Is DCIS really cancer?
Yesterday I interviewed a woman for an article I’m working on … a survivor with metastatic breast cancer … I’ll call her Lady M.
Lady M was diagnosed eight years ago with mets … so she only knows life with advanced, chronic breast cancer.
In the course of our conversation I mentioned another survivor I had talked to recently, a woman who had DCIS, was treated, and is now cancer free. I’ll call her Lady D.
Lady M basically jumped down my throat when I called Lady D a survivor. “She didn’t even have cancer,” she said.
And it is true, in some books or articles, DCIS is still called pre-cancer. But other research has shown … DCIS is cancer. Not invasive cancer, but cancer just the same.
I keep thinking back on that interview, because it bothered me on many levels. As a journalist, I tried to remain objective though I felt somewhat defensive of Lady D. Having had DCIS originally, I know first hand that DCIS is a precursor to invasive cancer — my invasive ductal cancer (IDC) diagnosis came not three years later. I know I was lucky, but to say I didn’t have cancer at that time … well, after surgery and radiation and hormone therapy … sorry, that was cancer treatment. It counted as cancer. I got to wear the survivor badge because I’d earned it. Lady M would beg to differ I’m afraid. She’s did a lot more to earn her badge. A lot more.
When I was diagnosed with IDC last year, a friend of my husband’s said, “geesh, I got you such a great gift the first time around, I didn’t know that was only baby cancer,” and I laughed at the analogy.
Baby cancer. Practice cancer. Not the real deal.
I think what people mean when they talk about DCIS this way is that people with DCIS that get good treatment don’t die.
People with mets do.
I don’t know the answer, if DCIS is cancer or not, but DCIS did lead to my own diagnosis of IDC, and that pushes me towards the former.
What are your thoughts?
May 20th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Ok…DCIS = Ductal “CARCINOMA” in situ. Carcinoma is cancer..in situ means it’s contained within the duct. It is not a “pre” or “baby” cancer. It is cancer, …period!
It really irks me when I hear other breast cancer survivors or those with mets say that DCIS is not a cancer…then why is it called what it’s called??? Should it be labeled DPC, ductal pre-cancer? Wake up people! Carcinoma is cancer..not matter how big, small, contained or invasive..it’s still cancer! Also, if DCIS is not really cancer, why are women (and men)who’ve had this disease, treated with cancer killing drugs (chemo) and radiation? Again, wake up people..read the facts!
May 20th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
My mom had a mastectomy when diagnosed with DCIS. To me, it means “cancer”. No way around it.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:15 pm
DCIS is like pregnancy. You can’t be “a little bit” pregnant - you either are or you aren’t - so yeah, I see DCIS as cancer. I remember when I was first diagnosed with DCIS, I was matched with a Reach for Recovery volunteer, who scoffed at me when she heard that all I had was DCIS. She proceeded to angrily tell me all about her diagnosis. I feel incredibly lucky every day for having such treatable cancer. But I also have to live with being diagnosed at age 36 - cancer will be stalking my subconscious for the rest of my life. I agree it’s nothing like having mets and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. So I just try to keep my mouth shut about it.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
I’m with the three of you, obviously … great ‘arguments’ for our side of this one.
Chris, did you tell the ACS about the person you spoke with who scoffed? I hate that that happened to you. When you needed support the most, you were matched with someone unsupportive; they should know.
I love the analogy ‘cancer will be stalking my subconscious for the rest of my life.’ That’s so true. I just wish we could take out restraining orders to keep it at away!
December 31st, 2007 at 4:26 am
I had a DCIS diagnosis and a bilateral mastectomy to treat it. I prefer to not think of it as cancer, but rather cancer-lite or some such thing.
I’ve never had chemo and I’m happy for that.
I don’t feel that my life was threatened by this. Sure, I’ve had a disfiguring surgery, but my life wasn’t threatened and that difference is huge.
Sorry, I’m siding with Lady M on this one.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Michelle, thank you for sharing your point of view. I often feel that having or not having chemo is a dividing line in the cancer world.
A friend of mine referred to my bout with DCIS as baby-cancer … it’s a funny story I’ll share with my readers in a day or so!
January 20th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Yes, let’s hear your “baby-cancer” story.
Yup, not having had chemo is a biggie.
Feeling like my life was never threatened was the biggest thing for me.
As for that whole “Is DCIS cancer or not?” question, it doesn’t really matter to me because at the time of my diagnosis they didn’t know which ones will turn invasive and which won’t. So, I followed a reasonable course of treatment for what was known in 2007.
Let’s say two years from now they have a way to predict which DCIS will become invasive and I learn that I could have kept my breasts because my DCIS never would have become invasive.
Oh well. Sucks to be me.
You have to do the best you can with the information you have at the time and then move on.
As for moving on …. I chose not to have reconstruction.
Now, I’m on the fence.
But, that is a different topic.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
My God! Why the argument at all - everything starts somewhere and until we know different DCIS Stage 0 is where the other cancers come from. Thank goodness we were caught as early as we were. That being said, I too had bi-lateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. My FATHER died of breast cancer in 2001 - thanks Dad for putting the wisper in my ear to do something early!!!
I believe I will now live a full life without invasive cancer of the BREAST, however I still must listen to the other wispers in the family and there are other potential cancers awaiting me - I hope, if they have to develop in my body - they too are discovered as baby cancers. I never want to have my children watch me die the way my father did…