10 years of Tamoxifen...now what?

I was diagnosed at stage III in 2000 at age 44, 5 tumors in one breast (largest 3.1cm), one tumor in the other breast, one positive lymph node on the left, bilateral mastectomies (no reconstruction), 6 months of chemotherapy (3 months Adriamycin/Cytoxan then 3 months Taxol, 3 week intervals), 6 weeks of radiation on the left side (yes, even after mastectomy, because I did a really good job of getting cancer ), 2.5 years of Tamoxifen, 5 years of Arimidex. Chemo put me in menopause, but I still have my ovaries.

So, I'm a 17-year survivor of stage III (18 years in a couple of months), and I know other stage III survivors who are dout than that from diagnosis.

In my understanding, the first two to three years after our diagnosis are the times of most elevated risk for recurrence, then it begins to decline. But I understand the anxiety about ending medications, not only from personal experience but even more so from being involved in a support group over the whole time period (nowadays mostly to be a living illustration of long-term survival from fairly advanced BC, for newly-diagnosed people who are still thinking about whether they should renew magazine subscriptions.

In order to recover strength and vitality after treatment (and from being diagnosed as hypothyroid shortly after treatment), I started becoming much more active, after being largely sedentary for most of my adult life (i.e., decades). I was really weak and depleted at that point (before the cancer diagnosis a number of other stressful things had happened that added to my physical depletion).

I started gradually adding exercise, beginning with manageable things like yoga classes, then took a weight training class for women. About 2 years post-chemo, a breast cancer survivors rowing team formed locally, and I joined. I'm not exaggerating when I say that that completely transformed my life. I began rowing boats in Summer, and rowing machine in Winter, and added some aerobics videos for cross-training. I took adult learn-to-swim lessons to improve my skills, because rowers need swimming skills. Off and on, I did other strength training, yoga, group classes of other sorts, rode my bike. I competed as a rower, even earning a couple of place medals on water and on machines (yes, people race rowing machines competitively).

Only after I'd been active for a while did research start to emerge suggesting that being regularly active, at a moderate to vigorous level, had a very beneficial effect on reducing recurrence - as beneficial as chemotherapy, if not more so, in some sub-populations. So, double bonus: I was doing something fun, and getting cancer-risk-minimization benefits.

All through this, I stayed fat - obese, per BMI. But the activity built some muscle, and I lost a couple of pants sizes along the way. In 2015, with my primary care doc fussing at me about statins (with high triglycerides, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other problems), I got serious about weight loss, and joined MFP when my rough calorie approximating started working less well. Over a bit less than a year, I lost 50+ pounds by better managing my eating, staying about as active as I had been before.

So, am I doing fine, at age 62 now? I think so. I certainly feel younger and fitter than I did 17+ years ago, at the time of my diagnosis. I'm routinely active: Summer now, rowing 4 days a week on water, weather permitting; spin class twice a week; strength training 3 times a week, plus some random other walking, biking, etc. I'm lucky enough to be retired, so it's manageable to fit this in flexibly. I'm still NED (no evidence of disease) on the cancer front. My hypothyroidism is well controlled. At 5'5" and a weight in the low 130s, my mild osteoarthritis and bad knee (torn meniscus) are much less troubling than when I was fat. I feel great!

This is me in 2002 at my first rowing experience, maybe 15 months after finishing chemo/radiation:



This is me a couple of weeks ago, cropped from a group photo with cousins:



Life is excellent.

You can thrive after breast cancer. Weight loss is doable, exercise is achievable when you zero in on things you find fun, and ramp up the frequency/intensity gradually. You've got this. Sending best wishes for your next chapter! :flowerforyou: