Diagnosed last week

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Rooney
Rooney Member Posts: 2
edited August 2014 in Just Diagnosed

I was diagnosed with dcis last Wednesday. My doctor is a breast surgical oncologist. He said I'm either stage 0 or 1a. He is strongly recommending a mastectomy and wants me to consider a bilateral mastectomy because of my specific situation.

1) my microcalfications are fairly extensive and in two different areas (8cm total) and therefore a lumpectomy would not yield positive cosmetic appearance.

2) there is a strong family history of invasive breast cancer - mother, 2 of 3 aunts, cousin (daughter of the one aunt who did not have breast cancer herself)

Surgeon said I am a good candidate for immediate reconstruction.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

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  • new2bc
    new2bc Member Posts: 559
    edited August 2014

    Hi Rooney,

    I am very sorry you had to join this club but DCIS is stage 0 and it is the best diagnosis you can get. I also had calcifications in my left breast in more than one area which helped me to make a decision to do a mastectomy. Have you done an MRI on both breasts? Sometimes things show up in an MRI which would not show up in an ultrasound or a mammogram. By doing an MRI, you can make a better decision as far as the other breast. I decided to do double mastectomy even though the right breast was clear with no family history because I would not be able to sleep at night thinking the right breast is next. It all depends on your comfort zone but family history is very important to consider. Also doing reconstruction would provide a better result when done at the same time so that both breasts look similar. I decided not to do reconstruction because I was scared and wanted a speedy recovery. This depends on how old you are, your life style, etc. All of these are personal decisions and it varies by each person. I wish you the best of luck. Please come back and update us about your surgery and recovery.     

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  • Rooney
    Rooney Member Posts: 2
    edited August 2014

    hi new2bc,

    I had an MRI scheduled for August 22nd but then got my period after only spotting for 2 previous months. Apparently a breast MRI must be done on day 3 -14 of my cycle so when I informed my oncologists nurse of my period, my MRI was rescheduled for September 4th. I don't really have a regular cycle anymore (just turned 50) and am unsure how I feel about the delay. On one hand, would like to get MRI over with and process moving. On the other hand, can appreciate the extra time to do more research and thinking...

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