Repeat lumpectomy? And treatment decisions. Need advice

kikay @kikay
First, I doubt your surgeon mess up. A surgeon goal is a balance between complete resection of the tumor, and avoiding removing healthy breast tissue.

Cancer cells in margin are not visible by naked eye and requires a pathologist to examine. At some hospitals they are able to do during surgery using frozen section analysis. Not all hospitals offer this option.

The 2nd surgery is necessary to remove rest of cancer cells. But, there is no guarantee that it will produce clear margins. Ask your surgeon how often there is a need to repeat surgery to get clear margins.

It is a shame that you will need more surgery. Ask your oncologist and surgeon how soon surgery needs to be done and if should start hormone therapy immediately or wait till after surgery.

Wish you luck
Laurie

Agree. If cancer cells are left they must be removed. Please consider following the advice of the breast surgeon, especially, but not exclusively, for your future ability to raise your teen children. So sorry clear margins were not attained; this does happen even with the best surgeon.

I also had a re-excision and my surgeon told me that, although it is rare, since the DCIS is invisible there was a possibility I could have to go in a 3rd time. Luckily that did not happen.
I just finished 20 treatments of radiation and will meet with my medical oncologist December 26th to discuss Tamoxifen. Your plan sounds similar to mine. Take care!

Thank you Laurie for your comment. My surgeon told me yesterday that he will present my case to the tumor board since I was hesitant to do the surgery. This will happen next Thursday. Treatment plan is for radiation 2 months after the surgery followed by hormone therapy. Your comment helps. Again thanks .

Thank you so much. I guess I was so frustrated about it and I thought he could have messed up. Will consider your advice. Thanks again

That’s good no more 3rd one. Just a question . Did you think of mastectomy when he said possibly there will be a third? Thinking to have a second one is already stressful for me and my kids. What more a third one? Yes , looks like we have the same treatment. Any side effects from radiation?

Hi again. Sorry I have another question. Since cancer can’t be seen with the naked eye, when surgeon takes the lump out and see that the posterior edge is already black and suspicious that is why it was sent to pathology, how come surgeon didn’t go back inside to clean up more on the posterior edge instead of closing it and waited for the pathology report? Just a thought.

@kikay
When he mentioned it, I was just praying it wouldn’t be needed! I feel like a mastectomy is such a big procedure, especially with reconstruction so I have always thought about that as my last resort.
As far as radiation side effects, yes I’ve been struggling a little.
I had to have a sentinel node biopsy surgery (I had 2 types of cancer, the DCIS and also a very rare invasive metaplastic carcinoma) and I had a very hard time recovering from that SNB surgery. It was getting better but once I started radiation, those issues came back a bit.
About 2 hours after my first treatment, I started feeling nerve pain near my armpit and it also felt like someone was continuously shocking that area. I asked my Rad Onc about it and she said that although it’s not typical to have symptoms so soon, she has had a few women who have. I have also had a sore breast every few days. And was pretty tired a few days here and there. My skin turned red, like a sunburn, and now that I’ve been done with treatments for a few days, it has turned brown (like a tan) and started peeling and it is so itchy I can hardly stand it sometimes!! I have been putting the gel on that they gave me and it helps some. I am hoping the itching will go away soon! It’s making me a little nuts! lol
But not everyone has side effects, so hopefully you luck out!

I am so sorry about the side effects. Will pray for you too and everyone for healing. Thank you for sharing your story. Support group is really good and important for me. Are there restrictions during radiation that was mentioned? Like being exposed to people for a day? Can I still work? These are not discussed yet . I just want to be prepared.

@kikay
You will be perfectly ok to be around your family and they are safe. The actual treatments are painless and only take about 15 to 20 minutes each time. Positioning you so that you are in the correct spot each time takes the longest.
The side effects are usually progressive and apparently most people don’t start having any until about week 2. But everyone is different. I was told the most common side effect is fatigue. Hopefully your side effects are minimal and you will be fine to work.
I was lucky enough to be able to work from home, which was nice, in case I started feeling tired or had pain. If your work allows that, it might be something to check into, just in case.
I was super nervous to start treatments but it was definitely worse in my mind than it actually was.
When are you supposed to start your treatments?