DCIS - Did lumpectomy (need help in decision making)

786786
786786 Member Posts: 5
edited September 2015 in Just Diagnosed

Hello Everyone,

We are in desperate need for your help in making a decision. My mom was diagnosed with DCIS (stage 0 cancer - noninvasive) in her left breast so the treatment was to do lumpectomy and get radiations. She is also a heart patient. We went with it and by grace of God, the procedure went smoothly and she had a speedy recovery within two weeks. The chunk they took out was about 6 cm and the pathology report showed 4 inadequate margins. Radiation can't be done because the margins are positive. Thankfully, this 6cm lump was all DCIS and non-invasive.

The doctor has recommend mastectomy for my mom because of extent of DCIS seen but she can't guarantee how much is in there? She will be doing biopsy in her lymp nodes to make sure they are cancer free and the pathologist will be present to assure that. We heard mastectomy is a painful procedure and more damaging.

The doctor don't know how widespread it is (the surgeon have taken out what was shown in the mammogram and ultrasound ) so she can re-exercise that 4 involved margins of the lumpectomy site that turned out to be positive. For radiation, we need negative margins.

We are scared to take extensive decision since my mom won't be feeling her sensitive nerves and etc but we are confused and decided to go with the doctor. What if we start regretting after the results that there was just little bit left that could have been tackle with lumpectomy. If there is a lot more of DCIS then we'd be satisfied with our decision. Have any of you been in this situation?

The questions that concerned us, what if there is little bit more DCIS left on the other hand which can be taken out with lumpectomy. This is all dependent on chance. The growth rate of my mom DCIS is slow but we don't know what if it becomes fast?

Please help us out what to do as it is non-invasive cancer and we don't want it to become invasive. It's a very tough decision.

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Comments

  • PoppyK
    PoppyK Member Posts: 1,805
    edited September 2015

    If you have any doubts, get a second opinion. Mastectomy is a huge operation, with a significant recovery time.

    If I were making the decision between Lx and Mx I would consider these factors: age, size of breasts, how I feel about my breasts, how I would feel without a breast, has my case been presented to a "tumor board" for opinions from different doctors, am I comfortable with my decision?

    If I have any doubts about a mastectomy, I would opt for a lumpectomy for the next surgery. If I still didn't have clean margins, I could always opt for the Mx at that time.

    Good luck with your decision making!

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