Diagnosed but not really worried

Everybody reacts differently to the news of cancer. It's a good thing you are not worried. That will certainly help you sleep better at night and you'll need rest for your recovery after surgery and treatment.

I had your same "grateful it was caught early" attitude and felt very confident about my prognosis. I also thought I'd go the double mastectomy route for my DCIS but then I thought a little more and realized that while my breasts were not the most important thing in my life, I was concerned about the long-term consequences of not having them and the implications of reconstruction kind of scared me. I know for some women, the choice is made for them due to the extent of their diagnosis but I was fortunate enough to have the choice. As my surgery date drew closer, my confidence began to waver but now that surgery is over, I'm feeling much better.

Read a bit more about mastectomy versus lumpectomy and continue to do your research. You should never be worried but it is good to go into this with all the information you need. Keep us posted on your progress! It sounds like you have a good plan already made.

Not at all. You have a great attitude and plenty of reason to be optimistic. I found some people reacted the same way but it was their way of expressing sympathy.

Keep the faith and keep us posted.

Diane

Good luck to you both. Rationality is a good thing, and absolutely, the care we are getting is so much better than 10 or 20 years ago.

You know, I think it's good to be optimistic but I think maybe the part you're missing is that cancer likes to come back. It's recurrence that scares me.

If you go on to one of the calculators like Predict you can see what the 5 & 10 years stats look like. http://www.predict.nhs.uk/predict_v2.0.html

On one hand, compared to many other cancers, the fact that so many people will be with us for that time is great. (But I think Predict counts all survivors, including those who had, or are battling a recurrence).

But I've already been on the wrong side of the stats once by getting this thing in the first place (even though I was very low risk on paper) so when I see the group of people who did not survive, I do worry a bit.

fwiw, I think you might want to ask your doctors if you qualify for Oncotype testing which would give you a better idea of recurrence risk & might help your team decide whether you should consider chemo.

I agree with Summer Angel. Your attitude is refreshing. I felt the same way but my focus at the time was on the health of a family member, which was a distraction of sorts. Many of the posters on here feel strong once the diagnosis is made and the action plan is set. You just follow the steps and get through it. Make sure to really think about your choices and do needed research, get second opinions, whatever you need to feel really good about your path.

I am curious, did you have an Oncotype Dx test done?

Exactly Lula! I don't think people should wallow in misery or fear - not at all!
But I worry that there's been some normalization of breast cancer and some people think it's just a minor thing. We don't want to be so blase that we don't recognize the seriousness of this diagnosis while deciding on treatments and further precautions to prevent recurrence.

CoComedy:

You're about to get a college level med class in breast cancer with everything you'll learn over the next few months.

There are many who know more than me but high ER/PR IS good because you have more treatment options. Lymph node and MRI results are good news as well. I mean, this diagnosis does pack a punch but we have to keep on truckin' right? (To use a beloved 70s saying.)

They ran my Oncotype on the surgical tumor sample, so I believe that could be done then. Perhaps they run on biopsy samples sometimes, too? (I'm not sure.) This determined if I was going to do chemo. NO for me on that. Genetics were also done - especially since my mom is a survivor. But all ours were clean, which leads me to believe they have not found it yet. But press for any and all information they can give you. I wanted to know all I could to make informed decisions.

You're doing all you can. And I think keeping a positive attitude helps a lot. I've met so many wonderful people along this journey and learned a lot. I've had my bad moments and absolute fear, too, however, trying to take it one day at a time and appreciate the joy in the moment (even while the scary stuff is occuring) is so good if you can maintain.

Keep us updated and know that you have a BC posse out here.