In August 2020 I had a left side mastectomy after a diagnosis of DCIS. I had found a lump a couple of months before. No further treatment was needed, I just have yearly mammograms.
After this year’s mammogram I was recalled after calcifications were spotted in my right breast. The area was too small for a biopsy using ultrasound so I had to go back for an x-ray guided one.
This came back as an area of DCIS with some invasive cells present (grade 2, ER-, HER2+). I am going for a wide local excision at the end of July. I am sure that the consultant said that I would definitely need chemotherapy and also radiotherapy, but the letter to my GP only mentions this as a possibility. I am not worried about the surgery but the thought of chemo is very scary.
So sorry to read you have to go through treatment again, I had WLE and was strongly advised to have Radiotherapy by my oncologist, she said this clears up any debris that could be left behind, but I was lucky enough to get away chemotherapy.
I think maybe you could give your Breast Cancer nurse a call explaining how you are feeling which is quite understandable. She will then have a look at your notes, hopefully be able to put your mind at rest, when we go for hospital appointments, there’s so much to take in our heads are all over the place.
Wishing you, health and happiness going forward fingers crossed for a good outcome. Please come back to the forum and let us know how you are doing.
I had to go for my pre-surgery assessment today. As part of that I met with my key worker. I asked her about the letter from the consultant. She explained that I will have radiotherapy and will also need to take herceptin. However they can’t (for some reason) give herceptin without giving some other type of chemotherapy.
Basically I need to focus on the surgery, with fingers crossed for clear margins and no unexpected extra bits of DCIS. Then we can think about the next bit, just take it one step at a time.