Hi Frances
I can understand your anxiety and it seems to be spiralling. MRIs, as far as I’m aware, are not carried out routinely after surgery. If there is a risk of spread, a CT scan is done. When there is no lymph node involvement and the surgeon is certain s/he has secured clear margins, it’s a waste of a valuable resource, which may feel like a slap in the face to you. Obviously your anxiety about spread is high but, to clinicians, there are no grounds for concern, not even close.
Your treatment plan, which I presume includes hormone therapy if you are strongly oestrogen positive, will have taken all your concerns into account. They certainly don’t want patients to have a recurrence or a spread and HT is a proven and effective treatment. LCIS isn’t cancer, though it can be an indicator of vulnerability to breast cancer - this will be incorporated into your treatment plan. And you will usually be monitored annually for at least 5 years.
Currently the NHS is short of 3000 radiologists but that doesn’t explain why you haven’t been offered an MRI. It’s a question of is it necessary to expose you to radiation and the answer here is no, it’s not necessary. In any case, you would be more likely to be offered a CT scan as an MRI is not appropriate in your case. But the argument is the same. I had my mastectomy done privately and was Stage 3, one lump ductal, one lobular, one heavily hormone positive, the other triple negative (I guess I’m greedy) plus heavy node involvement. I’d had a clear mammogram and the breast consultant initially told me I had nothing to worry about! Anyway, a CT scan followed my mastectomy and full axillary clearance as they couldn’t secure clear margins. I wasn’t offered an MRI.
Unfortunately, cancer treatment by the NHS is purely clinical and doesn’t deal with emotional or psychological issues that arise. This is where you need to contact an organisation like this (the nurses’ helpline is excellent - number above), Macmillan, you may be lucky to have access to a Maggie’s Centre and there’s also Future Dreams, a London-based charity that looks after people touched by breast cancer and helps them to move on.
I’ve had a LOT of contact with women with breast cancer and I sense that, even if you did have a CT scan or MRI, you still would not be reassured. It takes time to recover from the huge blow a cancer diagnosis is, whether you’re Stage 1 or Stage 3 - it still turns your world upside down and leaves you feeling your safe world is no longer safe. These are the issues that you’re going to need to address. By all means, go for a private scan but there is a lot more to your anxiety than a scan result can resolve. Find someone who understands cancer and get talking is my advice.
I do hope you find peace of mind. It’s a horrid situation.
Jan