How Much To Take Off During Lumpectomy

NATSGSG

Hello Brave Ladies:

I'm writing to share with those who has not made any decision with regards to above. Now, I had an ultrasound and an MRI done. In both of these, my tumor size was 2.6 cm and 2.5 cm respectively. I was also told to have a mammogram before biopsy. The mammo showed a tumor size of 3.0 cm.

Prior to my surgery, one of my SOs said they will take 3 + 1 + 1 = 5 cm (the 2 cm being margins) during surgery. That bugged me so much I couldn't sleep for 2 nights. Logically the MRI should have the most accurate reading (2.5 cm + 2 cm margins = 4.5 cm). Normally, a 0.5 - 1.0 cm margins around the tumor is taken out. I wanted to talk to my original SO and explained that the reading of a 3.0 cm mammo tumor is impossible because breast and tumor are both squoosh, and thus seemed to make the tumor bigger.

Finally, I did get to talk to my original SO who returned from conference. She agreed with my assessment, and said that they will take no more than they needed to check if cancer has spread to the margins. Thanked God I had clear margins all around.

Now, I had 1/5 or 20% of my breast taken out. Surgery proved that my tumor is the size as indicated by the MRI. Breast reconstruction was done simultaneously during surgery. My 2nd SO did a fantastic job on the reconstruction. She uses a technique that cuts around the entire areola where my 1st SO took out the tumor with margins, and then she (my 2nd SO) did the reconstruction. She did a beautiful job of it. My breast is originally 38D. After reconstruction, my right breast is a 37D, just slight smaller and really not so noticeable. My areola was stitched back using dissolvable sutures, around which a layer of glue was used to keep it in place. It is now healing very very well. I can see that when fully healed, even the scars will fade away nicely, though I can't hardly wait for it to heal (when the redness is gone) so I can apply Mederma**, a scar fader that works wonderfully.

The reason I am writing to talk about my reconstruction is because from the many literature I read, many surgeons cut a hole to take out the tumor so most breasts are left with an ugly looking sunken hole. Please, please, if that is the technique your surgeon is planning on using, please stop him/her now. I can send you pictures of my breast so you can see how my SO did it. There really is no need for your SO to butcher your breast in a bad way.

So, if you can protect your breast, by all means do so and not let the SO take your decisions away from you. As for sentinel lymph nodes dissection during surgery, my SO said they would take 1-4 nodes. If 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 are positive (not 4/4) they won't take all the nodes out. They will try to see if they can salvage use chemo first to kill the cancers in them before axillary dissection.

You see, axillary dissection is painful, and your arms are essentially "useless" in that there are much you can't do with your arms.  I have posted an article about EVERYTHING U WANT 2 KW ABOUT LYMPH NODES. Please read it. If your cancer has not spread, please PROTECT your lymph nodes. They are an essentially part of a system in your body.  Fight for it if you can.