No MO recommended and a couple of other questions!

Bookpusher,

It's actually pretty common for those with DCIS or early stage invasive cancer to not see an MO until after surgery. I've had two diagnoses; I didn't see the MO until after surgery both times. Surgeons are responsible for surgery; ROs are responsible for radiation. MOs deal with everything else. For patients where it is clear the surgery will come first (which is certainly the case with DCIS), the role of the MO doesn't kick in until you have the final pathology, at which point the MO will make recommendations about any additional treatment that might be advisable.

If you have not had a breast MRI, that would be the one imaging test that could help with the MX vs. BMX decision. Given that your mother had BC, genetic testing might be helpful too. That said, since only about 15% of breast cancers are caused by genetic mutations, since genetic breast cancers tend to present at a younger age and you are 70 (and your mother's diagnosis also being post-menopausal too), it's unlikely that your cancer is genetic.

I can't comment on whether a BMX would be too aggressive. Only you can decide on that. For one person it would be, for someone else it wouldn't be. The factors driving these decisions are different for each of us, and we all assess risk differently.

The gross description refers to the sample itself, not the pathological findings. It describes the biopsy tissue as it was received by the pathologist. It says nothing about what the pathologist found when he/she looked at the tissue under a microscope. So there is no indication as to how much DCIS was found - this describes the sample prior to it being cut apart and analyzed.

Do you recall how many core needle samples were taken? It sound as though the largest core needle sample of tissue was 2cm in length and 0.2cm in diameter, and there were multiple smaller samples.

Bookpusher if it helps at all, my initial biopsy was DCIS, upgraded to IDC upon final pathology. I too had dense breasts and we got very lucky to catch my issue in time. However, now that MRI is being utilized more often to monitor those with denser breast tissue, might be much less of a concern. I decided on a double because of that imaging concern. If symmetry troubles you, speak with the PS about options ie, a lift on the remaining breast vs a BMX. Its just a lot to process and if you feel like you are not ready, speak with your surgical team. There is no reason you cannot push things back just a bit in order to make up your mind. I can remember, though, I didn't decide on a double until a week before the surgery. My PS told me she would book the OR with enough time to go either way. That really helped. Wishing you all the best.

when you say “ healthy" breast - were there any micro-calcifications in the healthy breast? Any other issues? How frequently will that other breast require monitoring? What kind of monitoring? These are the questions you may ask the breast surgeon to help you with the dec