Hi all, I had bilateral mx for DCIS, (one prophylactic for a variety of reasons), and did lots of research into this. I’m happy not having rads - there are risks and side-effects with that too remember, including the risk of other primary cancers, lung damage and heart damage, plus the less serious burns and other soft-tissue damage. All medicine involves balancing the risks of the disease with the risks from the treatment. The US is a bad e.g. in my view - Lulu makes a significant point about that. Additionally, half the people in the US get no tx or sub-standard tx because they can’t afford it, so if you included their stats in with the stats of the super-expensive centers in the US their survival rates would be atrocious. Part of the reason for this lack of availability of decent dx and tx for poor people is the over-resourcing of tx, general healthcare and unnecessary tests for wealthy people. Sorry, but I do find it quite upsetting when people extol the virtues of US healthcare having only half the picture!
It’s terrifying being dx with bc, but we have to live with it. There are many other prevalent diseases which have high mortality, yet they don’t carry the fear-factor engendered by cancer. BC is now diagnosed earlier (DCIS wasn’t often found before screening, as it usually developed into invasive bc before it was noticed). Treatment has improved and become much more successful. So having had what I think is excellent tx and advice from the NHS I’ve got a pretty good chance of living out the rest of my life and dying of something else. So I would say live your life, keep an eye out for any danger signs, and try not to worry about it.