I was diagnosed four weeks ago with grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma, and am due to have a lumpectomy in a couple of weeks followed by five days radiotherapy. I saw a different surgeon who could do the surgery quicker yesterday and he said I should get genetic testing in view of my family history. He said I need to get this done before radiotherapy and if shown to have a faulty gene would have to have bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction - the reconstruction can't be done once you have had radiotherapy. The previous consultant didn't mention this and I have gone from a lumpectomy and short radiotherapy course to potentially bilateral mastectomy. It was quite a shock as he didn't even say there was a choice - and of course I might not even have the genetic mutation. I would rather have surgery and radiotherapy and have a mastectomy at a later stage - and not too bothered about reconstruction.
Anybody else have a similar experience?