Repeat lumpectomy? And treatment decisions. Need advice

@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?

If I will do the second surgery ( waiting for the recommendation from the tumor board or I can just tell my surgeon I am ok with the second one instead of waiting for the tumor board presentation) 2 months after that. So looking maybe last week of February or March) not sure. But oncologist said , I need to be totally healed from the surgery before we start the 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
Both my Medical oncologist and my Radiation oncologist told me that having the re-excision and then the radiation would give me the best chance for it not to return. Your DCIS seems similar to mine and if you have positive margins I would think your best bet would be to have the surgery and pray they get it all and then do the radiation. But you have to do what you feel is best for you. I will be praying for you!

I thought that anything "cut out" of our bodies is examined by pathology. That is how they know that the margins are good or not. My hospital is able to examine the tumor while I was in the operating room.
I wish you well in your decisions

I had a lumpectomy for invasive DCIS and the surgeon did not get clear margins. I had the second surgery as I wanted to do everything to ensure that the cancer was gone. After surgery, I went through chemo and radiation, and I am on an AI for at least 5 years. That was my journey, and you need to do what is right for you. I wish you all the best.

I had a lumpectomy along with removal of 13 lymph nodes (cancer present in 7) on 1/3/2020. I had been on the hormone blocker Letrozole for 7 months prior and remained on it until starting chemo (because of the lymph node involvement.) My surgeon did not get clear margins, and so I had a 2nd lumpectomy on 1/31/2020. I began chemo a month later followed a month after that by radiation. I then resumed the Letrozole the day after finishing radiation. I suffered major fatigue during chemo, so perhaps I didn't notice; but I don't remember any significant fatigue from radiation. I actually walked to radiation on average of 4x a week to rebuild strength and balance