Out Of The Clinical Trial.....

OK......so remember the Exemestane Clinical Trial that I was on, where I go and get a shot at Roswell Park every month and take a pill everyday?

Well, I am no longer on this trial.

WHY you ask??

For the last year, or longer, it has progressively made my ankles weaker and weaker.

When I would sit and relax, and then get up and walk, it would feel like I needed a walker to get to the other room. I started to feel like a person that was ready for a cane. When I would get up in the morning, I would have to take the steps one at a time in order to get downstairs. When I would wake up in the middle of the night, I would have to hold on to things in order to get to the bathroom. It was awful, and painful at times.

They took me off of the pill for a month to see if that was the problem, and it was. My ankles are almost back to normal and I can walk fine.

When I went to Roswell today for my appointment and told them that, they asked me if I wanted to go off the clinical trial and go on Tamoxifen 20mg. I told them, "yes".

What that means is.......

No more monthly visits for me! (Now I only have to go once every 6 months.)

No more yearly Bone Density tests!

No more monthly shots!

No more three month Dr visits!

I can actually start to feel more like a "normal" person again. OK, some of you might differ about the fact that I am "normal" to begin with, but now I won't have to feel like such a "Cancer Patient"!

Because my tumor fed on hormones, that is why I still have to be on Tamoxifen, but now because I am not getting the shot that shut down my ovaries, it won't be like I am in Menopause anymore. I might regain some of the regular "womanly" functions and I just might even get my libido back. (Which has been gone for quite some time, and, YES, I have missed it!!)

Soooooo.......whoooohoooo - good news for me, but, not so good news in the name of Research.

They will continue to use my chart for any updates on my health.

My last MRI, last month, came back NEGATIVE in both breasts for any signs cancer!!

I go in for a mammogram in January 2010 and MRI in March 2010 - I will keep you updated.