Still struggling with the word pre-cancer after DCIS mastectomy

Hi Ladies, i believe the lady you were reffering to from the webcast was my dear friend @Elle_V92. 
I think @Poodle_Lady55 said it best, DCIS: the C is for carcinoma which means type of cancerous cell!
People really have no insight into what and or how the things they say could effect others.

Hi @averi my cousin had DCIS and a lumpectomy then one year later had LDIS and then had a double mastectomy so I would never have said she didn’t have a cancer. Your surgeon is doing what is the best thing for your health.

Hi @averi and others, thank you for sharing your stories. I was also in the webinar and had the exact same reaction. I also share the experience of @Poodle_Lady55 where my husband was more than happy to be led by the BreastScreen doctor who looked me in the eye and said "You don't have breast cancer. You have pre-cancer". Even though the pathology report she gave me said 'high grade...probable microinvasion'. And the next line says "Definitive Treatment for Cancer:" This was the head consultant for St Vincent BreastScreen - I expected to 100% believe her because of her position. I was so confused about how to explain it to family and friends. Did I have cancer? I felt I did, but when a head consultant at a specialist service for breast cancer tells you you don't, well, it's reasonable to doubt yourself. I was so glad it was discussed in the webinar. A lady at my work had been through DCIS, and as she is a professor of nursing I discussed it with her and was validated in my thoughts that yes, DCIS is cancer. 
In a matter of under 2 weeks I went from 'you don't have breast cancer', to a lumpectomy with (thankfully) clear margins and no sentinel node involvement, but the diagnosis was invasive and HER2+. So my 'pre-cancer' then required not only a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, but 12 weeks of chemo, 12 months of herceptin injections and 3 weeks of dose-dense radiation, thanks to COVID. A massive shift in my thinking to come to terms with it all, and trying to get my husband to understand it in a way that was supportive to me. 
I have since written to the BreastScreen consultant to explain how her approach to delivering my diagnosis impacted my journey in a very negative way.
Regardless of whether you lose a breast, have a lumpectomy, whatever it is, you have cancer and that's that. I really hope BCNA are able to fulfil the promise made during the webinar, that they are working on 'educating' medical professionals in how to communicate diagnoses to patients. 
All the best to you ladies in your journeys xxx

I am rather bewildered hearing that women are being told that carcinoma-in-situ is pre-cancer.  It's very name says it's cancer that hasn't gone travelling yet.  Early pre-invasive cancer is really what it is. I understand that it's probably become a way of delivering news so that it doesn't scare the patient too much but it's bloody patronising and clearly incorrect, particularly if it gives a false sense of security.  As @Afraser said, hopefully you come to feel how lucky you have been to get an early warning but to diminish the reality of cancer is to send you back out into life without the understanding of what has happened to your body.  Not that I wish this understanding on anybody but if it's happened, you've got to be aware.

It's so important to be heard @averi.  I sometimes feel that there's some sort of veil that gets draped over the reality of breast cancer (and quite possibly, other cancers, too).  What can start out meaning to be reassuring can often have the opposite effect as in your case.  Another term I loathe when talking about cancer is "fight" - what happens if treatments don't work - did the person not fight hard enough?.. are they some sort of failure?  That's what I liked about Charlotte Tottman's manner - she comes across as straight up.  Understanding and empathetic but no sugar coating.  Fluffy words are something I no longer have time for.

@Sister I hate that word ‘fight’ too, and ‘battle’. This is not a battle or a fight. That implies there’s something that we have control over and something we can physically do to overcome. It infuriates me every time I hear it. I do what my doctor says, I endure the treatment and the meds, I eat well and exercise and I try to live. That’s it. What else can I do? How can I fight? 😤🤬

Brave battler - a lazy, supposedly empathetic description that makes me cross. For many, ‘winning the battle’ involves a bit of luck, as in you found out early, the medication works for you, the side effects aren’t too severe etc. Brave? I have always adopted the Bravery Council’s definition of bravery - ‘taking yourself from a place of safety to a place of danger to assist another’. It’s the conscious volition that marks bravery - I don’t know anyone who chose cancer, or who might not dodge it given an option! Tagging you as ‘brave’ (or, worse, a hero) may make the speaker feel better but doesn’t do much for the object of the description. 

Hi @averi
i totally get where you’re coming from and have been through the same thing. I was diagnosed 1 year ago today with DCIS at the age of 36. My surgeon said to me that in Australia DCIS is considered cancer however anywhere else in the world they class it as a pre cancer. Saying that since then I have still been told by others that it is a pre cancer 🤷🏼‍♀️ it is definitely confusing and hard to know where you stand. I had a lumpectomy and re excision but still had cancer cells on the margin so was told I needed a mastectomy. I chose to have a bilateral mastectomy and immediate reconstruction with expanders. They also did a sentinel node biopsy where they took 2 lymph nodes one of which they found 8 tumours in. I am now on tamoxifen for 5 years. 

Thank you @MBall