Medical oncologist consultation

Is the appointment with the oncologist just standard protocol or do they expect that you'll need chemo? I didn't think chemo is given for DCIS but I'm sure someone will come along who knows a lot more than I do. I only saw an oncologist once and although my surgeon felt I would not need chemo or radiation, she said it is standard practice to send patients to see an oncologist. I didn't have radiation or chemo so my experience is quite limited.

I first met with the radiation oncologist after lumpectomy and rads.  The appointment was about an hour, I think.  Probably no further cancer-related testing (at least none in my case other than obtaining ER/PR status from my pathology) but I did get some bloodwork done so they had a baseline.  Mostly we discussed the benefits and risks of tamoxifen to help me decide whether to take it or not.  (I am taking it with minimal side effects.)  I now meet with the med onc every three months or so and get bloodwork done before every visit.  A couple of times I have had to get bloodwork done in between when something was a little elevated, but that is it for me.  Hope this helps.  Good luck!

An hour long, we discussed my pathology report, my risk of recurrence, likely risk reduction w/Tamoxifen, possible side effects of Tamoxifen, likelihood of side effects with Tamoxifen, etc.

The only thing an onc can really do for DCIS is prescribe Tamox, so that's what the convo will probably be about. 

Didn't do a blood draw, just talked. 

My BS referred me to a med.onc. after my follow-up appointment about 10 days or so after my lumpectomy. Thought I was just going into his office to have him check on my scar/healing, when, surprise, he drops the bomb that the final pathology report lists 1.75 mm of IDC along with the DCIS. Nothing had shown up in the MRI he'd had me do before the lumpectomy.

Had second surgery to check sentinel nodes, which thankfully were clean.

Met with med.onc. for 1 hour max. She just reviewed my file and said that with DCIS with such little IDC, she doesn't give chemo. Her cut-off was IDC of 1 cm or more, or node involvement.

With any DCIS diagnosis, pre-meno, ER+/PR+, lumpectomy with rads, she gives tamox. option after finishing rads. After running stats, have opted out (see other thread about tamox. or no tamox. that someone posted).

I thought the Oncologist was about the most trustworthy of anybody I saw.

DCIS is not a terrible event cancer-wise, and he did a reasonable job of conveying my risks to me. Way better than my surgeon who told me that tamoxifen would put me into menopause.

I asked about the CYP2D6 test, onc wasn't a fan.  He didn't think it was conclusive enough and said it wouldn't change his recommendation.

I said something like "what if I have all these horrible side effects and the pill isn't even working?"  He said it didn't play out like that. 

I met with my oncologist today and she prescribed tamoxifen, as expected. I had a RMX on June 2. I won't have rads, because I have good margins with the MX. I do have a question for you all. The oncologist told me she would schedule a mammogram for me on my remaining breast for August and a MRI for February. This pattern will continue with me having one test or another every six months. When I met with the scheduler, the nurse had also included an order for a chest x-ray in August. I called the nurse to question that, and she said it was standard so that they could spot nodules (?) in the chest wall or lungs. I really think that the nurse may have ordered that in error, since DCIS is non-invasive. The only other reason I could think of to order a chest x-ray would have to do with radiation, which I didn't have. So here's my question ... has anyone's oncologist ordered a chest x-ray for you if you have pure DCIS with no invasive component? And, if so, why?