Mom diagnosed

Artista928

So bro tells me that she was dx'd DCIS in Oct. She had lumpectomy twice cuz of unclear margins the first time. She'll be doing 5-6 weeks rads early Jan after the holidays. They ok'd her waiting till then. I've read up some on this kind. She doesn't want me to know because of my disabling anxiety issues but bro told me anyway since it is on the low end of the bc scale. No nodes taken out. All in the duct. No chemo but will be on an AI after rads. She's 72 and in pretty good health, more minor stuff like cholesterol, high bp and ulcer issues that are under control at the moment.

So what can we realistically expect. Are there any people here who started DCIS and are now stage IV? She doesn't know I have bc, none of my fam does except my bro for all of our anxiety sakes. So this is strange. I just changed my profile pic from my pet to this and took out Fremont so in case she comes here, she won't run into me with that Mooshy profile pic. Thankfully it looks like she has a great onc in Michelle Zhang in Kent WA and the rad onc is Robert Douglas in Renton WA.

Anything you can share with me I'd appreciate. I have just zeroed in on my own case and now am looking to get info on the not so common info that only people dx'd with it would know. TIA!

Annette47

The only ways to progress from DCIS to Stage IV would be either there was some invasive cancer that was missed (which sounds unlikely in your mom’s case since they seemed to be watching the margins, etc., closely) or she would need to have a recurrence first (which can be invasive 50% of the time) which then wasn’t caught before it spread. Lumpectomy, radiation, and an AI (if post-menopausal) is standard treatment.

In other words, she should be fine - the survival rate for pure DCIS is > 99%. Try not to worry.

mustlovepoodles

I agree with Annette. DCIS is not invasive cancer--your mother has a better chance of being head-butted by a flying goat than having this progress to Stage 4 cancer.

Now, I'm just going to put this out there--why, oh, why have you not told your mother you have BC? I know you said anxiety, but truly, unless there is a very strong reason not to tell, I wish you would. I don't know you, nor the relastionship you have with your mother, but I am the mother of a daughter and if she had breast cancer, I would be devastated to learn that she didn't tell me.

Artista928

Thanks so much ladies. I feel a little better. I always worry about my parents over me. I actually asked to take the bullet for my dad when he was dx'd with prostate cancer 6 months before it hit me, and he is as cancer free is can be without having had any txs now.

My fam is difficult to deal with. I'm the black sheep. They are the Dr Phils and Dr Oz and my chronic anxiety is mainly from having hung around them too long. Haven't seen anyone since 2014 except bro who is like me. Emails is it. Has worked pretty well. I have pre-existing condition of major chronic depression and generalised anxiety that has made me suicidal before and got me locked up once. So doc says I need to do what I need to do. Luckily no one lives near me so no chance of drop ins.