young) and the risks involved, I underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and herceptin. I am now taking tamoxifen (2.5 years now, and was told I had to take it for 10 years), and also zalodex injection each month.
I had a vagina bleeding last year and found that I had a polyp and it was removed then. I was informed it could be because of tamoxifen. I had another bleeding this year and found another polyp. I will be removing the polyps this Thursday. Apart from that, a cyst was found on my left ovary. After seeing the gyne, I was informed that I can remove the cyst by taking off 1 ovary. One thing lead to another, I decided to have 2 ovaries removed instead as it makes sense to remove both during the key-hole-surgery. My thought is I will complete my zalodex treatment when I am 44 years old and my period may come back and my ovaries start working again as I would not reach menopause age yet.
My questions are :
- Has anyone been through the situation I have been through or similar and have decided to go ahead with removing both ovaries ? If yes, how are you coping with having both ovaries removed ? Are there very bad side effects ?
- After the removal of my ovaries, do I still take tamoxifen or do I change medication ? If I change medication, do I have to change it immediately after the removal of the ovaries or can it wait ? How is the transition period like and what is done in the process of the medicine change ? I am in a panic state here as the gyne and onko are separate and I have only realised today that the medications has to be aligned to the state of my ovaries.
- I am worried about the long term effect of the removal of my ovaries. I read it may cause much complications in the long run. Ex - heart attack, cognitive impairment, parkinson decease. I wonder if anyone here has had years of experience in the removal of their ovaries to comment on this ? Or do you have any other findings, etc on the regards ?
- Please could anyone share anything at all on the above situation, etc ?
I must be honest to say I am having cold feet as we speak as, would really appreciate hearing from anyone at all on all regards.
Thank you.
Comments
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Hi again Daisie, and welcome to Breastcancer.org!
We're bumping your thread so that hopefully someone with similar experiences will come and give you some advicee. In the mean time, you may want to read through the pages of the following articles from our main site:
What Happens During Prophylactic Ovary Removal
Hope this helps! Let us know how you're doing.
The Mods
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hi Daisies! I am sitting her recovering from surgery as we speak. I had my ovaries removed last week and I definitely got cold feet prior to surgery. I too am 41 so I have many of the same concerns you do. I wish I could be more help to you but all I know is I was told to stop taking the tamoxifen a week before surgery (they usually say 2 weeks) and do not take it again for another two weeks. I plan on asking the gyn oncologist that performed my surgery if they plan on switching my medication. I see her on May 3rd so I will let you know. I may even call my MO to see what she wants me to do. I will definitely keep you posted
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