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Diagnosed with DCIS: How do I decide on treatment?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Mar 20 10:00am | Replies (345)Comment receiving replies
@heydon2023 your words are spot on for what I did 18 yrs ago. I had DCIS and had lumpectomy. Clean margins. I did take tamoxifen for 3 1/2 yrs. Actually mine ‘spot’ was so small the biopsy got all the cancer cells (unbeknownst at the time). When surgery was done the tissue had no cancer cells. I did talk to a radiation doctor (radiologist?) and he said treatment 5 days/ week for 7 weeks. When I said he was treating me like I had cancer & theoretically I did not have any cancer left, he just said “that’s the protocol “. I asked him if I was his wife would he have me do radiation. He said that wasn’t a fair question. I think it was. I researched every study and info I could. Went for a second opinion. He mentioned some studies and research I had read and said , I don’t believe you need radiation. If you were my wife (didn’t even have to ask) I wouldn’t have you do radiation. Didn’t do radiation.
No one back then had told me about not being able to radiate the same breast and you still do not hear about that very much. I just mentioned that to my oncologist and he told me that it isn’t true, they can radiate the same breast with different techniques or something. I’m going to ask again and learn more.
Blessings to you We must be Proactive in our own health. Stay strong.
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Thank you for that kind response. My radiologist told me when I asked her that question that if the whole breast was radiated, the only thing they can do the next time, if the cancer returns, is a mastectomy. If the tumor was really small, they could do a 'partial' breast radiation. But if the cancer returns, they cannot do the radiation again on that same spot. I had my first after surgery visit today with my medical oncologist and told her I was having neither the radiation nor the pill as I had bad side effects from it. She was, rather surprisingly quite ok with that and told me as my cancer was so small, radiation wasn't usually recommended. In fact, she then said that doctors 'recommend' these two options, but they're not, in my case, necessary? It's up to the patient. She told me that over a 10-year period, my chance of the cancer NOT recurring was 90% but taking the Pill it would be 92%. So, taking the Pill for 5 years didn't seem to me to make much of a difference? Now, I have to have checkups every 3 months for two years and a 3D mammogram every year. So, I felt very happy leaving the hospital for the first time since my surgery. Blessing to you also.