I’m waiting for Oncotype results & thinking about upcoming treatment.
I’m not sure this is in the right place for this discussion. I’m waiting on my oncotype results and I have an appointment scheduled this week with my MO. I don’t have an RO yet, but am told by my surgeon and MO to expect radiation as part of my treatment plan. I’m a little confused, does hormone therapy normally follow radiation therapy? That’s what I’m reading here. Waiting and wondering if I’m on the right track.
Comments
-
Hi!
I began my hormonal therapy before radiation and continued during radiation. It's just about taking a pill, or in my case (pre-menopausal) getting a shot (Zoladex) and taking a pill. But MOs differ in their approach. Some might have you wait until after radiation. They figure radiation is enough to deal with and that it'll be over soon enough. Also, waiting until after radiation allows you to figure out what side effects are due to radiation and which are due to the hormonal therapy.
So, there may be no one "right" track.
1 -
Hi & thanks @elainetherese for your message. It makes sense to figure out side effects of one treatment before starting another. I’ll discuss this with my MO. I am post menopausal so will be taking AIs.
0 -
I was given the option of waiting or starting hormonal treatment right away. I started it, and then promptly blamed the radiation for what turned out to be the side effects of the hormonal treatment, and it took me longer to figure out than it might otherwise have. So, yeah, I should've waited.
0 -
I saw my oncologist today and he answered a few questions. The first thing I found out was that my surgeon’s office just ordered my Oncotype test yesterday. My surgery was 4 weeks ago, so now I wait another 2 weeks to see what my treatment plan looks like. MO reassured me that we are still on schedule, and he set up a consultation with RO. @salamandra he (MO) did say he could start hormone therapy if I wanted to but didn’t recommend it. And he gave a pretty frank answer when I asked how many have HT problems: 30% & 15% stop altogether. I hope your side effects are easing up.
0 -
I don't know why they wait so long to order the oncotype tests but it seems pretty normal.
In the end I couldn't make tamoxifen work, but the sister drug toremifene works fine for me, thank goodness.
Good luck!
1
