A Mastectomy or Lumpectomy?

Annette_U

Well a discussion on this board that just keeps going and going.  The following is a bit of my boob history for you all:

At age 40 (10 years ago) - newly divorced I thought I'd get a tummy tuck and fake boobs. I needed the tuck because I had an umbilical hernia that was not  well repaired from a previous surgery and caused me great pain. The tuck was one tough surgery to get over and I don't recommend to other women unless you need to fix your muscle wall from hernias or injury. I did think - why not add new boobs since I was fixin' my front side and heck! I wanted to look fetching to other men (stupid reason). I asked for bigger B's - I awoke from surgery with heaping C's - wait, they were D's. I was mortified. What had I done!!!!! I labored through recovery over the next 5 weeks- still slouched over because my tummy skin was so tight and my new saline boobs heaving up over my sports bra. You could see all the blue veins being pressed against my skin and they looked hideous riding so high on my chest. They were not soft, sleeping was horrible and I had lost feeling on spots and on my nipples. At week 7, I had my sports bra and spandex leggings on and caught myself walking past a full size wall mirror. I looked for a while and started to mimic a Jane Fonda workout video I had once seen and burst out laughing. My god! I looked like one of those women in an aerobic fitness infomercial. It was then I realized - they had to go! I had them out on week 8. All the breast tissue I had was like a flattened marshmallow, I had 2 fleshy ribbons of skin hanging off my chest. I was sad, did my stupid act of getting fakes mess my originals up forever? If they had , I was to deal with it. I hated those fakes that much. In two weeks my little marshmallows puffed up and by week 6 I looked pretty good. 

As the years went by - I used to pray I would get any cancer other than breast cancer because I never wanted to be faced with the decision of getting implants again. I hated the way they felt. I would tell other women - only three reasons you need fake boobs, deformity, cancer or to make a living off of them (actress, model, porn star, need sugar-daddy) . WELL............... 2013 oops! I was told when the breast surgeon called to inform me of cancer that I would need a mastectomy but could have reconstruction. CRAP! Crap! crap........ my oncologist said I could have a lumpectomy because I was having neoadjuvant chemo and the scans after the 2nd  (4)FEC said the cancer had shrunk in half and after the 7 taxol treatments  the MRI could not find any cancer. WOW!!!! Well I would have loved getting a lumpectomy but realized that 6cm of swiss cheese does not make a great lumpectomy. Then there was those few enlarged nodes - did they have cancer? who knows - neoadjuvant coulda' gotten what was there. My Plastic surgeon agreed with my breast surgeon saying "They're trying to kill you!" My Onc was sad when I told her I had to go with mastectomy  on both and get those stupid implants again.  I am 50 and did not want to mess with prosthetics swimming away at the lake when I jumped off our sailboat. Darn... what if I forgot them on a trip- guess I could use toilet paper in a pinch . So they may be unhealthy - but hey I just had mustard gas and was radiated through my clav area with an exit burn on my back and an exit burn on my sternum. I may have 10 - 30 years left - that's better then what I had before cancer. I may still choke on a nut! Heck - I had cervical cancer at 21 and survived 30 years. I'll take my chances with these silicone bags and rejoice that I don't need to wear a bra anymore. 

last notes - it's been 4 months with expanders and they are getting more comfy. They are my new accessories!

Final note: pathology Right - nothing and left side 4.3 x 3 x1cm not dense lobular cancer with stray foci (strands) away from mass and LCIS in 3 quads of left side. sentinal - 4 nodes .7 - 2.7 cms in length - no cancer found, 1 extra benign node removed. Margins about 1cm from front and .5 from chest wall - clear margins. No nuero (nerve), vascular or lymphatic invasion. Was stage after neo at a II with no nodes. Original mass on MRI was about 6.3 x 3.5 x 2.5. (stage III). No idea if they got it all or if some got away - time will tell.

Oh Oncologist apologised after path report! said I was right....mastectomy was the way to go.

Stop fussin ladies about the loss of your ta-tas ! really it's no big deal. Get recon by flap, implant or no recon. Just be happy you could cut-off the useless parts and live longer!!!!!

Best

Annette