Hi there @Blister...I'm so sorry that you feel that the medical profession have more or less "flipped you off". From my understanding, there's no such thing as being "a little bit pregnant"...that is, only six weeks or so. If a woman loses that pregnancy, it's just as devastating as losing the baby at say seven months. You're either pregnant, or you're not...there is no grey area. Whatever the scientific distinction in the professional mind, a person's perception or their understanding of a situation, is their own reality. If a person told me I have Ductal Carcinoma In Situ..then I would read it thus Ductal...in the duct...Carcinoma....latin for cancer...In..in...Situ...position. So, cancer within the duct. Cancer, not sort of cancer....cancer, (with micro invasion). Each person, both female and male, who develops ductal cell carcinoma (so the full monty), has it starting within the duct, then breaking free of the confines of the duct, and into the surrounding tissue and then on into the nodes and so forth. Medical people are very inclined to brush off conditions when in their view, it's almost insignificant as they have seen and treated patients in a far more advanced state. Is a person who has had one toe amputated any less of an "amputee" than a person who had the whole leg amputated? And it this person with one leg amputated less of an amputee than another person who lost both legs? Rubbish...each affected person has a right to their fear and concern about their own condition. Yes, you were fortunate in that your cancer was found and treated early, but the Grim Reaper did come knocking at your door. You have every right to feel that you have been heard and your concerns and worries regarding the completeness of their cure by your treating team fully explained and laid to rest. If you still feel that they have been, or still are, dismissive to the point of making you feel, as you have said, "a fraud", then if I were you, I'd seek a second opinion. You have to sleep with that breast, they don't. You have to live with the fear, they don't. As an addition to your post, you mention the other pain in your rib area. I too have had costochondritis, which is where the rib joins the sternum and there is inflammation or calcification. (The one generally causes the other). It is very painful and debilitating and causes pain with each breath...I understand and send you a hug. You are not a fraud, you are a woman with fear...I hear you.
