Too Lucky?

Options
MilesToGo1953
MilesToGo1953 Member Posts: 14

I was diagnosed with DCIS with a lump < 1cm.  I had a lumpectomy and will have radiation after the lumpectomy is healed.  Oddly, I feel I was too lucky.  I know I could have a recurrence or a different from of cancer, but my mother died of breast cancer, my maternal grandmother had breast cancer (did not die from it) and one of my fraternal aunts died of breast cancer.  Somehow, it seems to easy.  Am I crazy?

Kath

Comments

  • Janet456
    Janet456 Member Posts: 507
    edited May 2014

    No you're not crazy.  DCIS is the best end of the worst news so after going through all the uncertainty of testing - I think we are lucky. x

  • inks
    inks Member Posts: 746
    edited May 2014

    You can call it lucky or whatever else you want but do not feel guilty that you got away "easy". Never apologize for your good fortune.

  • Holeinone
    Holeinone Member Posts: 2,478
    edited May 2014

    Miles, 

    Life is full of surprises, good, bad & ugly.. I always knew I would get bc. All the women in my family do, in there 60s. 

    I assumed, like them, it would be caught early. I was wrong. 

    Good Luck with your radiation, and do not feel guilty. It is what it is. No one chooses any of this.

  • ballet12
    ballet12 Member Posts: 981
    edited May 2014

    Hi Miles, 

    Just feel fortunate, since you know that the outcome could have been much worse, and yes, you don't know if something more challenging will come your way later. In the meantime, best of luck getting through the rads.  Hope it's easy for you.

  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 3,257
    edited May 2014

    Hell no! Too lucky? Your diagnosis is your diagnosis, not anyone elses. As Ballet said, you don't know that something more challenging may come your way later. We sure hope not and yeah, maybe you dodged a bullet with that family history, but you are not "too lucky" in that you still had a diagnosis.

     Just say a quick thanks and be ever vigilant moving forward since once bitten by the cancer bug, we are always doomed to looking over our shoulder as it seems to chase many of us for the remainder of our lives (at least 30% of us anyway)

    Hugs and happy that you caught it early.

  • coffeelatte
    coffeelatte Member Posts: 209
    edited May 2014

    I agree with Ballet and April. I was so upset and anxious those first few weeks after initial diagnosis until I met with the breast surgeon and had the treatment plan laid out. Then I felt very relieved at that time because my treatment did not include chemo and/or radiation. But as time goes on, I look at the big scars on my chest from the BMX and wonder if cancer cells are brewing under the surface just like the first one. I don't dwell on it a lot and I do enjoy my life in so many ways, but I do hold my breath a little waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sometimes I worry because I wonder if they missed a micro met (seems easy to do) and because I was not offered chemo, I miss the added protection it offers.

    I have read so many times on this board from the ladies that: "cancer is a crapshoot." I couldn't agree more.

  • wirdgirl118
    wirdgirl118 Member Posts: 231
    edited May 2014

    cancer is definitely a crapshoot ...

  • MilesToGo1953
    MilesToGo1953 Member Posts: 14
    edited May 2014

    Thanks Ladies!

    I know it's weird and I am very thankful that my diagnosis was DCIS.  I will surely be very diligent about having follow-ups!

  • faerywings
    faerywings Member Posts: 173
    edited May 2014

    cancer is definitely a crapshoot ...

    hahahah!! I love that. So true. Lucky is a matter of perspective. Yes, we DCIS-Sisters are so blessed and fortunate. But at the same time, it is cancer and we still have to go through crap that other people haven't had to do.

  • Infobabe
    Infobabe Member Posts: 1,083
    edited May 2014

    Miles, are you sure you need radiation?  Try the Van Nyes test and Dr. Michel Lagious for a second opinion before you decide.  Both easily found in the internet.  Neither Janet nor I had rads.

    Edit: Because of your family history, have you had the BRAC genetic test?  This would put an entirely different light on your diagnosis and treatment.

  • zandersgirl
    zandersgirl Member Posts: 9
    edited May 2014


    I'm a newbie to this board, but I thought id mention that I had IDC and DCIS and it was very small like yours, it turned out that they got it all in the biopsy. I knew from diagnosis that I wanted bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction.. one I was hoping that I would avoid radiation and/or chemo. And it did. Just saying a second opinion might be good idea. Good luck and god bless

     

    Oops I just realized you had lumpectomy, so maybe that's why, but still 2nd opinions don't hurt .

     

     

Categories