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Hi WatersLynn, I am so sorry you are going through this, it is an awful time. Fortunately, you have an appointment tomorrow which at least means you aren't waiting for ages to see someone. You don't mention if you have seen a surgeon, or if there is any plan in place yet..

I am a little confused about your Dx, have you actually been Dx with IDC grade 3 by a Biopsy? or is it DCIS which is always stage 0 and never invasive? It is not unusual, to be Dx with Microcalcifications DCIS and IDC, but the IDC takes precedence in the Dx. because the stage is 1 or higher.

Try not to panic too much about the other side, certainly, have it checked out by the Doctor tomorrow, but it is rare to be Dx with ca in both sides.

I wish you all the very best, let us know how you get on tomorrow!

Very sorry you are going through this - to be sick on top of a cancer diagnosis just isn't fair.

As for the cancer treatment, you should know that since you have been diagnosed with a small area of IDC, that trumps your DCIS, even though that may be larger. All of your staging and treatment will be based on the IDC - the only way the DCIS affects that is that any surgery would have to be extensive enough to remove the DCIS along with the IDC. Other than that, it becomes irrelevant to the decision-making.

You say that having a double mastectomy will prevent you from having chemo and radiation? That makes sense in the case of radiation as that is supposed to protect the remaining breast tissue from any lingering cancer cells, but chemo is supposed to protect the rest of your body, so if chemo is recommended, it is recommended regardless of what surgery you are having (lump or mx). Have they done an Oncotype test on your tumor yet? If not, you might want to ask about it. A friend was recently diagnosed with her second cancer (new primary as it was on the other side from the first) and she was initially told no chemo or rads, just lumpectomy plus AI, but after doing the Oncotype on her tiny little IDC tumor, they are now recommending chemo as it was tiny, but aggressive.

Best of luck to you as you proceed through this process, and you may want to also post on the IDC forum as that is now your "official" diagnosis, despite having more DCIS than IDC. There may be more people there who would have advice about your particular situation.

Hi Marsha, even with a mastectomy, there is still the possibility of radiation when one has IDC.  If they find the tumor close to the chest wall and you have narrow margins, or if, God forbid, you have positive lymph nodes, radiation is often recommended to chest wall and axillary area.  So, I'm just saying that you shouldn't be deciding to do a mastectomy to avoid radiation.  Even on rare occasions, some with pure DCIS have had to have radiation after a mastectomy, because of the narrow margins at the chest wall. Hopefully, you won't need radiation or chemo, just the hormonal treatment.  The MRI should also help with decision making.  All the best, and keep us posted.