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Right breast cancer DCIS: Is 4-5 weeks of radiation normal protocol?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Apr 19 1:36pm | Replies (95)Comment receiving replies
I am 73 years old and I had DCIS in the left breast 3 years ago and had surgery to remove it. Unfortunately I had 2 different Oncologists, one telling me I needed radiation for prevention and the other take some form of medication. They both offered the fact that one was better than the other and in pretense I didn't do either. I had another DCIS found by biopsy in January and finally different Surgeon removed it April 4 and sent it to pathology and found the same but the edges were too close and now wants to do a double Mastectomy and remove lymph nodes up my left arm. The word cancer was mentioned to me and prevention. I really do not understand all of it but it just appears to be so drastic may be I am not undertanding all she has told me. Needless to say surgery is May 4.
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@louanne2024, that must've been hard to hear that breast cancer returned and that it looks like you will need a third surgery now in the form of a double mastectomy and lymph node removal.
It can be confusing. Your best tactic is to ask questions, and keep asking questions until your doctors can explain things in terms you understand. Sometimes we ask a question, they give an answer, and we leave it at that. Only when leaving the room does one realize that the answer wasn't completely understood. You're not alone in this.
What I find helps is to a) make a list of prepared questions and b) to repeat back in your own words. For example, when the doctor explains the procedure or next steps, I say something like: "Let me repeat what you just told me in my own words...."
This gives the physician a chance to correct anything I misunderstood or to recognize steps they may have left out. Rather than considering myself to be a pest or annoying with my questioning, I figure that I'm giving them a gift - the gift of laymen's terms. They do this every day. We don't. By explaining things back to doctors, they can learn more approachable language.
Louanne, do you have another consult before your surgery where you can ask your questions? If not, can you ask a nurse or post your questions on a patient portal? Are you a Mayo Clinic patient?