After having tried the hormones twice, Julia decided to stop and was then offered a surgery to remove the ovarian tubes (oophorectomy).
Transcript
So I felt so much better once I got off tamoxifen and I went through the summer and then I went back to see her. At the beginning I was going every 4 months and then she said, “Okay, well now do you want to try it again?” And I said, “Well not really ” and she said, “Well that’s your choice, it’s your choice but if you don’t go back on it, I won’t be your doctor anymore.” So then I’m like, “Oh okay.” I was a little bit upset about that and then I went to speak to my naturopath and he said, “Well first of all, she’s not allowed to do that. That’s been tried in times past and apparently that’s been to the Supreme Court, and it’s illegal to fire a patient for making a choice that you offer them. I don’t know if this is true or not but this is what I was told. Anyway I was pretty comfortable with my decision and I was like, “Well I don’t really need her, she doesn’t do anything anyway and she said,” If you ever have a problem I’ll see you right away. You have a family doctor, you have a surgeon, if you need me it’s not like I won’t help you but if you’re not going to comply,” she said, “I have liability insurance issues I can’t be your doctor.” So I said, “Okay that’s fine,” and then we agreed, I think, that I’d see her again and in the meantime I did some reading and then I thought, “Well you know what maybe I will try tamoxifen one more time.” So I tried it again and I committed to myself that I would do it for 3 months and she was pretty happy that I would try that and then it went really badly again but it wasn’t fatigue so much as I got this terrible anxiety. Again, I had the other things like I lost my appetite and I lost weight and I had dry eyes and a few other things I can’t even remember but I had this terrible anxiety and I just I didn’t want to live that way. And so I stopped after 3 months and immediately again I felt way better without it, so now that’s not something I will consider, but then she did offer to remove my ovaries for me so I could take something different. I said,” Well I would consider that, but maybe we could try chemical suppression and try this new drug, because if tamoxifen made me feel terrible, and I can’t live like that, if you take out my ovaries and it does the same thing there’s no way to fix it so I don’t really want you ripping out my ovaries.” So she again didn’t really like that and I think you can tell I’m not so keen on my oncologist.
More content
- Endocrine (hormone) therapy – JuliaAfter having tried the hormones twice, Julia decided to stop and was then offered a surgery to remove the ovarian tubes (oophorectomy).
- Finding and sharing information – JuliaJulia would have liked to know about resources earlier; she asked her surgeon if she could bring him some material to distribute.
- Positive effects on self – JuliaJulia describes how she has become more assertive and she feels she is better in doing things when she thinks of it.
- Coping strategies – JuliaJulia’s meditation group was a better fit for her needs even though it was not focused on cancer.
- Sexuality, femininity and intimacy – JuliaJulia had to adapt to life after mastectomy but she and her husband were also able to do this successfully.
- Follow-up care and the risk of recurrence – JuliaJulia had a family history of cancer. She is trying to strike a balance between being vigilant and maintaining a sense of optimism.