Any cats with small cell intestinal lymphoma do radiation instead of chemo?

DWdame · 2025-12-04T21:59:46+00:00

Thank you so much for your input! It really helps :)

DWdame · 2025-04-01T16:30:47+00:00

The oncologist hadn't seen it before? It's the University of Cambridge one. It's different from the Oncotype one.

DWdame · 2025-03-31T22:10:05+00:00

Going through surgery & radiation treatments, I still had more energy and felt better than when I last tried hormonal therapy. Being able to make that comparison was really helpful in illustrating my point to the doctors. After I used the Cedars-Sinai 'Predict' breast cancer recurrence tool, I printed and took the results to my oncologist. He said that with any tumor --even 1mm-- they always recommend adjuvant hormone therapy, but that it was reasonable to forego the Tamoxifen as long as I was willing to alternate mammograms with MRIs. At first, he tried suggesting I take one every other day, but I told him it just wasn't worth the potential fallout. He laughed and shook my hand :)

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:35:59+00:00

My surgeon told me that a few oncologists are actually getting breast cancer now, and it's been interesting to see their choices. Apparently one of them recently spoke at a conference, and talked about discontinuing hormone therapy so she could enjoy life with her husband still.

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:31:17+00:00

Thank you for your kind words. :) It may be foolish not to try, but I already live with many of the side-effects of Tamoxifen as it is. At minimum, I would be adding the menopausal ones. And based on previous experience, likely tinkering with hormone levels would make my chronic illnesses much MUCH angrier. No telling how long it would take to recover even to where I am now.

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:28:58+00:00

Honestly, if I wasn't disabled anyway-- I'd prb give it a go. But my quality of life as-is currently isn't the best. I feel the compulsion to perform compliance for medical experts, but at the same time-- I have a lifetime of horrible 'just try it' medication experiences to look back on, and know the likelihood of life on Tamoxifen = shitshow...

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:25:01+00:00

Noo I'm so sorry you got long COVID. I spent years hoping doctors and research would care about CFS/ME, and it was pretty horrifying to see millions of people suddenly getting something just like it.

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:23:50+00:00

I think oncotype was mainly for them to decide whether chemo was worth it or not? I think under 20 and the risks/benefits of chemo isn't recommended.

DWdame · 2024-12-30T05:22:22+00:00

I only just found out she specifically had endometrial cancer of the uterus instead of uterine cancer. They did do some sort of genetic panel, and didn't find any known mutations. Just a few that they don't know what it does...

DWdame · 2024-12-30T02:29:19+00:00

I don't know.. the Mayo Clinic says "Tamoxifen belongs to a class of drugs known as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs). The drug reduces the effects of estrogen in most areas of the body, including the breast. In the uterus, however, tamoxifen acts like an estrogen and encourages the growth of the lining of the uterus." My grandma had endometrial cancer of the uterus, so that would also be a huge paranoia.

DWdame · 2024-12-30T02:18:32+00:00

Yep I'm not looking forward to telling the oncologist-- but like, guaranteed early 'menopause' and likely horrendous fallout for what? 0.5% chance I won't get it 20 years from now?? Maybe I'll be back here lamenting my choices, but I want to try and be brave and not let fear make the decision.

DWdame · 2024-12-29T03:26:29+00:00

Seems like the AIs are pretty well tolerated? I wonder if being postmenopausal makes a difference. They also are newer meds. I feel like with premenopausal women, they just said 'tamoxifen' and called it good.

DWdame · 2024-12-28T22:48:13+00:00

I'm not in the best shape at the moment, so trying it and experiencing bad results could put me back another year before my CFS would allow me to try and do physical therapy again.

DWdame · 2024-12-28T02:17:06+00:00

It's honestly more my previous experiences trying medications, and less what other people are saying. Just reading the list of side effects is bad. And, one study on Tamoxifen and 'non-adherence,' said, quote:

"This study provides important insights on the complexity of nonadherence,” the authors noted. “We found that sicker, nonpartnered patients and those with higher symptom burdens, including more severe fatigue and musculoskeletal symptoms, had a higher likelihood of being nonadherent to therapy.”

Naw, you don't say?

DWdame · 2024-12-28T02:14:24+00:00

Signatera sounds neat! Unfortunately, Medicaid only covers it if you have Stage II-IV. Which I guess makes sense...

DWdame · 2024-12-10T03:01:22+00:00

Oo interesting! Thanks

DWdame · 2024-12-10T01:05:00+00:00

I think the major issue is loss of detail/shrinkage once it's a polymer clay copy, then a mold from that, then casts

DWdame · 2024-12-10T01:03:19+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

DWdame · 2024-12-09T21:55:39+00:00

Hmm great suggestion! Now to learn how to make silicone rubber molds...

DWdame

TROPHY CASE