Anyone Watching & Waiting tiny DCIS?
Curious if there are women whose doctors suggested watching a small piece of dcis instead of lumpectomy? And if so, how long did you wait it out? This is my second bout of dcis, the first, I did have a lumpectomy. No radiation. I was supposed to take Tamox—Didn't, for a variety of reasons. Fast forward a few years, new spec of dcis same breast. Doctor suggested low dose Tamox and to regroup after 6 mos. Again, did not take the Tamox. So, I've got my 6 mos diagnostic mammo next week and I'm having so much regret. I know I"m going to have to have another lumpectomy at the very least. I'm hoping there isn't anything worse growing in 6 mos….. but, it's on me that I didn't take the medicine. I know that the only cure for dcis, is surgery, but I'm definately curious if other doctors think small dcis is overtreated and choose the watch and wait method with Tamox??
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So watch and wait would have been an option for me IF the medical study being conducted by my location had been accepting new patients but they weren’t because they were still in covid protocols at the time. But yes the study was watch and wait WITH the use of medication (actually it was the possible use of medication I think it was a double blind study so maybe you were taking meds or maybe it was between dosages but either way it was a clinical trial and there was medication involved. Only once on this board did anyone recently that I know of mention their sister or in-law trying to do watch and wait (but I don’t think it was someone who posts on a regular basis. But yes my surgeon truly believes DCIs is over treated BUT because no one is able to predict at this stage whether DCIs that is found will definitely become invasive or simple continue to grow or it will just hang out she treats it but she definitely offered the clinical trial when it was open
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I can’t speak to the issue of not having a lumpectomy, but that’s the only treatment I had for my small dcis 3 years ago. No tamox or radiation for me and I’m doing just fine. Nothing suspicious in either breast so far.
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I’m on my second bout of DCIS after a lumpectomy 18 months ago. I similarly chose not to radiate. I tried Tamoxifen for a few months but just couldn’t tolerate it. I was told I could do another lumpectomy but would really need to radiate if I went that route. I’ve decided to have a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction with implants. I didn’t realize when I chose not to radiate previously that radiation compromises your chances of a successful reconstruction. I don’t regret not radiating or sticking with tamoxifen. After all it lowers your chances but no guarantees, even with the mastectomy! Too bad the results from the COMET study are far away, maybe the next generation will have more information to make an informed choice! In the meantime, I feel comfortable with my choice because I think with one recurrence there’s likely more chance of another, and I’m relatively young, 42, so higher lifetime risk. I think a lot of it comes down to how risk tolerant you are. Keep us posted with your decision!
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Welcome, @biz.kenney! We're sorry you find yourself here, especially having done this twice in such a short amount of time. We're all here for you!
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