39 years old yesterday diagnosed with DCIS

I'll never say it was a 'good' experience but I lucked out
Hi Mothercare. I was told I had DCIS in June of 2009. I was 58. Looking back now, it was a bump in the road. But I was terrified, confused, and angry the first few weeks.

I hope your DCIS experience is as easy as mine was. I had a lumpectomy, with clear margins, then 6 weeks later (giving lumpectomy cavity time to heal a little) I had 5 days of brachytherapy radiation. That was it. I have more frequent mammograms now and I am taking a pill, Tamoxifen, which is meant to reduce the incidence of cancer in either breast. My affected breast is a little smaller but that can only be noticed when I'm naked, and my husband doesn't care. He still thinks they're sexy! I hope your experience is at least as "good" as mine.
~~Connie~~

Sounds a lot like me...
My story started in mid April with routine mamo & ultra sound....nothing was seen but calcifications from previous year. Had a sterotactic that came back possible DCIS...had a surgical biopsy on Memorial Day and there it was..8mm tumor under nipple...not seen on Mamo nor ultrasound. It was removed and more tissue taken. On June 2nd I got the call from surgeon...cancer...can't save the nipple...do you know a plastic surgeon?...and I'll be going on vactation in a couple of weeks...almost all in one sentence from the surgeon. By June 5 had my first meeting with plastic surgeon and disgusted the mastectomy "choices". He said he only had an opening on the 10th so I was under the knife on the 10th. I could never see putting any thing plastic in me so I opted for the DIEP flap. If I can do it all over again, I would have took more time to research my options and read on this side what others had gone through. Now, I feel I sould have removed both breasts. I had complications with thin skin on my abdomin which "died" and a 3x5x2in deep "hole" was cut right in the middle of that pretty abdominal incision. This had to heal from the inside out, had to be scrubed and packed twice a day for 2 months. I didn't start chemo until Sept 2nd and have completed my 4 rounds of A/C. I took my second of twelve Taxol treatments on Wed and found out I will be taking Herceptin, through that darn port. for a year. There are so many people out there worse off than me and grateful my cancer was caught this early, but when I heard the word cancer from my sugeon...I just wanted it out. Whatever your outcome, take the time to find out your options. There are so many stories of some remarkable women on this site. I didn't find out about this site until after I started treatment and my hair was falling out. When my mom forwarded me this link, I was so depressed I read a little then closed it thinking "I don't want to know", Now that I have acepted to go on with my life, i always go on this site to search for info on all the treatments, medicines and tests results that i get. Take a deep breath, search this site and ask questions before you make any decisions. I will keep you in my prayers so all your decisions would be the right ones for you!

CypressCynthia said:

I am so sorry that you are
I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this. What a lousy birthday present! Swelling is a listed possible complication. I would first put an ice bag (frozen peas would be great) on the breast and second call my doc now (because tomorrow is Thanksgiving) and see what you can take for it or if he needs you to come in.

Hope this helps.

Be sure and let us know how
Be sure and let us know how your appointment went. Sending hugs, strength and prayers.

Leeza

sea60 said:

I'm praying for you.
Let us know how it goes.

Blessings and Hugs,

Sylvia

Yes, let us know how your
Yes, let us know how your appointment goes.

Hugs, Jan

Almost the same story
Hi Mothercare.

My story is much the same as yours, after the sterotactic biopsy (by the way, I was PURPLE for 3 weeks and a bit swollen), I was scheduled for a lumpectomy for the DCIS. After the first one (yes they had to do a second to get clean margins), I was told that my lymph nodes were negative but that instead if DCIS, mine was invasive so after the 2nd lumpectomy (they classed it as a partial mastectomy because of the amount of tissue taken), I went to the onc and found out that he wanted me to do 6 chemo treatments before 33 radiation treatments. Because I am triple negative, my cancer does not respond to hormone therapy, so chemo is the only way to fight it.
I've had 4 of the 6 treatments...and as other people will say, it is doable (but definitely not fun). It takes me about a 10 days to recover (all the while working full time--missing only 2 days per cycle) and then I have another treatment 3 weeks after. I hope to be totally done with everything by the beginning of March...sigh...something to really look forward to.

Good luck to you, I will keep you in my prayers.

Hugs,
JoAnn