As a young woman with metastatic disease, you have different treatment options than a postmenopausal woman because of the way your body makes hormones.

If you have hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, you may consider having your ovaries removed with surgery. In an oophorectomy,  the ovaries are removed through the vagina via a cut in the lower abdomen or a small cut at the top of the vagina using a laparoscope, a viewing tube to see the structures within the abdomen and pelvis. Removing the ovaries takes away most of the estrogen in your body. Your adrenal glands, glands that sit over the kidnesy and control important body functions, will still make small amounts of estrogen.

An oophorectomy would greatly reduce your risk of the cancer growing. But it will cause you to go into menopause suddenly instead of slowly over time as you would with natural menopause. Side effects include hot flashes, an increased risk for heart disease, bone loss or fractures and decreased sexual desire.