I didn't go to medical school. Why is it MY decision.

The other day I vaguely recalled reading something online about Tamoxifen and surgery not being a good mix.

So I Googled it and then called the cancer clinic today and confirmed that I should stop taking Tamoxifen 2 to 3 weeks prior to any surgery because of the increased risk of blood clots. However I don't know when I am going to get called in for surgery.

I figured I could just stop taking it now to be sure. My ob/gyn tells me it's probably unnecessary to continue Tamoxifen (an anti-estrogen) after the removal of my ovaries anyway. My oncology pharmacist disagrees. He tells me that even post-menopausal women are put on tamoxifen for 2 years (rather than 5) and then switched to either --- (he mentioned a couple of drug names I didn't recognize)

Geez... breast cancer, ovaries and hysterectomies have been going on for a long time now. You'd think the ob/gyn's and oncologists would somehow be on the same page by now.

I don't want to stop taking Tamoxifen this week. I'm going on vacation this week. And I don't want to disrupt my non-cycle. For 31 years I've had a cycle you could pretty much set your watch by. And it ended abruptly on April 15th. I attribute this solely to Tamoxifen as I am much too young to be menopausal naturally. And besides I can't conjure up a hot flash if my life depended on it.

So I'll wait till I return home from Kamloops next week to disrupt my medication regime and hope I still have 3 weeks until the OR booking people call.