Hi Jess and sorry to hear of your mum’s diagnosis. 

I had a mastectomy on one side and opted for an immediate implant reconstruction. There are other reconstruction options too using tissue from elsewhere on the body. I wasn’t keen on this personally as it meant a longer recovery time (not practical as I have young kids).

Or there is the option to go flat and to be honest it’s something I considered.

It’s confusing looking at all the options but bear in mind they may not all be options anyway! It comes down to the treatment plan and individual circumstances/body shape/breast shape. For instance, most of the tissue flap options were not available to me due to lack of tissue or other injuries in the affected area. 

Like your mum I really wasn’t sure what to do and it wasn’t until I’d met with the surgeon that the mists began to clear. I asked his opinion on what my best options were - and the pros and cons of each. 

From this I learned that I was a good candidate for an implant due to my breast shape but delayed reconstruction would take the implant option off the table as radiotherapy damages the skin. So if I wanted an implant it had to be done immediately.

The surgeon said if my implant fails due to the radiotherapy or other issues, I could have a new implant or a tissue flap recon...or obviously there remains the option to go flat. So I felt like the immediate recon with implant left me with most options going forward. 

This was my thought process, obviously your mums might be different based on her situation, but I hope it gives you an idea of how I made sense of the myriad of options.