Feeling overwhelmed.

SWHEART

I'm completely lost and feeling overwhelmed with my whirlwind of a diagnosis. I have no idea what to make of all of this. I went in May for a 6 month check up on my right breast. That breast looked healthy but the doctor found what he believed to be a radial scar left breast. I had a biopsy the next week and the next day received a call that I had DCIS, stage 0, high grade. I had lumpectomy almost 2 weeks ago. I had clean margins, but a lymph node was biopsied and showed to have 10 cancer cells. Pathology report shows that it is high grade. I have consultation with a doctor who handles chemotherapy and a doctor who does the radiation. I didn't know I would see 2 doctors. I didn't think I would have to have chemo. Is it DCIS if cancer cells were positive in node? It did show to be hormone receptor positive. Maybe after I meet with oncologist I will have a better understanding of my diagnosis, plan & prognosis, but if anyone can offer any information on what direction I will mostly likely be going with this all, I would greatly appreciate it. I have no idea of the what most of you are writing about...I have no clue on the jargon so I hope you can read between the lines in this post. Thank you so much in advance!

Beesie

So sorry you've joined us here.

10 cancer cells? If that's correct, it's ITC, Isolated Tumor Cells, and it's considered node negative.

DCIS with ITC is still Stage 0 DCIS. The assumption with this type of diagnosis is that the cells entered the nodes via a surgical instrument, i.e. they are displaced cells.

If you have more than 200 cancer cells in the nodes, or the area of invasivion is greater than 0.2mm but smaller than 2mm (I think I got that correct), then it's micromets to the nodes. That is node positive and would change your diagnosis to Stage I IDC, with the IDC being occult. Even in this situation, chemo would be extremely unusual.

Here is a recent thread from someone with a similar diagnosis. You can see the recommendation from her second opinion oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, which was for endocrine therapy but no chemo: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/68/topics/871624?page=1#post_5402339

Moderators

Great feedback from Beesie. We hope that your team can help you navigate all these confusing issues. You may want to look ahead at considering a second opinion as well. Please let us know how we can help.