TonyaM

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My story

My first bout of breast cancer was in 2003 when I found a lump in my left breast. I was 47 years old with no family history of breast cancer - I was devastated.

I opted for a lumpectomy, full node clearance followed by radiation for 6 weeks. I was ok for 7 years (apart from breaking my ankle and enduring 3 operations on it) and then cancer came back. It was picked up on my routine yearly mammogram. A cancerous area of 3cms had grown in a year- same breast, same spot. Thankfully, my body and bone scans were all clear.

So in May 2010 I had a mastectomy and then chemotherapy. The first round of TC combo knocked me for six and I ended up in hospital isolation with an infection and no white cells. I decided not to continue with chemotherapy and my oncologist was ok with that. He said that taking Tamoxifen would probably benefit me more anyway because my cancer pathology was eostrogen positve and hercepton negative.

My hair took almost 3 months before it started to sprout and I was very distressed about being bald for so long. It was around this time I joined the BCNA online network and received much support from my pink sisters. It's been 18 months since my mastectomy and I seem to be ok but will need more time before I have confidence in my health again.

Member blog

A BIG thank you!

Posted by TonyaM on 01 Nov 2012, 12:30PM

I just wanted to thank the BCNA staff who put on an amazing conference.I enjoyed the whole 2 days. You ladies must have worked so hard to make it such a success- hope you got to rest and recover. It was so nice of you to give us all a bag of goodies -it was much appreciated and so was the gala dinner which was great.I got to meet Leonie and Shirl in person(my long time blogging mates)I met up with some of my new CLO training buddies and,ofcourse,got to meet Daina at long last.

Pinked up!

Posted by TonyaM on 16 Sep 2012, 06:47PM

Hi everyone,

I have had a terrific 2 days in Melbourne doing the training to be a BCNA community liaison officer.The ladies I trained with were great fun and are now my pink sisters.I can't speak highly enough of the wonderful ladies who work at BCNA. It is a special place and their passion,commitment and empathy shines through.Although pink was never quite my colour,it is now and I shall wear it with pride. I had another proud moment today when my daughter Amy ran in the Blackmores Sydney 9k run and raised $250 for BCNA. She's pinked up too!

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Tamoxifen and high blood pressure

Posted by TonyaM on 03 Jul 2012, 09:09PM

Hi girls,

Just putting this question out there. Has anyone experienced their blood pressure going up on Tamoxifen?

I used to have VERY normal blood pressure but gradually it's been going up and up. I'm beginning to wonder if it's Tamoxifen - Hey, I blame it for everything else!

Tonya xx

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Great trip but good to be back

Posted by TonyaM on 19 Apr 2012, 04:45PM

Hi to all my pink girlfriends.I'm back home after having a great trip to Europe.We only had 2 days of rain in total(almost 6wks away).Infact Europe was having a snap heatwave so lucky weatherwise. We loved Vienna,Saltzburg and Paris.I went to the top of the Eiffel tower and visited Monet's garden -both on my bucket list! We toured Germany,did a Greek island cruise then flew to Istanbul where we took a tour down to Gallipoli (on my husband's bucket list!)We broke the long flight back by having 3 nights in Dubai.What an interesting city and omg,the shopping!

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Tamoxifen and long flights

Posted by TonyaM on 02 Feb 2012, 05:28PM

I have just had a full week of checkups and tests. You girls know the drill - pap test,blood tests galore,hip xray(cos it's been aching for months) and finishing with the oncologist"s visit today. I am soooo relieved that everything came back normal. My oncologist is keeping me on Tamoxifen and doesn't want to see me now for 12mths - which is always a good sign! Hubby and I fly off to Europe in March for 5 weeks so I asked my oncologist if I should stop Tamoxifen prior the long flight.

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