Second Re-excision

Hi Ro-obrien, it sounds as if you had a good team who explained things well and helped you towards making good choices.

But they don't seem to have understood what Estrogen receptors are. They are not precursors to DCIS at all.

Estrogen receptors, Progesterone receptors and HER2 receptors are parts of the outside of each tumor cell, like little docking stations on a spaceship that attract Estrogen, Progesterone and/or HER2  respectively to them, and the Estrogen, Progesterone and/or HER2 goes into the tumor cell and supports and speeds up their growth. Normal cells have minimal numbers of each type of receptor. But the more of each type of receptor, the more Estrogen, Progesterone and/or HER2 growth hormone can hook onto the outside of the tumor cell, get into the inside of it, and contribute to making your tumor grow. And they also work on any metastatic cancer cells that are spread in lymph or blood into lymph nodes or new distant tumor sites after your tumor is removed.

So if you have high numbers of Estrogen receptors on each cell, you are Estrogen Receptor positive. The same applies to all the little cells that may have been sloughed off by the cancer before, or during surgery, esp if clear margins were not achieved and can grow into new tumors in the futore if you are unlucky. This is much less likely with DCIS because it is contained in the duct, but can happen if it is highgrade and has already broken through the duct membrane in tiny spots, or if margins were not clear, or with HER2 pos. So having tamoxifen or Aromase Inhibitors for 5-10years after will cut down the estrogen in your body for that time and help stop any tiny metastatic cancer cells that may well be in your lymph or blood or in your body somewhere, from growing for so long there is a good chance they have  given up and died. Similarly, if you have high HER2 receptor levels, they may treat you with Herceptin or Perjeta, which fill up the receptors for that biochemical so HER2 growth hormone cannot attach, and the cell does not multiply, and then flags it for your immune system send macrophages to come and destroy the cancer cell.

Hope this helps.