Can I have my Oestrogen back please?

First of all, look at me getting another blog post out a week after the last one! This hasn't happened in a while! In all seriousness I am making sure I make time for doing this because its good for me and it's so easy to do everything else but sit your bum down and digest what is actually going on in your little world. I'm looking at this as my way of been present 😇.

This last week has been a busy one full of plans, parties and appointments - but ultimately all moving forward in getting things back to some sort of 'new normal' for me, whatever that may be (i.e NOTHING like pre-Cancer normal which has been a hard pill to swallow let me tell ya!). I am feeling positive about the future though and enjoying making plans - especially the ones that involve going back to uni! 😁☢️

I have also found myself gardening this week. Now this may not sound like a biggie - but Kirsty of past is NOT A GARDENER! 😯 so here are some pictures of some pots I've put together, whether they'll still be alive next week - who knows? 🙉🤷‍♀️ but for now they're looking pretty and they've made me happy this week! Also felt extremely satisfied that I got some heather for £2 from the bargain bin and it looks cool in my tubs!

Here are some happy photo's from this week - a lovely afternoon tea treat at a gorgeous place in Horbury called the Flamingo's Teapot 🦩with a fellow breast cancer survivor 💪and the first sports day at school we've been allowed to spectate!

Zol x Zol

One of this weeks many appointments was with my Oncologist to get me started on the next phase of my treatment which is adding an Aromatase Inhibitor/AI (a drug that reduces the amount of oestrogen made by the body, not an artificial intelligence robot 🤖 lol) in addition to the Zoladex injections I already have to suppress my ovaries (so they don't produce oestrogen). I must admit, I really wasn't looking forward to this as they do have a bad rep for the side effects that they give 🙄 and although I saw the Dr on friday it has taken me til monday night to pluck up the courage to start taking the bloody tablets 😬. I just feel like I've started to feel better after starting the Zoladex and now everything is going to change again and I'm not really down for that but realistically, if I want to reduce my change of reoccurrence - I need to give this a go and just crack on. So I've done it. I'm 1 day in and I did feel crappy this morning (is it psychological though!?). I'll keep you updated how I get on.

The one I have been prescribed is Anastrozole (there are a few others) and the most common side effects are:

aching and pain in joints/muscles
menopausal symptoms
difficulty sleeping
low mood/depression
extreme tiredness
osteoporosis

To be honest, when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer I didn't think much about the Hormone Therapy when it was mentioned but it's actually quite difficult at times. The effects of messing with hormones is often overlooked and underestimated in my opinion - I deffo didn't appreciate how much my oestrogen did for me till I was gone! 💔

Now, lets talk about the osteoporosis seen as though I'm all about the bones!🦴 Oestrogen plays an important role in bone turnover and the combination of Chemotherapy (to get rid of the cancer) with the use of Hormone Therapy (to reduce the risk of recurrence in hormone positive cancers) means that most women will be left with very little (unrecordable levels apparently!) circulating oestrogen in their body. This is bad news for bones as it reduces bone mineral density and increases the fragility and risks of getting certain fractures. I can deffo say I do not wanna be getting a hip fracture at the ripe old age of 29!😳

In order to combat this, I will be given an infusion of a drug called Zoledronic Acid every 6 months for 3 years which works by inhibiting the type of bone cells that usually eat away old bone (Osteoclasts) so that the cells that usually build new bone (Osteoblasts) have a good chance of getting ahead so that bone mass doesn't decrease too much. These drugs are from a family called bisphosphonates and very strangely when I worked in the bone lab all those years ago, these are the types of drugs I used work with sometimes! How strange is that? of all the drugs on this earth, what are the chances that I have ended up been prescribed this?! The other thing I find really interesting (and I think is worth looking up if you're into this shiz🤓) is that in postmenopausal women, taking these types of drugs has also been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in the bone. However, as snazzy as these drugs are, I feel I need to mention the rare side effect you can get with them which is osteonecrosis of the jaw as it sounds particularly horrific. So I'm booked in with the dentist next week (whoop!) to check everything is ok before starting and hopefully I won't get jaw rot! You win some, you lose some eh!

I'm going back, back again!

I've also been getting the ball moving with going back to uni this week and had meetings with both my clinical tutor at my placement site and the university. This has been both exciting and scary. I'm dead excited to get back to it but also scared that the brain fog will take over and my brain will no longer work and I'll just be crap😵‍💫🤯. I've also had to think about what I need from the uni and my placement sites in terms of help and support and if I'm honest I've found admitting that I need that a bit hard as I do like to be independent. I guess this is all in the accepting things are different now bracket.

A big thing that I've realised this week is that there's a lot of looking back to move forward and that's been thanks to a 'Moving Forward' course I've just completed with the amazing Breast Cancer Now. I do think that deserves a blog to itself though so I will save that for next week!

I'm going to go glam myself up as we are off to a wedding!

Love,

Kirst x

References - if you'd like to geek!

Can I have my Oestrogen back please?

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