I had really been looking forward to the end of 2025 and perhaps some return to whatever sense of normalcy that could exist. As I reported before, I seemed to be one of the fortunate ones that hadn’t suffered the terrible side effects that others on Tamoxifen had…until now. I had to go off of birth control in March when I was diagnosed and my body seemed to take some time to settle itself out before starting Tamoxifen in July.
Last month, old Flo decided she was coming back with a vengeance. Nine days of it to be exact. It wasn’t nine days of decreasing flow either. It was nine day of pure misery and when it was finally gone, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief that I was free till next month.
Two and a half weeks later, I suffered the same misery. This time it was to the point where my red blood cells and hemoglobin dropped drastically. I will save you all the gory details, but I had to start on Norethindrone, a progestin hormone. My uterus was on full on revolt. For those with breast cancer diagnosis, anything with hormones is iffy and scary because our cancer is hormone driven. But it was like choosing the lesser of the two evils for right now. I had been losing so much blood that I was getting dizzy when I stood up and it was impacting my ability to function.
After a discussion with my gynecologist, we’ve decided that a hysterectomy is the best route as it’s likely this will continue and the Tamoxifen will hold my uterus hostage for the next five years I have to take it. Although Tamoxifen stops estrogen from binding to breast cancer cells floating throughout the body, it can actually have estrogenic effects on the uterus which puts me at increased risk of uterine cancer and fibroids. I will have to have a uterine biopsy this month ahead of surgery that will ensure there is no presence of cancer. If there would be, I would be looking at lymph node removal as well. The game plan is to do a robotic hysterectomy which hopefully will be a better recovery period than the traditional open surgery.
One small positive is that I have been taking a Pilates class for the past two months which has drastically improved my core and pelvic floor strength. My instructor feels it will speed up my recovery time for getting back to normal activity. If you have not tried Pilates, it’s incredible for us breast cancer girls. It has helped break up my scar tissue from surgery and the lymph node removal, resolved the truncal cording I experienced and has helped with a lot of lymphatic and somatic release. My instructor is incredible. If you are in the south central PA area, Soul Wellness Studio in Greencastle is the best!
So at this time, another bump in the road but hopefully one that will bring me a lot of relief and two less cancers to worry about (cervical and uterine). That is a positive right? Tomorrow I will get my surgery date so I’ll just keep working on my physical strength in preparation.
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