Hi [@Verity123]‍ , I thought i’d contribute. I was diagnosed in late December with a HER2-positive ‘small’ tumour, it turned out to be two, now fully diagnosed as grade 3  with an overall size of over 4cm once removed. As it was originally thought to be only 6mm, pre surgery chemo was not on the cards for me. Pre surgery chemo is excellent, the reason being it can shrink your tumours to virtually nothing which COULD turn a full mastectomy (which I had 3 weeks ago today) into a lumpectomy. Chemo before surgery is definitely not a negative thing -  it is immediately full on destroying the cancer cells in your tumours. I hope this helps with at least some of your fears. I chose the mastectomy with reconstruction on the day as it gave me total peace of mind. My surgery results are nothing short of amazing, I’m thrilled so far. If you want to refer back to me with any questions you may have please do. I wish you the very best with everything. Stay positive, and strong. Optimism helps greatly in dealing with this awful disease. We are all here for you. Lyn. X

Hi [@Verity123]‍, Sadly we are not able to give actual names of hospitals, health authorities etc, a moderator would remove it, but I’m in Lancashire. I have a large boob too 38e. I have an expander in at the moment that is 2/3 full of the actual finished size,  I will probably end uo with a good C cup, I am thrilled with that, no more under boob sweating in the summer,  looking ‘large’ etc. The consultant did say from the outset he couldn’t replace the E cup because of the weight of it - me, I was THRILLED. The op for the sentinal lymph node removal and mastectomy took 4.5 hours for one surgeon. I chose the implant for a number of reasons, A. my hospital don’t do the own tissue re-construction, I was given an alternative hospital though. B. It is a 7.5 hour op, and C. You have an extra wound site to heal where the tissue has been taken from - primarily lower abdomen. I didn’t want to put my body through that in my 50’s, I don’t sweat the small stuff, and have a different mindset at this time in my life. HER2 has nothing to do with chemo not doing the job, it will absolutely do the job regardless of the cancer ‘type’. And, would you believe If you are HER2 positive, the news isn’t all bad, we have an extra thing in our arsenal purely for HER2 (POSITIVE only)  girls, a revolution called Herceptin a targeted therapy that has revolutionised the not so brilliant prognosis for HER2 girls. It came along in the last 20 years. Chin up Verity, fight for that reconstruction, I know hospitals are really strapped due to covid, but be persistent, incidentally how old are you? Keep positive. Chemo first is a GOOD thing for the reasons i’ve given, it will be on that cancer immediately. Remember, there is a time lag if you have surgery first, it takes time for the wounds to heal, so you could lose a month there. A big hug to you. lyn. x

[@yorkiegal]‍ 

Hi Lyn,

thank you so much for such an uplifting post! :happy::happy:

I am 46.

If there is a C cup at the end of all this, it is definitely worth the fight! Thank you also for sharing your reasons. A very good point regarding the extra wound. 

I will sleep better tonight.

Take care and have a great evening!

Vx

[@Verity123]‍ , Glad to be of help, I am a pragmatic individual, though as scatty as anything at times. I never left the consultants office after the cancer diagnosis in floods of tears, though I was pretty shocked. My advice, if you are going to search Dr Google, only look at things relevant to ‘our’ tyoe of cancer, don’t judge anyone elses outcome, yours may be way different - better even, and keep your mood light if at all possible, it can be difficult but it’s obsolutely doable. Get a good nights sleep, sleep is mega important now and during recovery. Have a great evening too. Do let me know how you get on with things, remember the old BT ad? - it’s good to talk. Lyn. x