Help please...Sis in Law just diagnosed with Stage zero DCIS

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indydaughter
indydaughter Member Posts: 21
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Hi,

My sis in law was just diagnosed on Friday with stage zero DCIS...can anyone give us any info on this? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Indydaughter

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  • cruf
    cruf Member Posts: 908
    #2
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    Hi! Relax! This is treatable. I am a 7+year survivor of DCIS. It is a noninvasive cancer that stays within the milk ducts.If you have to have BC, this is the type to get!I gather she has already had a biopsy? The next step is usually a lumpectomy, then 5-6 weeks of radiation. They rarely give chemo unless they find other types of cancer within. I had a lumpectomy, but my margins weren't clear, so I was given a choice of radiation and hoping the cells are gone or mastectomy and know they are gone and then not needing radiation. I chose mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. I won't go into types, as she may not choose that route and it it overwhelming to hear all this stuff at once. After the surgery, if she is estrogen +, she will be put on either Tamoxifen if she hasn't gone thru menapause or an Aromatose Inhibitor such as Arimidex, Femara, or aromasin if she has gone thru menapause. Tell her to take a deep breath and take everything day by day. She will get thru this. If she has any specific questions, please feel free to have her e-mail me here and I'll answer any questions she may have. Good luck! Let us know how she is. HUGS!! Cathy
  • indydaughter
    indydaughter Member Posts: 21
    #3
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    cruf said:

    Hi! Relax! This is treatable. I am a 7+year survivor of DCIS. It is a noninvasive cancer that stays within the milk ducts.If you have to have BC, this is the type to get!I gather she has already had a biopsy? The next step is usually a lumpectomy, then 5-6 weeks of radiation. They rarely give chemo unless they find other types of cancer within. I had a lumpectomy, but my margins weren't clear, so I was given a choice of radiation and hoping the cells are gone or mastectomy and know they are gone and then not needing radiation. I chose mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. I won't go into types, as she may not choose that route and it it overwhelming to hear all this stuff at once. After the surgery, if she is estrogen +, she will be put on either Tamoxifen if she hasn't gone thru menapause or an Aromatose Inhibitor such as Arimidex, Femara, or aromasin if she has gone thru menapause. Tell her to take a deep breath and take everything day by day. She will get thru this. If she has any specific questions, please feel free to have her e-mail me here and I'll answer any questions she may have. Good luck! Let us know how she is. HUGS!! Cathy

    Thank you sooooooooooooo much for the info!! I will keep you posted.

    Cheryl
  • Susan956
    Susan956 Member Posts: 510
    #4
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    Your Sis in Law is blessed. Stage 0 is wonderful... Anytime hearing the C word is scary.... but Stage 0 is the most minimal of all.... So with a little time she will be back to a very normal life. I was Stage 2B and I am 2.5 years cancer free and back to living a full wonderful life...

    Take Care...God Bless....

    Susan
  • seof
    seof Member Posts: 819 Member
    #5
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    My advice: Take a deep breath, then ask your Doctors, research, ask folks on this webisite, ask your Doctors, then ask your Doctors again. What shall you ask them? Anything and everything that comes to mind. Write down your questions when you are not in front of the the Dr. so that you will remember it when you are there, and write down the answer...don't assume you'll remember it later. Your sis in law is very fortunate to have you on her side. If at all possible, someone should go with her to help writing answers. Tell her to accept any help that is offered to her, and be specific in how folks can help, even with things that may seem small, like doing a load of laundry, vacuuming the floor, going to the grocery store, taking the kids to the park for an hour, or whatever.

    Best wishes to all of you. seof
  • indydaughter
    indydaughter Member Posts: 21
    #6
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    Thank you for all your help!!! I have shared all your info with my sis in law. It is a blessing to have you all!!!

    Thanks!!
  • dichatham
    dichatham Member Posts: 5
    #7
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    Hi,
    I was diagnosed in August with Stage 0 DCIS. IT was very scary and overwhelming. I made myself insane researching everything and anything I could get my hands on. I found that if I stopping looking at every aspect of this disease and concentrated on first things first, I wasn't so stressed. Have your sister-in-law look at finding a good doctor first. Then she should listen to his/her opinion and research what that opinion is so she can decide if that's the best one for her.
    If she has to have more biopsies or another kind, she can look into that. If she starts looking at the entire picture, all the types of biopsies, all the possible treatments--lumpectomy versus mastectomy and all the follow-ups, radiation, tamoxifen, chemo, it will be too overwhelming.
    If she moves from one phase to the next I think she will make out better and not feel so helpless.
    I wish her the very best.
    Diane

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