DCIS

Hi really need some advice as been a long diagnosis road for me and I am struggling to cope - diagnosed with DCIS on Friday but now need an mri sscheduled tomorrow to determine how widespread it is post biopsy . Consultant said it’s not urgent  but I am spiralling now can’t sleep and fearful of what I don’t know .  Any advice .? I can’t seem to figure if I have cancer or not .

  • Hello Lorr123 and welcome to the forum, I'm not going to tell you not to worry because we all do, your diagnosis DCIS means you have abnormal cells within the milk ducts in you breast, these cells can, over time, but not always turn cancerous, but are non invasive, take care Eddiel

  • Hi Lorr123, do not worry too much. DCIS is considered a pre-cancer and is easy to treat and cure hoepfully. I got diagnosed with it last August. They do the MRI post biopsy to make sure there isn't anything else (hard to spot on mammogram if you have dense breasts like me), then surgery called local wide excision to remove the calcifications and take another look at the specimen under the microscope to make sure there is no micro-invasion and determine the final size and grade of the DCIS. Mine was HG and 16mm in length, so my oncologist recommended radiotherapy which I did for a week (called Fast Forward program where you have 5 fractions over 5 days Monday to Friday). And now I am taking 5mg tamoxifen daily. All went smoothly, I can't complain, I feel good. Do you what grade your DCIS is? If it's low grade, you might not need radiotherapy or medication, just surgery to remove it. Take care and good luck X

  • Hi thank you for your reply . I think it’s low grade but waiting for MRI as well and all will be confirmed ? What type of surgery is it to remove . It’s under general .? Glad yiou are doing well , hopefully my treatment will go well too , I am just feeling terrified at the moment x 

  • Mri won't confirm grade, only extent of Dcis, but biopsy does. Surgery is called local wide excision and performed under general, should take about an hour depending on how much needs to be removed. I didn't feel sore afterwards. Hope all goes well tomorrow, keep us posted X

  • Hi Lorr,

    A very warm welcome to our forum.

    You have hit the nail on the head when you said "fearful of what I don’t know". The unknown is much harder to deal with. Irrespective of the outcome, you'll feel better once you know exactly what you're dealing with. It sounds as if your care team is still trying to get the proper answers for you, when you are due to have an MRI tomorrow. They won't be able to tell you whether or not you have cancer, until they have carried out all the tests that they need to, I do hope that you get the results soon, as this spell of waiting is always a worry.

    I shall be thinking of you tomorrow.

    Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine xx

  • My mri showed that the calcification is more widespread than they thought and they have ordered another  biopsy , I am on biopsy 4 now but consultant is hopeful it’s just trauma . Anyone any experience of this. . ? 

  • Hi Lorr,

    I am sorry to hear that the calcification is more widespread than originally thought. Here's hoping that the consultant is right and that this is just due to trauma. Waiting for another biopsy, obviously means more waiting - how are you holding up? I know that all of this waiting is frustrating, but you're better to know exactly what you are dealing with and then you can target your treatment accordingly. I hope that you get your biopsy soon. My diagnosis was delayed for additional MRI and CT scans, but it still turned out to be stage 1 Pure Mucinous Cancer. I had a second bout the year after I was diagnosed, but that was all 14 years ago and I still lead a busy life.

    Please keep in touch  and let us know how your biopsy goes. We are always here for you.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine xx