Hello junez, 

I am sorry to hear you have been diagnosed with DCIS and it must be really difficult to have to make a decision based on the two options the consultant has given you. I hope you will meet other ladies on this forum who have been faced with a similar dilemma after a DCIS diagnosis. 

We have information on DCIS on our website here which I hope will be useful to you. Our nurses are also available on this free number 0808 800 4040 - their line is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm if you have any questions or need further guidance. 

It is normal to feel that your emotions are all over the place at the moment and I am glad though that you can count on the support of your family and friends. Coming to the forum and talking to other ladies who have been in a similar situation will hopefully help you too. I've done a little forum search for you and found for example [@MaryT19]‍ who has also recently been diagnosed with DCIS and had the operation just ten days ago. You can read her thread here and hopefully she will pop by and share her experience with you. [@Anxious57]‍ would be another great lady for you to chat to and you can read her story here. [@Jolamine]‍ would also be a great person for you to talk to about all this. So rest assured you are not alone.

I hope this helps and that you will soon be chatting here to others who can truly understand how you are feeling at the moment and who have been through this before. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Junez,

Welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. Still, you are fortunate in some ways. You have been given 2 options. I have copied some information from the Cancer Research site about DCIS. There is further information there if you are interested.

“DCIS means that some cells in the lining of the ducts of the breast tissue have started to turn into cancer cells. These cells are all contained inside the ducts. They have not started to spread into the surrounding breast tissue.

Doctors might describe DCIS in different ways. These include pre invasive, non invasive, ductal intraepithelial neoplasia (DIN) or intra ductal cancer.

In some people if DCIS is not treated, it could become an invasive cancer. DCIS and invasive breast cancer are not the same thing.

In invasive breast cancer, the cancer cells have broken out of the ducts and spread into the surrounding breast tissue. There is then a chance that the cells can spread into nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body.

The grade of DCIS tells you how much the cells look like normal breast cells. It gives your doctor an idea of how the DCIS might behave and which treatment you need.

DCIS grade is divided into:

low grade (more slowly growing)

intermediate grade

high grade (more quickly growing)

Doctors think that high grade DCIS is more likely to:

come back after treatment

spread into the surrounding breast tissue (become an invasive cancer

The grade of DCIS tells you how much the cells look like normal breast cells. It gives your doctor an idea of how the DCIS might behave and which treatment you need.

Many women have surgery to remove the area of DCIS and a border of healthy tissue around it. This is called a wide local excision (WLE) or breast conserving surgery, or sometimes a lumpectomy.

After this surgery, you might have radiotherapy to the rest of the breast tissue if the DCIS cells look very abnormal (high grade). The radiotherapy treatment aims to kill off any abnormal cells that might still be in the breast tissue. Your doctor or breast care nurse will discuss with you the possible benefits and risks of radiotherapy.

You might have a mastectomy if:

the area of the DCIS is large

there are several areas of DCIS

you have small breasts and too much of the breast is affected by DCIS to make wide local excision possible

If you want to, you can choose to have a new breast made (breast reconstruction) at the time of the mastectomy, or some time afterwards.”

I am not a doctor, but have had 2 bouts of breast cancer in the past 10 years. I would imagine that you haven’t been offered a lumpectomy because there is no lump to remove, whereas a mastectomy would remove all your tissue. There are other reasons given above. Have you asked your consultant this question? He should be able to tell you which reason applies to you.

It is good news that your DCIS is intermediate and not high grade, but this does leave you with a decision and, one that only you can make. I had a lumpectomy 10 years ago and, a double mastectomy 9 years ago. I couldn’t have reconstruction due to previous non-cancer related surgery. Both operations were a lot easier than I expected them to be.

If it is of any consolution to you, the way you are feeling is erfectly normal. We nearly all feel like this with a new diagnosis. You will however feel better once you decide on a plan of action and start to carry that out.

Please keep in touch and, let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx