Joanne blamed her weight gain on the hormones until her surgeon told her truthfully that it was not only the hormones.
Written testimony
I’m carrying a lot of extra weight and I was blaming that on the drugs. My doctor, who did my mastectomy, mentioned that I had gained so much weight that my port had moved so he had to make a second incision, and I said “Yeah, they said the tamoxifen puts some weight on you,” and he said, “Well Joanne, probably 10 to15 pounds but not this much and I said, “You know, you got to watch what you’re doing.” And he is really blunt and honest with me and I knew that. So I think I got in a place where I was blaming the drugs and the chemo and the treatment and comfort eating or changing my lifestyle because I didn’t care for a while, nobody really pointed that out. So it took a surgeon to really smack me in the face with it. So then I started getting in shape again. Trying to get in shape and eat healthier. You know, I read all the books that help to prevent cancer and just tried to go back to what I needed to do to get healthy. And then I realized that I had to change my lifestyle. Treatment is over, cancer is over and you can go back to work and act as if nothing ever happened.
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- Alternative and complementary therapies -Joanne (B)The tingling in her hands was treated with deep tissue massage and that brought relief for Joanne.
- Endocrine (hormone) theraphy – Joanne (B) (2)Joanne blamed her weight gain on the hormones until her surgeon told her truthfully that it was not only the hormones.
- Endocrine (hormone) therapy -Joanne (B)Joanne changed hormone therapy after a hysterectomy, including the removal of the ovaries, and it is a bit better now but has had strong doubts about continuing.
- Chemotherapy -Joanne (B)Joanne explains what the chemo was like in practical terms and how she would visit the hospital for testing, go home, and receive chemo the next day.
- Surgery -Joanne (B)Joanne describes how it was to see her chest for the first time after surgery
- Managing within the health care system – Joanne (B)After her mastectomy Joanne was asked about her breast complaints during screening, Joanne responded with humour.
- First symptoms – Joanne (B)Due to her recent ectopic pregnancy, Joanne's doctor was not overly concerned about her breast tissue changes.
- Sexuality, femininity and intimacy -Joanne (B)Intercourse is a bit less spontaneous since Joanne needs to prepare herself.
- Work and finances – Joanne (B)Initially Joanne thought she would be the type that continues working but realized she needed some time to think.
- Follow-up care and the risk of recurrence -Joanne (B)Joanne stayed on hormone therapy longer than she would have liked because she wanted to feel that she had done all she could to avoid a recurrence.