Diagnosed DCIS 37 years old

Hi,

I was hoping to get some advice from this forum. I am 37 years old and recently diagnosed with DCIS in my left breast. The past two months have been a living nightmare. To date, I have had 7 biopsies (sterotactic, needle aspiration, and ultrasound guided). I had a lumpectomy on 10/31/17. Everyone I talk to says "be postive" "stay strong," but I can't describe how much this diagnosis has compromised my life. After meeting with the oncologist, they are recommending radiation. I am being told I have a high risk of it occurring again. My breast are extremely dense. They found two groups of calcifications to start with. My lumpectomy got post poned on 10/17 when they found another group. I had to have another biopsy. This all started because I was going to get a breast augmentation and needed a baseline mammo for that. Met with plastic surgeon Friday. He says I def can't do it because my chances of it returning are very high and because of the density of my breasts. If you were to look at my mammo there is a long list of different things going on in my left and right breast. I'm scared and the thought of radiation scares me even more. My surgeon at one point wasn't sure if I would need a mastectomy. He explained if I did, it would be nipple/skin sparring. Since the biopsy cam back benign for the third group, they went forward with the lumpectomy. But now I'm not sure If I even want to keep my breast. To hear that they are not healthy and so dense things can be 100% seen on an image. Is it crazy to consider a bilateral mastetcomy and then have reconstruction? Would insurance even cover it? Any input would help. Please, I can't take this anymore!

Thank you for your advice! It seems so easy for everyone not dealing with or never to give their feedback. But to hear it from someone who lived it means so much. I did some research today with my insurance and in order to have it done you would have to be under 45 and diagnosed if your electing to do it. I meet with my breast surgeon 11/20. I am going to try to get in sooner. This waiting is too much. I will keep you posted. If I go forward with it, I might sure I’ll have more questions

Hi jmo,

I agree with Georgia that you could ask for an MRI, since you seem to have "busy", dense breasts. If you question yourself about lumpectomy/rads versus mastectomy, I really suggest you read this thread in the DCIS forum: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/68/topics... You'll find many pros and cons based on members experiences, and series of questions you can asks yourself to make a better decision.

That is of course if you can chose between the two surgeries. I had no choice to have mastectomy since I already had rads to the chest in the past. I had skin-sparing (lost the nipple unfortunately) UMX, direct-to implant with alloderm and I'm very pleased so far - almost painless and good cosmetic result. My experience with radiation are the same as Georgia - absolutely painless. I did suffer multiple long-time side effects from it but I don't think they are as usual with breast cancer radiation treatment.

I agree with Sourisou, if you are considering BMX, reading through the link that she provided will help you sort out your priorities. Some women believe that BMX means that they have 0% chance recurrence, which is just not true. Your risk is very small, but not 0%. Reading through that thread will help you clarify what is most important to you, and then you can decide with your team how to proceed based on your values, your personal risk profile and your risk tolerance. It is such a personal and difficult decision. Best of luck and big ((hugs))

Thank you ladies for all your replies! The feedback and different perspectives have helped so much with my aniexty. MBPooch, ty so much! I thought maybe I was thinking crazy, but I’m really not. I am too a very anxious person and have suffered from depression. I don’t think until I have piece of mind will I be able to live a ful filling life. People have said to me you can’t let this take over. Unfortunately it has. I go to bed thinking about it and waking up worried. My surgeon is meeting with me sooner this Wednesday. I will keep you posted. Hang in there as well. Sending hugs and kisses from New Jersey

hello.....I am just wondering which surgeon you are seeing....I'm in NJ also. Just had a mammo/ultrasound the other day and it was read as a BI Rads 4. Suspicious lesion in left breast. I was able to get an appointment with Dr McManus.

Hi Jens31706!

All of my doctors are out of Hackensack Hospital. My breast surgeon is Dr. McCain. You can google his name or put in Cancer Surgery Associates. He is not only smart but compassionate as well. That’s what I love most about him. Where in NJ are you

bevin, thanks for including that link. Respectfully, "most studies found women who did lumpectomy faired better" is overstating what they found. "All three were observational studies that tell us about associations, but not if the association is due to cause and effect, chance, or confounding bias. Whether or not women who have lumpectomy plus radiation live longer than women who have a mastectomy, it is clear that a smaller surgery is not worse for women." (emphasis mine) and the article goes on to say: "There have been six randomized trials comparing breast conserving surgery and mastectomy, which found no survival advantage for either surgery option. In 1990, the NCI consensus panel came to the conclusion that breast-conserving surgery was the optimal treatment based on these trials." The main point, IMO, seems to be that the treatment community is in a quandary as to why BMX is on the rise when there seems to be no data to support it. I do hear many women on these boards, when they are in the "not diagnosed but worried" forum, stating they'll choose BMX if anything at all is found. I do wonder about the contribution factor of pink-washing.