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Breast surgery reconstruction - don't know what to do!

Claire_w
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Hi all,

I had a lumpectomy 2 weeks ago and found out today I have clear margins and my lymph nodes are clear, which is obviously a massive relief.

Today my surgeon was speaking to me about a chest wall perforator flap partial breast reconstruction. I was just wondering if anyone has had this and what their experiences have been?

I need to make a decision in a week and it is really hard. At the moment my breast is filled with fluid so it looks pretty good, but I'm worried about how it will look after radiotherapy. It's hard to make a decision when I don't know what it would look like if I didn't have the surgery. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

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    Hi Claire, I had a lumpectomy 3 years ago when I got breast cancer for the first time, and after all the bruising and swelling had gone down, there was very little difference in how my breast looked than before I had the op.  The tumour was quite big and I thought that I would look lop-sided and freakish, but that wasn't the case at all.  It's a pity that you have to make the decision in one week, because with all the trauma of having cancer and the operation and the up-coming radiotherapy, it's a lot to take in, but this was my own personal experience, and hopefully you will get some replies from those who have actually had this procedure done, good luck anyway Claire and it is great that you have clear margins and lymph nodes, xx

  • Offline in reply to Violetgirl

    Hi, thanks for your response. That's really interesting. Can I ask where your tumour was taken from in the breast? Mine is on the outer/ lower side of the right breast. I've been told the dent doesn't fill in so well naturally on the outer portion.

  • Offline in reply to Claire_w

    Mine was on the upper side of my left breast, and I was told that because my breasts are somewhat on the large side, the dent would hardly be noticeable, and this turned out to be the case.  My oncologist  told me that women with small breasts are the ones who tend to look lop-sided after having a lumpectomy. 

  • Offline in reply to Violetgirl

    Ah ok, that's useful to know. Mine are small (B cup) so would probably be more noticeable .

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