Peggy Lee Was Here

The Dutchman has spoken: I have DCIS. Which isn’t cancer... yet. So, out it comes. Sometime in February, I’ll have a wire localization lumpectomy (http://www.health.harvard.edu/diagnostic-tests/wire-localization-biopsy-of-the-breast.htm) to remove a lesion 10cm long. It’s day surgery under general anaesthetic, and I should expect to be off work for a day or two. And there’ll be no heavy lifting or spinning for two to three weeks. I’ll have radiation after surgery, but I’ve dodged the chemo and tamoxifen bullets. And I get to keep most of my right breast.

Is that all there is? All this waiting, and all these procedures, and I don’t have cancer. But, I’m having a lumpectomy and radiation. Yet, I don’t have cancer.  So why do all the breast cancer sites list DCIS?  I’m not sure whether to feel relieved or short-changed; it’s the most underwhelming payoff. All the hassle and the emotional roller coaster without the actual disease.  An anticlimax of the first water.