Jennifer Marie J. Yang, MD

August 27, 2022

Update. Doreen’s adventures today in healthcare (and modeling).

First, a bit of background. The surgically removed cancerous tumor was positive for hormone receptors (hormones come from the ovaries; the tumor had estrogen and progesterone receptors that could make it grow and spread).

Two days ago, I started Tamoxifen. This is a medication to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. It blocks estrogen from latching onto cancer cells. While the breast and breast tumor are now gone, there may still be other cancer cells in the body. I am still figuring out if I have bothersome side effects from Tamoxifen, but my oncologist friends say it is usually well tolerated. I hope they are correct.

Got my pre-radiation therapy COVID-19 RT-PCR test and blood work today. Woohoo. The medical technologist did her best to be gentle, but of course nose pokes are never fun. She DID get a vein for the blood draw in one go, so kudos to her.

Next, a baseline bone densitometry test, because my bone density is expected to decrease in the (near) future. The hormone estrogen is a key regulator of bone density, which is why bone density goes downhill after menopause. I need some sort of ovarian suppression going forward in case there are still rogue cancer cells floating around. Ovarian suppression reduces the risk of cancer recurrence.

Finally, Doreen looks at all this stuff… they are needed flushing the portacath in order to prevent blood clots (for the curious: normal saline and heparin). Flushing needs to happen every 4-6 weeks [edited to add: looks like the interval can go up to 12 weeks now, since the COVID-19 pandemic happened]. Recall the portacath was placed for easy access to my blood vessels during chemotherapy. The 4 cycles are chemo are done, but the entire cancer treatment course isn’t over yet. Trust me, I want it out as soon as I don’t need it anymore!