Scary...Mastectomy -vs-lumpectomy

Yayme

Hi Ladies....

You know, every day we go through this cancer roller coaster....one day we read, Masectomy is equal to Lumpectomy, then we read Lumpectomy with radiation has a better survival. I am sure there are many ladies such as myself who had BMX, feeling good they were aggressive...then asked their Doctors if they should have radiation due to high grade of their cancer and were told NO as it is not the current protocol if node negative and you have a BMX or Uni Mastectomy....now we read radiation makes the significant difference in the two treatments showing a better survival .....well..after accounting for their exceptions in the studies they had noted such as what was not accounted for in the study....I am pissed and somewhat scared and let down. I had a triple negative high grade breast cancer....although I would have had a BMX anyway because I am BRCA 1+, I feel maybe I could have also benefited by some kind of radiation to the site...sorry ladies I am just venting and feeling a bit vulnerable right now....

Lisa

Yayme

Hi jenn...

You are so right...that's my point I guess...there is no right or wrong way, but the way the studies are skewed, I think it is confusing for even the wisest. That's why I had a vulnerable moment..I know I made the right choice for me, but lets face it, on a human level, sometimes we always wonder if there was more....just saying...I guess it's human nature to wonder...

Hope you are doing ok with treatments or whatever you have decided on.I wish you well and thank you for your input...

Blessings

Lisa

maltomlin

Hi

Who knows? I know I don't.

I had a WLE only because I asked the surgeon what he would recommend to his wife.

It's a difficult decision and I do wonder whether I made the right one, but I'm here 5 years out and doing well. I doubt I would have done better after a BMX.

sheila63

Hi Lisa,

I had TN also.  The first time I had a lumpectemy, and radiation, and then almost three years later I had it in the other breast.  This time two tumors with a positive lymph node. I then had a double masectomy, chemo, and radiation again.  I will say that my doctor did not receommend me to have radiation since the the tumor was under  5 cm, and with only one node involved.  I made an appointment with a radiologist who did not fully recommend I take the radiation either, but said I had a 20% less chance of it coming back locally.   I told him I had my mind made up, and ready to start, but he said for me to wait and think about it for two weeks.  I never bothered to think about it because my mind was made up from the beginning.

By the hesitation from my doctors, and research on my own I don't think I would have huge regrets if I had not had radiation.  My daughter seems to think that was the cause of my second BC.  At the time I was so frightened by my initial diagnosis that I would have taken anything to increase my survival by just a few percent.

I have beaten myself up by not having a double masectomy the first time, and for not insisting on a mammagram every six months for my breast not affected after my first diagnosis.  At the time I did what my doctor recommended, and fully trusted them.  I know how you feel, and still think what if.

Please feel free to vent, because we all understand here.

Hugs

Sheila

bdavis

I had this same question. I had a lumoectomy , chemo and was supposed to have radiation. But I just felt that even though survival may be the same, recurrance was not. I was far more likely to have a recurrance with lumpectomy/radiation than a BMX... Doctors thought I was being over treated with a BMX, but it is me who has to live with me, and knowing I would worry about the other breast, worry about what the radiation had done to my skin and any scatter that could cause another cancer, worry about each test and biopsy in my future... So I opted for a BMX. No regrets. I did of course wonder if I was better or worse protected against a regional recurrance (in the nodal area)... I knew i had a better chance of no recurrance locally, but not regionally... But 4 doctors told me that I did not and should not get radiation with the MX. My tumor was 1.9cm, clear margins and one node (.38mm).

I am good with all of my decisions... did tons of research and kept asking and re-asking the same questions. I am aware that in a year there could be a study that contradicts what I did, but I can only make decisions based on the information I have at the time of my diagnosis.

Yayme

Hi Sheila...& bdavis

Thank you for your understanding. These decisions are tough,and of course we do think of the what ifs especially after reading what they are now saying about rads...when they had told millions of women that survival was equal...then now they announce that rads had better survival ....I don't regret having the BMX because I am BRCA positive and an ovarian cancer survivor so I know it had to be done...but when I asked about having rads with it, my doc almost screamed at me for asking....then 4 months later I read the new findings....so, can't help but feel a little vulnerable and maybe a little raw as I am still emotionally sensitive and continue to process and heal since my diagnosis....

Your the best, thanks for your support...

Lisa

Yayme

Maltomlin....



Congrats on your 5 years!! Thanks for sharing....yay!



Lisa

bluepearl

That study was at Duke university and it was observational only; more has to be done to initiate different protocols to treatment. I read another study showing radiation creates cancer stem cells and may account for the more recurrences with lumpectomies. Take your pick. I say, do what feels best for you and live with that decision because information changes all the time and we can't base our decisions on what might be but on what is. I wanted a double mastectomy two years ago but with my small tumor and grade, older age, no family history.....nope.....don't need it. Now I have breast cancer in my other breast.