I don't want to take tamoxifen

My background:

I was dx with 7mm DCIS grade 1 3/19. Had lumpectomy with 5mm margins on
3/30. I am 6/7 ER and 7/7 PR (whatever that means). I finish my rads next
Monday (33 treatments). I am having bad skin reactions to the radiation and
my cancer was left sided so I am really nervous about heart./lung damage.

Anyway I have an rx for tamoxifen to be taken a week after my rad treatment
ends. I have been thinking and I decided to forego taking this. I have
read about the risks taking this drug and I think that there too high for
the risk reduction of recurrent breast cancer. I think the absolute benefit
is something like 1 or 2 percent but I'm not sure. Does anyone think I'm
making a mistake? Thanks.

"S Jackson" <sjackson@columbus.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4689b276$0$8008$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> My background:
>
> I was dx with 7mm DCIS grade 1 3/19. Had lumpectomy with 5mm margins on
> 3/30. I am 6/7 ER and 7/7 PR (whatever that means). I finish my rads
> next Monday (33 treatments). I am having bad skin reactions to the
> radiation and my cancer was left sided so I am really nervous about
> heart./lung damage.
>
> Anyway I have an rx for tamoxifen to be taken a week after my rad
> treatment ends. I have been thinking and I decided to forego taking this.
> I have read about the risks taking this drug and I think that there too
> high for the risk reduction of recurrent breast cancer. I think the
> absolute benefit is something like 1 or 2 percent but I'm not sure. Does
> anyone think I'm making a mistake? Thanks.
That is an individual decision, of course. You seem to understand the
probabilities well; that's a good start. In quantitative decision analysys,
you need also to decide on your strategy--it may affect the outcome. Two of
the common strategies are maximizing expected gain and minimizing maximum
expected regret. If you should decide against tamoxifen and have a
recurrrence, maximum expected regret may be high, but must be balanced
against risk not only of the documented side effects but also risk of
unpublicized side effects such as adverse effect on short-term memory. My
wife tried tamoxifen for a while and decided it just wasn't worth it. She
was in a slightly higher risk category than you, with a 1.1 cm tumor. You
mightconsider a trial, to see how you get along ith it, remembering that you
may stop whenever you wish. I wish you well, whatever you decide.

Sandy L