In 2013, aged 47 (I am 56 now), I developed hormone-based breast cancer and had an urgent left-side mastectomy. I’m Canadian but I then moved to the UK because my boyfriend was British and I had a second breast reconstruction with a top surgeon here in Britain. My health was now fine. My boyfriend and I got married and in 2015 I started working in Education.
At the end of 2017, I began sweating for no reason and was irritable and tired all the time. I went to my GP, who said it was the perimenopause. However, due to my recent medical history, she wouldn’t consider giving me Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) because of its possible association with breast cancer. My physiotherapist husband and his family of medics were very anti-HRT for the same reason.
Both my GP and family felt there was another reason for me not to go on HRT. When I came off the birth control pill in the late 1980s, my energy levels really dropped. I saw a leading specialist in Toronto and he suggested I go on progesterone cream. It carried a slight breast cancer risk but after researching it, I came to the considered conclusion that I would take it. When I told my GP this, it was the nail in the coffin – no HRT for me.
My menopause symptoms got worse and worse. I even kept flannels in the freezer for my hot flushes! My personality just wasn’t the same, and I got pretty desperate. Finally, I decided I wasn’t unique – there had to be other women with my sort of medical history. So in 2022 I called the British oncologist who had found my breast reconstruction surgeon and she recommended Dr Kalentzi. From that point on, my life got better.
I booked an appointment to see Dr Kalentzi in April 2022 and sent an email with my history. I asked if it was worth coming to see her and explained that I was in such an emotional state I only had to see a puppy in a commercial and I’d burst into tears. Dr Kalentzi said, ‘Come and let’s talk.’ I pretty much bawled my eyes out for an hour.
Dr Kalentzi explained there was some medication that was very low risk, that we would start with one thing at a time and in discussion with the oncologist. The first treatment we tried was a pessary. One of my main symptoms was that I’d become uninterested in sex – everything was dry. I wanted my relationship back! But the pessary didn’t produce the right result, so after a few months Dr Kalentzi switched me to a different pessary.
The normal dose is twice a week but that didn’t work. So I started taking it every other day. This had a big effect on the days I was taking it. I felt much better – it sorted out the vaginal dryness and the hot flushes. However, I had hot flushes on the days I wasn’t taking it.
So I started taking it every day – all good! It’s fabulous, I feel so much better. I’m not grumpy, I can laugh. The medication has affected my mood, which the doctor tells me isn’t a typical response at all, but the fact is, it works! The treatment’s made all the difference to my world. And it’s low risk as far as cancer is concerned and the doctor keeps a close eye on it. My family and I are happy. I’m not giving up Dr Kalentzi ever!