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DCIS in SITU stage 0: Choosing next steps
I was diagnosed with stage 0 DCIS in Situ, Hormone and Progesterone positive.
I have been doing 6 month surveillance therapy for almost 2 yrs. Since diagnosis in 2024, Have had suspicious micro calcifications in 2025, needle core biopsy and benign findings.
Recent June 2026 Tomo found more suspicious calcifications
near original diagnosis site. Getting another needle core biopsy in August 2026.
By choice, I am not on any HR therapy as I have just recovered from MVD brain surgery after 4 years of every complication.
I am not mentally ready for hormone therapy or a lumpectomy.
I just missed being a candidate for the Comet re: over treatment of DCIS in Situ via lumpectomy, radiation and 5 yr HR therapy vs: active monitoring.
I have no family history of breast cancer and am now turning 65 in Sept.
My breast surgeon agreed with my active surveillance and my oncologist has a highly negative mindset and is pushing lumpectomy.
I am hopeful my biopsy this August will be benign as well.
The anxiety of getting biopsies and “how many more clips” makes me lean more towards a lumpectomy at my age but without the HR treatment afterward. I mentally cannot go thru more side effects after my 4 yrs recovering from every side effect after the brain surgery ( Micro vascular decompression surgery from Hemifacial Spasm) .
All experience, strength and hope to assist me in choosing next steps would be gratefully appreciated.
Alice in Florida
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@sue417—If by any chance you need to take medication for your osteoporosis, I recommend raloxifene. It is a prescription Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) used to prevent and treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, and it has the “added benefit” of reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer in high-risk patients. It mimics estrogen’s bone-strengthening effects while blocking estrogen activity in the breast and uterus. It has fewer side effects than tamoxifen and was specifically developed to support your bones.
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1 Reaction@thegypsy
Thank you, Alice, for your beautiful and heartfelt comments. I must say that the televisit I had with Dr. Bednarski in SC was so much more informative than the visit I had with the surgeon I originally met with. She spent over an hour with me, showed me my mammogram films, and gave me much more information about my diagnosis. Surprisingly, she went back to my 2024 mammogram, which showed the lesion. It had not changed at all. My surgeon completely missed that. I would recommend that you speak to her if you could. She did not even charge me for all the work she went through to analyze my test results or for the televisit. She truly cares about helping people. Something that you don't find too often today.
Good luck, and please let me know how you are doing. I care.
Prayers and love go out to you,
Barb
@maymore
Hi
I am in Canada. I get an infusion once a year for my osteoporosis. It's called zoledronic acid. I've had one a year for the last 4 years and my bone density is doing very well I also work out three days a week. My cancer was stage 0, I was very lucky. Thank you for the INFO
@maymore My survivorship doctor suggested I might want to take raloxifene after I stop tamoxifen. I’ll be getting my 4th, and probably last, annual infusion of Reclast, zoledronic acid, soon. My oncology rheumatologist said that patients typically stay on Reclast during tamoxifen treatment.
My endocrinologist said she wants to wait and see how things look next year. But I agree with you, and survivorship, that raloxifene may be in my future. I especially like that it inhibits er+ cancer growth and less side effects than tamoxifen.
@roses2
Hi Barb,
I thank you for letting me know.
It is hard to find doctors who take the for thorough individual evaluation without jumping to “surgery”
Sorry for the late reply. My sister just passed away July 10 from a brain anuersym ( cant spell)
When I come back from the funeral I have my biopsy.
I will mention your information to my oncologist. See of she can think outside her box.
Then maybecI can get my films to this Dr in SC.
Thank you for your prayers!
I will keep blogging! 🙏🌹
It sure sounds like you are patient and doing the right thing. I had two lumpectomy surgeries (1 after radiation) - because of poor margins in the first surgery. The wonderful radiologist who performed the biopsy before the second surgery literally removed the calcifications...but the team thought I would feel much more secure knowing that after the second surgery the "new" surgeon would go back in just to make sure they got everything.
Going forward, if this happens again, I would also do active surveillance and only ( if necessary) double mastectomy. I feel like the biopsies are more horrific than surgery - and the goal for breast conservation can be an uphill battle with grade 3 DCIS.