Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC): Anyone else?

Good luck with your surgery..I am having my lumpectomy this Wed. Mine is very early DCIS and I am 63. I will be doing radiation but not the AI therapy. Have a friend who had this in her 40’s and wow is she ever feeling the effects of tamoxifen in her late 60’s! Not worth it for me!

Since so many women are living beyond 65 years it's amazing that they dismiss us or push us off the map. You have to do your own study I'm afraid. With me, I have decided to forgo Anastrozole and letrozole-'I only took that for a week- and I read that Anastrozole sticks with you with side effects for longer than you think. I have been over a month now without it and feel great, but I am shocked that I am still having some hot flashes. They are minor but still inconvenient. Now that I'll be going without any medication until May 14 which is my next big exam. I will be interested in seeing if they have enlarged or if they have continued to shrink. I considered this a test. My lumpectomy is coming up May 24th and since cancer was found in both breasts I will probably have a lumpectomy in both breasts. However, after being on Anastrozole for 90 days my surgeon and nurses were absolutely shocked at the results of shrinkage. The next two weeks started by 90 days on a new prescription of anastrazole and I fell apart. Anyway, I'll let you know if since anastrazole was stopped and I will have gone a month and a half without it it would be interesting to know if I continue to shrink the tumor or if it grew. I will let you know.

Hi! @saraabrooks :

Best luck for your upcoming surgery on May 24th!

Will keep you in our thoughts and prayers through it all... Wishing you a full & speedy recovery!

Since so many women are living beyond 65 years it's amazing that they dismiss us or push us off the map. You have to do your own study I'm afraid. With me, I have decided to forgo Anastrozole and letrozole-'I only took that for a week- and I read that Anastrozole sticks with you with side effects for longer than you think. I have been over a month now without it and feel great, but I am shocked that I am still having some hot flashes. They are minor but still inconvenient. Now that I'll be going without any medication until May 14 which is my next big exam. I will be interested in seeing if they have enlarged or if they have continued to shrink. I considered this a test. My lumpectomy is coming up May 24th and since cancer was found in both breasts I will probably have a lumpectomy in both breasts. However, after being on Anastrozole for 90 days my surgeon and nurses were absolutely shocked at the results of shrinkage. The next two weeks started by 90 days on a new prescription of anastrazole and I fell apart. Anyway, I'll let you know if since anastrazole was stopped and I will have gone a month and a half without it it would be interesting to know if I continue to shrink the tumor or if it grew. I will let you know.

Would love to read studies about this but research doesn’t see to go beyond 65 years!

I took anastrozole for three and a half months. After the first 90-day prescription I was fine and was greatly encouraged by the shrinkage of my tumor and my smaller tumors in the left breast. It was so shocking that they shrink so much and I was thrilled. Then I went to a prescription for the next 90 days and that's when everything went South. I will be getting a lumpectomy in another month and a half and I will not be getting any radiation or chemo. I am 78. There is controversy and clinical trials about giving women over 70 radiation. They do not find it effective for whatever reason.

I am not sure what poorly differentiated an infiltrating mean. I have been told that I have IDC or invasive ductal cancer. I was shocked when I found that out last August or was it early September. I was immediately put on a national a drug that stops the feeding of the tumor which is estrogen and progesterone or the hormones. It definitely decreased the size of my tumor. It seemed like a miracle drug until the end of the three and a half months and I had to stop it because the side effects were just too much. The main one being fatigue. Bones hurt and I was miserable. My doctor and I both agreed to go off and asked us all and now my surgery for a lumpectomy is coming up May 24th. Because both tumors in both breasts have decreased in size and there is no metastasis or lymph nodes involved I am only getting a lumpectomy. May 14th I go in for another complete checkup which I have been having all along, about every 2 months or 3 months depending upon our schedules. My prognosis is good because it hasn't spread. I am anxious to have this whole thing done with. I chose that date because of astrology and tarot card reading by myself. I know, everybody thinks I'm crazy. But I have reasons for my choice. I hope I chose right.

Welcome, @onaney. What treatment options are being suggested for you?

I am not sure what poorly differentiated an infiltrating mean. I have been told that I have IDC or invasive ductal cancer. I was shocked when I found that out last August or was it early September. I was immediately put on a national a drug that stops the feeding of the tumor which is estrogen and progesterone or the hormones. It definitely decreased the size of my tumor. It seemed like a miracle drug until the end of the three and a half months and I had to stop it because the side effects were just too much. The main one being fatigue. Bones hurt and I was miserable. My doctor and I both agreed to go off and asked us all and now my surgery for a lumpectomy is coming up May 24th. Because both tumors in both breasts have decreased in size and there is no metastasis or lymph nodes involved I am only getting a lumpectomy. May 14th I go in for another complete checkup which I have been having all along, about every 2 months or 3 months depending upon our schedules. My prognosis is good because it hasn't spread. I am anxious to have this whole thing done with. I chose that date because of astrology and tarot card reading by myself. I know, everybody thinks I'm crazy. But I have reasons for my choice. I hope I chose right.