diagnosed but 2 more biopsies will be done

I had a total of four biopsies. Only the original site was cancerous.

I was in the same situation, with multiple biopsies on both sides. Unfortunately they found cancer in both breasts, but I was still diagnosed at stage 1B.

Just because you have it in both breasts does not mean it has spread. If it's only in your breasts, it's still early stage. For me it meant that I had five different kinds of cancer in 7 tumors, which sounds worse than it really was.

I could have had lumpectomies with radiation, but I chose a bilateral mastectomy so I could avoid radiation near my heart and lungs. I still had to have chemo, but that's because one of my cancers was triple negative.

I know it's hard, but try not to worry too much.

Hope all goes well for you.

Trish

I had two areas of calcifications in my right breast. Both were biopsied and both found to be DCIS. Then through the more detailed imaging that I had after the diagnosis (but before surgery), the Radiologist noticed calcs in my left breast. They weren't considered suspicious enough to biopsy when I had the first screening mammo, but once I was diagnosed, it became important to check them. So off I went for another biopsy. Those were benign.

Think of it this way... given that you've already been diagnosed and will be heading into surgery, it's better that anything else going on be found now, so that everything can be taken care of at once, in one surgery and with one treatment plan. What you wouldn't want is to go through all this and then be diagnosed again, with a new breast cancer, in another year or two. That's the reason why good Radiologists and Breast Surgeons are so careful at checking out every possibility of cancer before the patient heads into surgery. Once you've been diagnosed, calcifications that are only a little bit concerning and that otherwise might have been considered for watching, are instead referred for a biopsy. Best to have the full picture of what's going on now, before the surgeon is in the operating room.

Good luck with these biopsies. Hopefully they are benign.

The delay is not bad medically.

Your diagnosis is DCIS, and the additional areas of concern are both sites with calcifications, which, if cancer, usually (but admittedly not always) means DCIS. DCIS is a pre-invasive condition. While removing DCIS cells before they develop into invasive cancer (which might never happen or might take years) is almost always recommended (although there are some "watchful waiting" trials underway with DCIS), DCIS is not a medical emergency. With DCIS there is no urgent need to get into surgery.

Mentally, the extra waiting time is brutal. Since you already have a DCIS diagnosis and the only question about surgery is how extensive the surgery will be, can you request that the surgeon's office schedule you for surgery, and then the type of surgery will be determined based on these biopsies? And if you are considering a mastectomy or bilateral mastectomy if the biopsy results are positive, and if with a MX or BMX you are considering reconstruction, can you get in to see a Plastic Surgeon while you are waiting for the biopsy and results? I think there are ways you can use this time to get things done that cut down on the waiting time after your biopsy results are in.

I have DCIS, invasive. Tumor on left removed, 2 lymph nodes removed all clear. However 2 more test pending, the Her2, and Genomic. So much info to wrap your head around! Tumor was 20mm

Welcome, Cyidleman5! We're glad you've joined our community here, but we're so sorry for what brings you here. We hope you find support here, please keep us posted on what you learn when those results come back!

The Mods

Cyidleman, good news that your cancer is HER2-!

Do you have a copy of your pathology report? If not, you should request a copy. As you move forward and see different doctors, it's always good to have copies of all the reports for your records. You also may want to talk to your surgeon or Oncologist about your diagnosis. It seems that someone miscommunicated. DCIS is always non-invasive. As such, there is no such thing as invasive DCIS. DCIS can evolve to become an invasive cancer but when this happens, the diagnosis is no longer DCIS but becomes IDC.

• "DCIS is noninvasive, meaning it hasn't spread out of the milk duct and has a low risk of becoming invasive." https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dcis/symptoms-causes/syc-20371889

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• "Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) means the cells that line the milk ducts of the breast have become cancer, but they have not spread into surrounding breast tissue. DCIS is considered non-invasive or pre-invasive breast cancer. DCIS can't spread outside the breast, but it still needs to be treated because it can sometimes go on to become invasive breast cancer (which can spread)." https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/treatment/treatment-of-breast-cancer-by-stage/treatment-of-ductal-carcinoma-in-situ-dcis.html

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The genomic test you are referring to is probably the Oncotype DX test, which is the most common genomic test in use (but not the only one).

"If you've been recently diagnosed with early stage, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), HER2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer, the Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test can help you and your doctor understand what treatment options are right for you—including whether you're likely to benefit from chemotherapy.

The Breast Recurrence Score test looks at several cancer-related genes in your tumour tissue. Because every woman's tumour is unique, understanding the biology of your specific tumour will help you and your doctor make more confident decisions about your care." https://www.oncotypeiq.com/en-CA/breast-cancer/patients-and-caregivers/stage-i-iiia-invasive/about-the-test

Here is some information about the Oncotype test that on the breastcancer.org site: https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/oncotype-dx-recurrence-score-predicts-survival

There are many discussion threads discussing the Oncotype score on this board, most in the Just Diagnosed or Chemo forums. Do asearch and I'm sure you will find some that help you and where you can ask questions.