Weighing options, 2 opinions on diagnosis and treatment.

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  • Icietla
    Icietla Member Posts: 1,265
    edited May 2017

    Hi CountrygirlLeanne. Yes, that would be for premenopausal women. Member djmammo explains it here__

    https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/83/topics/854192?page=1#post_4951459

    I do not think they automatically assume premenopausal status. I think they ask when was one's last menstrual period and whether there is any possibility that one is pregnant.


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  • CountrygirlLeanne
    CountrygirlLeanne Member Posts: 21
    edited May 2017

    Thank you for your reply. That makes sense now.

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  • nervousnelly456
    nervousnelly456 Member Posts: 17
    edited May 2017

    I had my MRI today and I gave them the wrong date of when my cycle started. I realized that when i was in the machine and I started to panic. Afterwards i asked if it made a difference. The lady was very moody and rude and she was aware I have a surgery scheduled next month. So I didnt get a definitive answer.

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  • SiameseX2
    SiameseX2 Member Posts: 30
    edited May 2017

    Because I was crazy enough to be on certain kinds of birth control pills, I had no idea about my period.

    I went off it the day I was diagnosed. Still hadn't had a period the day of my MRI...but got it a day later and told them. Their results were still OK, but it is better to MRI right after the period ends. (my gynecologists had the same preference for breast exams).

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  • SiameseX2
    SiameseX2 Member Posts: 30
    edited May 2017

    I'm scheduled for follow up this Friday, and my incision seems to be healing fine. We'll be moving on to radiation and tamoxifen...

    Still, I received my path report. 4 sections were removed, it was a lot of breast tissue overall for someone with 3mm of DCIS. My bra size is 32C.

    The section containing DCIS was 4.2cmx3.3cmx1.4cm. 3 other sections were removed, for a total of over 30 cubic cm. Anyone else shocked at the volume removed??


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  • MTwoman
    MTwoman Member Posts: 2,704
    edited May 2017

    Siamese X2, not shocked, no. But I'd guess you'd want them to get it all in one go, rather than having them tell you "positive margins", or like me, there are other areas we didn't get, now mx is only choice. DCIS can't necessarily be seen by the naked eye of the bs, so they're trying to use imaging to get a sense of how much to take. Did your path report indicate whether there was DCIS in all 4 of the sections? They should do the same testing (for grade, architecture, er/pr etc) on each sample, if so. Mine differed a bit.

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  • SiameseX2
    SiameseX2 Member Posts: 30
    edited May 2017

    MTwoman,

    No, my path report indicated there was DCIS (with lobular extension) in just 1 of the 4 sections removed, along with ductal hyperplasia without atypia. The other sections were described as benign breast tissue, and given names like superior margin, additional lateral margin and additional medial margin.

    Which means some of my margins are HUGE, but I still have a positive margin because of this being so close to the chest wall.

    Its not very clear to me if they have any indication during surgery whether the sections they removed contain DCIS or not!

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  • SiameseX2
    SiameseX2 Member Posts: 30
    edited June 2017

    Thought I'd post a follow up here before I begin radiation treatments next week. I met with RO 2 weeks after surgery for the CT simulation, and I received 4 tiny radiation tattoos (about the size of a freckle but with black ink). There will be 6.5 weeks of radiation in total.

    My BS confirmed that radiation is the standard of care after lumpectomy. So regardless of the DCIS size/grade/location, they would always recommend it to prevent local recurrence. And if it recurs in the future, the next step is mastectomy :(. I was worried if it ever did recur after radiation, reconstruction might not be an option, but BS assures me that it would be, I would just need a higher level surgeon.

    Regarding the amount of tissue they removed, it has to do with the fact that they used oncoplasty. They do some kind of rearrangement of local tissue to fill in the "defect." I guess this is standard practice now? Surprisingly, the end result is pretty good. I wasn't even asking about cosmetics because I was more focused on the DCIS.

    Moving forward, I hope things continue to go smoothly. I didn't have significant pain from surgery, there was no need for any time off work with surgery on a Friday. I was surprised that sleeping on that side was OK the second night. My "referred sensations," strange feelings in that breast resulting from nerves being cut or compressed, are long gone.


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