Stage O DCIS

This is a very difficult decision. First, radiation to the left side of your chest (heart) can certainly do more damaged to your already damaged heart. It can scar it and mimic a heart attack, if the left side is where your in-situ is but actually radiation can do damaged to your lungs as well. And with cardiomyopathy you want your lungs to be as healthy as possible.
If you have several serious other health conditions, surgery is no question a risk. But all surgeries, at any age, is a risk. A simple colonoscopy is. My Mom, at age 87, had surgery for a fractured hip (she also had your heart condition) and she did very well. For about 5 days or so she was in the ICU post-surgery. If I were you I would get another opinion at a top cancer facility...at stage 0, simply monitoring the DCIS might be the way to go. I would be leaning towards that. But this is what I would do. Seek other opinions and weigh your options -
"that" vs. "this". All the best to you!

Briarose,
Thank you for your wise comments. I am seriously thinking of waiting and watching.. I also planned to move to the Mayo Clinic, so that all of my medical folks for heart and breast cancer are in one place. I really appreciate what you’ve said.

“Watching and waiting” was actually done as a study named COMET and the outcomes were the same for those who had surgery and those who didn’t as far as mortality. Many of those that “waited” did take endocrine therapy, though. It sounds very wise to move to the Mayo Clinic and I would discuss your options with your provider(s) there. All DCIS is stage 0, meaning that it hasn’t spread outside the milk duct. I was diagnosed with it also in March, had surgery and radiation, and am now contemplating endocrine (anti-estrogen) therapy as my DCIS was estrogen and progesterone positive. I am 70, if I were your age, I would seriously consider the watching and waiting option. Also, I had a nipple discharge as my only symptom, my DCIS did not show up on mammogram or ultra sound. It did show up on MRI with contrast. So I didn’t want to live with the nipple discharge forever, making me choose surgery. I really believe that your doctors will help you make a decision that’s best for you, based on the extent of your DCIS and your other health issues. The surgery for me was outpatient, lasted less than 2 hours, and I went home the same day. Your heart condition may make surgery more difficult, but you need to find out. Best wishes to you whatever you decide, my surgeon told me “this (the cancer) is not going to kill you, you are fine.” Even so, it was still scary and hard to deal with, but you’ve come to the right place for support! 💚

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with me.
It is so comforting to hear of your experience. The more I think about it the more I think I’m going to wait and watch Because I’m 86.

Thank you, everyone here is a help to us all. I would talk to your surgeon and oncologist first. My surgeon suggested that I take endocrine therapy and monitor, no surgery. My oncologist did not agree, as this is not yet a “standard of care”. With my symptom, I wanted surgery. Do you know if your DCIS is estrogen and/or progesterone positive? This means that it grows in response to those hormones. If it is, you could ask about trying endocrine therapy and watching. I would get input from my doctor(s) before deciding what I wanted to do.
I do understand how you’re feeling, age at diagnosis definitely plays a role in what treatment(s) to pursue.💚.

There is proton radiation for those in high risk but honestly active surveillance is a good route. It is precancer and may never turn. Best wishes to you