******The 36th TAMOXIFEN thread******

[NedSchneebly]

You all out there? Pop this way!

Congratulations Yoda Coorong I got muddled about whether you'd finished or not quite - Have fun in your new career, it's a very rewarding one.

Loving Miss Piggy

I am definitely going to use this one .....

^What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Humility. Sometimes I'm just too self-effacing.^

I like

What is the worst thing anyone's said to you?
"We're all out of desserts."

Another right handed, right breast tumour here, Malt. Mine was close to skin, but scans showed extensive low-mid grade DCIS and it was in my nodes too so mastectomy was the only sensible option (waving to Copt my twin ). It took me ages and ages to trust that it might be alright, but a huge marker is getting all your results. Sodding cancer takes a lot of living with though..

MAS, I love that strip too. How's the sickness today? Hope better?

• Kurri, how are the shingles? Hope rash not still growing.

Jane well done on getting round in the rain. you've inspired me to go for a run later. Slow is definitely good advice and is all I can do.

at Miss Piggy and huge congrats, Coorong. Hope you're celebrating.

Just been royally trashed by DS at Monopoly. I had mortgaged everything I owned, then couldn't pay him £22 in rent...

Monopoly is an evil game Smee I always end up with Old Kent Road with no houses or hotels if I'm lucky.

Weirdly I had a convo about monopoly with DS the other day 'what is the most undesirable Monopoly piece' we both agreed on the Iron (obviously) but he thinks the Top Hat is the best one whereas I favour the Boot very high level of conversation emotion

Thanks all you're all lovely and very reassuring. If anyone's got time can you explain the ER positive thing to me please. I could google if not ...
Have lots of snacks for Eurovision tonight I don't think I've even heard the bonnie song
Love miss piggy !

ER oestrogen receptive - you're either positive or negative. Positive means you get tamoxifen or similar. The tumour cells grow in response to oestrogen. Tamoxifen blocks / coats the receptors on the outside of the tumour cells, so they can't replicate.
But, you get side effects because the tamoxifen is indiscriminate and disrupts any oestrogen receptive cells, including those which trigger menstruation etc.

Thanks Coorong, so is it better to be positive or negative or does it not matter just affects your treatment?

malt healthy breast cells have hormone receptors on them so they can act on hormone signals eg you just had a baby, make milk , you are having a period, get lumpy and painful The cells in some breast tumours keep those receptors and use the hormones to grow. The good thing about that is that they can be starved of those hormones by menopause and drugs like Tamoxifen which they think (not fully understood) mimics Oestrogen and fixes itself to the receptors starving the tumour of real Oestrogen. BTW can anyone explain why it is Oestrogen but ER positive?

smee Of course yours was right breast, this really is very very spooky...... Mine also near skin, bottom left quadrant about 3 cms from nipple, long and thin please tell me that there is some teensy difference otherwise I will have to think Hackney is anti matter Twickenham where everything is precisely mirrored. Nowhere near cleavage as didn't have one

Our monopoly board is Hong Kong, we fight over who gets to buy our old home

coorong Xposted

malt Positive opens up the possibility of hormone treatment and so at the moment improves your odds over those who are negative. Before that was understood being ER positive actually worsened your odds, since the hormones enabled the tumour to grow. When I was diagnosed being Her 2 Neu positive, which is a protein involved in cell growth, also worsened your odds but now that can be treated by Herceptin, treatments are developing all the time.

Thanks copt Blimey its complicated isn't it ! I had to have my mirena coil removed but think that was just in case.

copt! mine close to nipple, not too sure on shape but 1.7cm, also nowhere near cleavage.

Kurri, I was the old boot - chosen by DS of course.

Malt, yes on balance it's best to be hormone positive as the Tamoxifen gives you another line of defence. So operation - chemotherapy - rads - hormone therapy are all ways of defeating the cancer and your team give you whichever version/ combo they think will work best for you.

Anyone else see piece In times about Allsopp sisters and to have/have not preventative masectomy? Their mother been going for 25 ( yes 25) years with various secondary bc...

Seminar mixed - first half got derailed by one bloody stupid woman banging on about last module and issues with it (main one being not enough guidance - it's a post grad course not ks1 ). Tbh think tutor should have shut her up. But was good once she stfu.

Mr gig still sick as a dog so best get back to mini gigs.

ER because Americans can't spel??

Suspect so not to confuse O and 0 (zero)

at the moment ER positive helps, but who knows what scientists will discover ...

My tumour was left breast, I'm left handed and grew up in the Southern Hemisphere - ..... More twilight music....

mine was let breast and I'm left handed......

left dang- have been wine tasting.
Did I see that coorong is now teacher ? yay !!
smee feeling ok, nauseous this morning but seems ok now.

Am on baby rook duty tomorrow - he's graduated to cat biscuits soaked in water or milk and needs hand feeding- he's also doing lots of flapping.

Estrogen is how they spell it I think, maybe it's like the way they say herbs ?

coorong, hurrah!!
Left boob, right handed, here. And on holiday. Good.
Reading through...

So were just in the wrong alternative universe at the wrong time

Actually slightly more seriously I have always wondered if I overdid the milking of right breast when breastfeeding. Little Copt atopic so advised to avoid cowsmilk as long as possible so I milked myself for everything , babyrice etc. and it just seemed easier with that breast, tumour was exactly where my finger would have pressed, and in shape of finger. Consultant , it is known traumatic bruising can lead to development of mutant cells in breast e.g where seat belt caused bruising after serious road accident but months of mangling he is not so sure. It's not really important though...

Hmm my woo theory is neck met was where have had really bad whip lash so I like Copt theory.

Got but freaked out then as had cad accident a few years ago and thought seatbelt would have bruised right boob, then remembered I was a passenger so it would have been the left !

Car accident, I've never had a cad accident !

I had decided at one point , that my tumour grew in the exact spot where I shoved my mobile phone down my bra !!!

topsy was is a vibrating phone ......

funny, but I initially went for a mammogramm 2 years ago because of pain, following being kicked rather hard in the breast by a boy in a swimming pool - had the pain for several months and a sort of lumpy area which reduced with ibrufen ... the same area had dodgy cells which developed into the tumour ...