Why I No Longer Fast On Yom Kippur

A few days before Yom Kippur this year, I swallowed my tamoxifen pill, the last in the bottle, and tossed that bottle into my recycling bin. Tamoxifen is the most commonly prescribed medication for women who have had estrogen receptive breast cancer. When I started taking this daily pill in September 2009, following 7 months of treatment including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, it was commonly prescribed for women for five years following a diagnosis. That protocol changed; I was prescribed tamoxifen for ten years.