Tamoxifen

Time is just flying by.  Since my last post, Mom made her move Up North (email/message me if you want her phone number and/or address), I have almost finished my part-time job at Zilber (which was bumped up to full-time for a few weeks, but that's a different story), and I started on Tamoxifen.

One of these things did NOT go as well as hoped.  :)

I really cannot complain too much, as it's not like the Tamoxifen is making me house-bound.  But it's pretty yucky just the same.  All my joints ache, but especially my hips.  By the end of the day, it hurts to walk (so you know what's happened to my exercise plan and my great ambitions using the FitBit). And it's upsetting my stomach, too.

This week at my meeting with Dr. Shah, I told her about all the yucky stuff I was feeling, and she said that my symptoms didn't sound like typical Tamoxifen side effects, so the first thing we had to do was figure out whether they were being caused by the Tamoxifen or something else.  (She thinks it might be the Herceptin or the clinical trial meds.)  That means I'm off the Tamoxifen for three weeks to see if the side effects disappear.  So far my stomach upset has stopped (yay!) and I'm not as achy, but that might be because I've been using Advil and Tylenol to counteract the effects of the clinical trial (typical vaccine-related, immune response symptoms).  We shall see...

I'm not quite sure what will happen if it is the Tamoxifen.  Standard of care is switching from 5 to 10 years on it, so while I could tough it out and put up with the ickies through either the clinical trial (9 more weeks) or Herceptin (6 more months), I'm not sure I could handle it for ten years.  Guess we'll see what the next three weeks hold.

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Mom's move went very well and she's settled in and, other than missing her recliner, very happy in her new digs.  She's had visits from many friends that she hadn't seen in years, and is thrilled to be closer to my brother.  I'm much relieved that everything went so well, and also occupied readying her house to go on the market next month (anyone want to buy a ready-to-move-in home in an awesome school district with FABULOUS neighbors?  ;)

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And my last week of work at Zilber is crazy, but fun, too.  I decided to stay on to get through the travel stuff for the recruitment job, and that means that from today to next Thursday night, I have events non-stop, including an overnight trip to Delavan, a 3-day trip to Chicago, topped off with the UWM Grad School Fair next Thursday night.  Then I start my new job Friday morning.  Of course, I'm still teaching, too.  And I'm tired (very tired), but I'm not exhausted.  In June, when I could barely keep my eyes open enough to work one 8 hour shift, I never thought I'd be able to work full-time (plus) again.  It feels good!  Now if I could just shake the body aches...