Anyone else New/ recurrence Dcis same breast?

pearsen

Anyone else New/ recurrence Dcis same breast?

pearsen

new diagnosis dcis stage 0 grade 3 er/pr +. Same breast different location. First time (5/16/11) I had a lumpectomy with brachy (internal) radiation + tamoxifen. Now that it's back I'm confused as ever. Meeting with my br & ps tomorrow to go over options & recommendations.

Like everyone I don't want to go down this road a third time or continue to worry my family but I also don't want to do more than I have to. Is monitoring realistic? I saw that mentioned in my pathology report. Does my grade 3 mean I should be more extreme in treatment ? Tram flap vs implants? Which will make me feel more like me? What about the "healthy" breast? Leave it or take it off too?

We all have to many things to consider. Feeling a little obled (overwhelmed by life events) at the moment.

Any input is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the rambling.

missyoumom

Hi. Sorry you are going through this again. I had invasive ductal carcinoma with dcis stage 1 back in September 2011. I had lumpectomy, chemo, radiation and a year of Herceptin. 6 months after my last dose of Herceptin i had a routine MRI and they found very tiny dcis but it was high grade. My onc said even though caught very early, standard of care is mastectomy. The surgeon said same but then mentioned that another option was to excise and watch carefully. I wish I kept the study handy but I read a study that tested for mastectomy vs a second breast conserving surgery. What it said was that the outcomes are poorer for second lumpectomy because radiation cant be given twice to the same breast and surgery alone without radiation is proven to have poorer outcome. When I asked the surgeon directly what the standard of care was she clearly said mastectomy. We all have options but I chose to go with the standard of care bc it is supported by research and offers me the greatest chance of survival with what we know about this disease now. So I can have peace of mind that I did everything possible to get the best outcome. I had the mastectomy without reconstruction because I dont want to hurt any parts of my body that are healthy, like with the flaps and so forth. Many women choose reconstruction and are happy with the cosmetic outcome. I just got my breast prosthesis and it looks great. The mastectomy left me with a lot of numbness... i cant feel anything there and under my arm all the way to my back. The recovery a little tougher than lumpectomy but after first week, a lot easier. I struggled so much with my choices at the time but I have no regrets. Sad that dont have the beautiful breast I had before but the rest of my body isnt what it used to be either. Everything changes, nothing stays the same. This journey with bc has made me a stronger and more compassionate human being. Dealing with a recurrence is stressful but fortunately, for me, the recurrence did not have any invasive cancer so I did not have to do chemo again. Catching it early helps but in the moment it can be hard to see what a blessing it is to have a non-invasive local recurrence rather than something more difficult to manage. I didnt feel lucky till I recovered from the mastectomy and it sunk in I was cancer free again and my life will go on.