You stated that have Invasive ductal cancer stage 1 ,but then the path report said DCIS, which is a pre-cancer. Do you mean that there was an invasive tumour, also surrounded by DCIS?
Whatever it is, it is small with very good features...and the treatment would not be the heavy duty chemo for higher stages.

What kind of hormone blocker was being suggested? because of your age and you are menopausal, was it an aromotase inhibitor or maybe just Tamoxifen which is an estrogen blocker and fairly mild, but usually for younger women..

One thing I noticed was that both your sisters had higher stage breast cancer. Have you ever
had genetic testing for BRCA 1 &2? I hope your doctors are taking this into consideration when recommending treatment options for you.

I don't mean to confuse you, but treatment decisions are really difficult.
It sounds as if you have some conflicting opinions. If possible could you get an opinion from an academic medical center? Since you have a lot of information it might be possible to just submit your data and not have to travel.

....I had a small invasive Stage 1 tumour 34 years ago and a small area of dcis calcifications 24 years ago. I didn't have genetic testing as it wasn't that developed at the time. I haven't had any recurrences. Because my father and his brothr died of prostate cancer and that is a possible link to the Braca genes, I would probably be tested if that were now.

I wish you the best of luck ; unfortunate to have breast cancer, but fortunate that the features of your disease very very good.

I agree with what you say. I have been in a similar position, being diagnosed with DCIS, and being recommended radiation and hormone therapy. Did you have the Prelude DX test taken to determine if you would benefit from radiation treatment? My DCISionRT score determined that my 10 year invasive risk, with surgery only, was 4%. My 10 year invasive risk with surgery and radiation was also 4%. There was no benefit from having radiation done.

Often the testing that they do will say, you can cut your risk of recurrence in half with endocrine therapy. The fact that they were talking in terms of 10% or 20% leads me to believe this is what they were leaning on.
The choice is always yours but I believe that all endocrine therapies are not equal in all women. Just because your family struggled with side effects from the ones they took, doesn’t mean you would struggle with the one you might take.
The treatments are a numbers task, the trick is to reduce the risk of getting a recurrence without doing more harm than good. Only you can decide what is right for you in this cost vs. benefit equation. Age, working status, family, even hobbies have to be figured in.
I will say, that I would not refuse a treatment based solely on someone else’s side effects. If I felt I might benefit, I would try it and if it was awful, I revisit that decision.
I am hoping that you can find a consensus among these doctors for a stage of cancer and treatment recommendation so that at least you can feel confidence in the decisions you make. It is hard when the “experts” don’t agree.
I am rooting for you. Will you come back and talk about what you find out?

I've gone back and forth about whether to have both radiation and hormone therapy following my DCIS lumpectomy; lymph nodes were not involved at all. My pathology report was very good with clear margins after surgery and I was deemed cancer free. Its been recommended that I do both radiation and hormone therapy. I am 65 and I am leaning towards hormone therapy only. I am not afraid of the 3 weeks radiation treatment. I just don't want to expose my body to treatment that may not be necessary for a woman my age with the less than stage 1 DCIS I had. Was wondering why some people chose radiation over hormone therapy. Has anyone here just decided to do the hormone therapy alone. Any thoughts will help. Thank you and my best to you all.