Hi

it can be difficult to decide on surgical options, I was given two choices; reconstruction or mastectomy. I had two weeks to make my decision and it went to the wire as it’s such a big decision that would impact the rest of one’s life. I chose neither, much to the annoyance of my surgeon, and opted for a simple lumpectomy. However, it’s not what I actually woke up with as surgeon obviously thought I was mad and did a part reconstruction.

its a really personal decision but I felt mine should be done on facts gleaned from studies, my worry was reoccurrence and was told the difference between lumpectomy and mastectomy, in my case, was 0.2%.

 This differs from case to case but unlike what Dbird says, a mastectomy does not “eradicate the risk completely” - if that were true mastectomies would be a no brainer and we would all be getting them. Studies have proved there is no difference in survival rates between lumpectomy and mastectomy.

I looked clinically at the pros and cons of each option, I was not concerned about how my breasts would look cosmetically but understand that is important to some, so my decision was based on hard facts. 

Only you can decide what’s best for you.

i wish you well x

Hi DBird,

Thank you so much for your reply, that’s really set my mind at ease. As you say, it’s not so much the cosmetic appearance that concerns me, more the fear that if they illuminate the lump with the new drugs and I end up with a small lumpectomy, more the fear of not finding a potential future lump until it’s at least 2cms. Hopefully neither of us will ever have that issue again.

i just wasn’t quite sure whether what I was asking was unreasonable but I’ll feel confident now using that as my starting point/concern with plastics. The NHS have been amazing to date, couldn’t have asked for more. It’s a weird old disease, I had no symptoms with the cancer but the treatment is obviously rather brutal, if we come out the end of it with a pair of pert boobies, I guess it’s a little gift at the end.

Thank you once again.

I’m sorry but even with your type of cancer the chance of recurrence is not eradicated. I am not saying this to upset you but I would hate to think that mindset would prevent you from checking your breasts.

there is a breast surgeon called Liz O’Riordan who had mastectomy for lobular but unfortunately it came back, her blog is here http://liz.oriordan.co.uk/

Lobular is difficult to detect, mine certainly did not show up on scans so can understand why a mastectomy would be the preferred option for many but I think it potentially dangerous for woman to think a mastectomy means no more breast cancer.

As I said in my previous post, surgical options are a personal choice.

Hi Magpie Maggie,

Thank you so much for responding. You’re right, I t is such a personal decision and those decisions are made purely on very personal thoughts and fears. 

Cosmetically it doesn’t really bother me, at 49 my boobs went south a good decade ago. However, my fears are far more related to the size of my breast and my ability (or inability) to find any future lumps. By the time my treatment started my lump was 6.5cms. Even as the lump shrunk through chemo, at 2cms my consultant has found it hard to physically locate it on occasion. The new drug (Perjeta) has the ability to totally illiminate the lump but they still like to take away the area of the lump (just in case the tissue remutates after treatment, although they’re hoping this won’t be necessary with this new drug in the future, which will be amazing). Even a C cup would leave me worrying far less... pert or droopy! 

Now I know from DBird that it’s a perfectly reasonable ‘ask’, it’s given me a good starting point.

Thank you so much.

It is a really personal decision and no one can make it for you, i was hoping for some input from my surgeon but none was forthcoming. You have to do what’s right for you, we differ when it comes to future checking, any fear of recurrence was lessoned knowing that I would have yearly scans, I would not have these with a mastectomy, I also fearful of a recurrence on the chest wall with a mastectomy as it can be harder to remove and margins difficult to obtain. 

My advice is to arm yourself with as much information as possible and speak to your surgeon about the pros and cons, it took several visits to my surgeon before I made my final decision. 

I have no doubt you’ll make the best decision for you.x