Oncotype number and decision regarding chemotherapy

Mom2ABoy

Hi Luttece, it's small (1.5cm DCIS, 1.5mm IDC) but it's high-grade, ER-/PR-/HER2+, and on top of that I have the BRCA1 mutation, so my oncologist wanted me to go with chemotherapy to make sure that if any little buggers managed to break off from that 1.5mm, they don't get a chance to take root and spread. My breast doctor originally recommended just having a lumpectomy followed by radiation, but once the cancer was found (as a surprise, via the DCIS biopsy), he agreed that I should get a port and be ready for chemo. (He also knows that because of the BRCA1 mutation, I am likely to have a DMX relatively soon, and that I want to have a skin-sparing MX and autologous reconstruction if I can manage it, and whole breast irradiation damages the skin enough that it makes that difficult.)