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Hil Moss: Five-year mark of the hormone therapy

Photo of Hil Moss from LinkedIn

May 8, 2024, 13:12

Hil Moss: Five-year mark of the hormone therapy

Hil Moss, Co-Founder/CEO of VivorCare, shared on LinkedIn:

“This morning, I hit a milestone in my breast cancer survivorship journey: my 1,825th dose of Tamoxifen, also known as the five-year mark of the hormone therapy I take to reduce my risk of recurrence.

While I will continue on it for a bit longer to be safe, this feels like a big moment, since this was the minimum window recommended for me to be on this medication. Why share about this on LinkedIn? Well, there are two reasons:

1) You know those posts you see from startup founders about their daily lives, and in particular, their morning routines? Well, this has been the first thing I do when I wake up every morning: I take my cancer meds.

Unlike other elements of my cancer journey, such as chemotherapy and mastectomy—which took on an “unreal” quality in some ways, separate from my day-to-day routines—hormone therapy has integrated into my daily life, my working life, in a way that I think embodies the concept of “survivorship” well.

2) You know I had to bring it back to our work in survivorship … in many ways, I think hormone therapy in breast cancer is a prime case study for why new models of survivorship care matter:

– For early-stage, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer survivors, hormone therapy after active treatment can be an important tool for risk reduction

– That said, Tamoxifen can impact a variety of domains, including mental health, sexual health, weight management, and sleep—and, therefore, adherence can remain an issue (happy to share some studies here)

– By the time many survivors are on Tamoxifen, they aren’t seeing their oncologist as regularly, and many PCPs aren’t familiar with the nuances of drug interactions, etc.

Sounds like a pretty clear indicator for a new model of survivorship care.”

Hil Moss