No reconstruction- am I crazy?

christmas718

I have a recurence of DCIS- I'm 43- first was at 40.

The first was treated with lumpectomy and brachyotherapy- where I had tubes hanging out the side and they inserted radiation 'seeds' twice a day for 5 days. It was short- but painful- the tubes always seemed to move and the 'scientific' guys always had to move them around each time I went in-- what I thought was supposed to be a short in and out visit twice a day - would be 2-3 hours each time.....

Now it's back-- I've been told it's up to me-- either have a lumpectomy again and this time WHOLE breast radiation - 4 weeks- (I can have whole breast this time they think since the other radiation was targeted with those seeds) OR have a bilateral masectomy

I've seen the surgeon, the radiologist, an oncologist, a plastic surgeon and my family doctor. Everyone except the surgeon keeps acting like it's up to me...they see the benefit of either...the surgeon acted like he thinks a lumpectomy is all I need....but I'm leaning toward masectomy

I am a plus size woman, 42D. The surgery itself sounds scary enough-- it would have to be bilateral I've been told due to 'droopiness' , size etc.

But I really feel like I just want to be done. No more surgeries-- just go flat. Anyone similar to my size/age choose no reconstruction? Did you regret it? I've been told I Can choose reconstruction later down the road-- I'm thinking knitted knockers- or trying prothesis--- or nothing. Does it look odd- when you're of the plus size and are flat?

I feel like I"m fine with it most days....I have to go back to the surgeon next week to make final decision...

Moderators

It's a tough decision to make, christmas718. Have your physicians ever suggested genetic testing for you? You may even want to consider a second opinion from another surgeon/treatment team? Just a thought. Anxious to hear what others suggest!

Jennie93

You will meet many women here who have done just that. Also, check out the "Flat and Fabulous" group on Facebook if you do Facebook. You can ask any question and get honest replies, both here and there.

Frankly if I were in your position I would do exactly what you are considering. I was not offered the option of removing the healthy one, and many times I have thought it would be better. In any case I would never consider reconstruction surgery. Why would anyone want an implant permanently in their body when they could just stick it in their bra and take it off when it gets uncomfortable? I truly have no idea. I'm not into multiple surgeries, pain, risk of infection, and mega $$ of course, all for something that has no feeling and serves no purpose. But that's just me.

Also, it's never too late to change your mind, if you decide you would like to try the recon, down the road, even if it's been years.

christmas718

I'm sorry, I tried to remember all the important facts on my post- but knew I'd forget one or two- yes I did have genetic testing 3 years ago with the first episode. It was negative.

christmas718

Thank you Jennie93 I will do that!

ravzari

I'm not exactly the same, but close.

I'm 36 an was a 34DD prior to surgery; I chose to have a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy due to a strong family history of cancer and most who got it having their first incident of it around age 40. My tests prior to deciding to have the mastectomy were all clear but the dense, fibrous, cystic tissue was 'a concern' for the future, and I didn't want to give them the chance to develop cancer due to that & family risk, so the girls were evicted on June 30th.

If I were in the position you described, I'd definitely go for the double mastectomy.

I'm not personally comfortable with the idea of breast implants (doubly so as two relatives of mine who had breast cancer had recurrences behind their implants that were almost missed!), and the other options using my own tissue weren't anything I was super comfortable with either in terms of additional healing time, complication rates, and things like that were just at a level I didn't want to risk, so I just chose to go flat.

I honestly can't say I've regretted it for one second; it was actually kind of nice to get all that weight off of my back, neck, and shoulders (and chest, I guess. ). Since I often wore chest binders for cardio exercise due to bounce & pain that I'd get from said bounce, I was already fairly used to how I looked with a nearly flat chest, so it wasn't a big shift for me.

It's also pretty nice to not have to deal with bras anymore and just be able to throw on a shirt and go.

About the only clothing I think I look funny in while flat are women's style tank tops as those are usually cut to show off a little bit of cleavage and they look strange to me when flat so I switched to men's style tank tops and they look a lot better to me.

I was never a dress wearing sort, so I can't speak to how those look flat, but in my usual t-shirt and jeans I think I look just fine and, if I decide I want breasts for a certain outfit, there are many breast form options out there to choose from.

And honestly, I've been floored by the amount of people who didn't notice anything had changed or that I was flat unless I pointed it out!

For me, recovery was pretty quick and painless; drains were out in a week, most of my range of motion was back by 3-4 weeks, and at just past 6 weeks I have full range of motion back in both arms. My left side is a little more swollen and numb than the right, but that lessens daily.

christmas718

Funny you mention dense fibrous breasts amw, I have those as well- I'm going to have an MRI on my breasts this Thursday- the radiologist ordered it-- he says sometimes mammograms give 'all clears' - when in fact there is another problem-- say for instance in the other breast. I don't know if he thought that would help me make a decision lumpectomy vs. masectomy ...which now as I say- as I read so many posts here- I'm really 95% sure I'm going to choose masectomy.

ravzari

In my case, they were considering an MRI just to be safe, but at that point I told the high risk specialist that I just wanted to go ahead with a preventative mastectomy as my insurance company covered it once a diagnosis of high risk for breast cancer was made and in the patient record.

For me, I just didn't want to end up in a situation where I waited to long and ended up with any actual cancer; since insurance was already on board with the preauthorization, at that point it went pretty fast. Told them in late April I wanted them removed as soon as both the general & plastic surgeon could coordinate, got the surgery done in June.

christmas718

That is definitely something to ponder amw-- I really feel it has to be double masectomy to give me piece of mind... so maybe I shouldn't even bother ? I might sleep on it and cancel that MRI...so if you didn't do reconstruction, what did the Plastic Surgeon do? I was under the understanding he would only come into play IF I chose the reconstruction....

thx~

ravzari

I found out early on that reconstruction doesn't always mean implants or tissue grafting; it just means reconstructing the chest so it appears as normal as possible, including just leaving it flat. They told me reconstruction was required by US law after a mastectomy and that if I actually chose 'no reconstruction', in insurance/surgery terms that may mean I got left with basically empty floppy skin-breasts. The general surgeon will take the breast tissue out, but doesn't do any cosmetic 'fixing' once it's done, that's where the plastic surgeon comes in.

What I asked her to do was, "make me as flat as a 10 year old boy and leave me with as normal as possible looking of a chest. Don't leave extra skin for tissue expanders as I do not plan to have implants put in or do any sort of reconstruction that will leave me with a breast."

My PS's speciality is breast reconstruction, reduction, and augmentation, including doing top surgery (which is essentially a simple mastectomy with nipple grafts) for FtM trans people, so she had experience in creating flat 'normal' looking chests.

If you can choose your plastic surgeon from within your network, make sure to find out if they're a breast specialist as their focus; there have been lots of cases I've read about where the plastic surgeon's speciality was, say, hand surgery or facial surgery or some other focus and not breast reconstruction (even being left flat is considered 'reconstruction' usually coded as "other method". Mine was coded as "breast reconstruction w/other technique".), and sometimes you can end up with a less than nice looking result in those cases.

In my case, I got to keep my nipples (free grafts, I was too large to do a normal nipple sparing without risking 'puckering' or constant headlights) as there was no cancer, but in your case they may want/need to take the nipples too; there are options for nipple reconstruction + tattooing an areola after it all heals, or to just have a 3D nipple tattoo done by a tattoo artist after things heal--or to just not have nipples at all.
The 3D tattoos are pretty awesome when done by a good artist; until you go and touch them you can't actually tell it's not a 'real' nipple by looking.

debiann

I think mx sounds like a very reasonable choice. I had a hard time deciding between flat and DIEP recon. If I had gone flat, I think I would have skipped the prosthetic, just be flat without all the hassle of stuffing a bra. The PS was going to do some fat grafting to fill in the divots and give it a nice smooth look.

In the end however, I did choose DIEP recon and it worked out well for me. They look and feel natural and I am really surprised at how much sensation has returned. But it is a lot more surgery and recovery time. I totally understand the "wanting to be over feeling" I took breaks in between, so the recon process has stretched out to 2 years for me. I'll be getting the finishing touch, nipples, in September.

Your PS should be able to help you look at all your options and choose what will work best for you. Good Luck!

emma2015

Hi Christmas718

                           I just went through a BMX no reconstruction surgery August 10 2016 ....I was fortunate as I was Stage 0 I had a rougher time with the professionals about this decision as they said my decision = overtreatment...I told them I didn't care what the studies or the literature showed....I had to do what was for my best mental health and attitude...this was the right one for me and I am overjoyed after the fact for this decision.no regrets no loss of muscle no more surgeries no radiation no medications no chemo all I have to do is get these drains out on thursday  I've only had half of a pain pill the last two nights to help me sleep ...I got online today and got some remote work done with clients....I am ready for a new chapter....my decision is not be good for anyone else but me.....roll on Thursday........Friday...starts a new life.....I chose no reconstruction ....really don't care what a guy thinks if I should ever date again....if it's a problem....he's not for me !  I have just watched on Netflix a documentary called

Cancer : The Emperor of all Maladies.......3 two hour episodes....what an education.....this is one elusive mystery the illness of cancer....the second episode...mainly on history of breast cancer....it made me realise for how many years ...I had my head in the sand.....

won't be anymore i'm on everyone's case about mammogram.....

whatever you decide stay stron and true to yourself....decide what will make you happy and that you can live with for the rest of your life....with nor regrets.....never look back.......

take care .......tons of hugs....for you

emma2015

christmas718

you are all so wonderful to share. Thank you so much. Wow AMW - I hadn't really thought about the plastic surgeon to make the remaining skin look 'normal' afterwards. We didn't even talk about that at either the general surgeon or plastic surgeon appointments. I will definitely be bringing it up when I go back to make final decision with general surgeon.

The plastic surgeon had said I could always change my mind later and opt for reconstruction later even years down the road with insurance covering it (after deductible of course)

But if I brought him in now and as u say they code it "reconstruction/other" that might close the door for any future insurance payments eh?

So making me wonder what I might be "left with" if I just leave it in the hands of the general surgeon to finish it off... I really really think I'm going to be ok with no reconstruction - like I say I've had enough surgeries...thyroidectomy, hysterectomy, parathyroid extort, lumpectomy....but I also know this is going to be quite a major thing and hard to 100% know how ones emotions will play out.

ravzari

What the general surgeon I had told me was that, since he's not a plastic surgeon and wouldn't really now how to make it look 'nice', I could end up with flaps of empty skin, or just really ugly scarring with excess skin that would look like big wrinkles so I'd have kind of a shar-pei looking chest instead of something smooth and flat.

They also told me that, in the US, if you have insurance that covers a mastectomy (for any reason) that they're required by law to cover the reconstruction, whatever method you choose.
I did have to do a preauthorization for both my mastectomy and again for the "breast reconstruction w/other technique" after they preauthorized the mastectomy. The other codes for breast reconstruction were specific to having implants, dlep, fat grafting, or tissue expanders put in, so those weren't applicable to my situation as I wasn't having that done; the "other technique" code just appears to have been the catch all for women who choose to not have implants or expanders and who didn't go with fat grafting or a dlep style reconstruction.

There aren't tons of pages out there with actual 'no reconstruction' where there wasn't a PS involved to clean the area up a bit, but I did find this one; the left picture is kind of how my general surgeon described my chest, at the size it was, might end up looking if I really opted for what they considered no reconstruction. The woman in that picture is 42 and heavyset. I'm not quite that big but at the time of my surgery I was around 197lb with my 34DDs.

Edit: This page also has a good example of what my general surgeon had described 'no reconstruction' from their viewpoint as (note: the lady in those pictures did eventually undergo reconstruction as shown in pics further down the page). In that case, the extra skin was left on purpose, as that woman was planning to reconstruct; my general surgeon told me that I'd likely end up with that as, while he know how to take the breast tissue out, he wasn't a cosmetic/plastic surgeon and wouldn't be entirely certain how to properly remove/reconstruct the excess skin to make it look good.

It seems that 'no reconstruction' just means something different to the patient vs. to the surgeons. Like, when I think reconstruction, even after my BMX, I still think of it as something that will leave the patient with breasts of some sort, not with a flat chest. I suspect that's how most other people view it as well; the doctors just end to view it differently likely because of how insurance billing works.

debiann

To reconstruct or not is a very personal decision and there is no "right" answer, just what feels "right" for you. To help me decide, I first spent time looking at the prosthetic options online, looking to see what the choices were. They didn't really appeal to me so that helped me decide it would be flat or DIEP, but you can schedule an appointment with a fitter before mx to see the products.

Next I meet with the PS and he discussed both options. I took some time to think about what he said. I was really leaning toward flat, but one day I was waiting in a line and found myself noticing other women's breast and feeling very sad that they got to keep their's and I was losing mine so I ended up doing recon because while I feared surgery, I couldn't come up with one other reason to not do it.

To help you decide, I highly recommend "visualizing". Think about how you like to dress, activities you like to do. What works best with your lifestyle?

Momine

AMW, it sounds to me like they are milking the recon insurance for all it's worth. It certainly is nice to have a PS close up the incisions etc, but I didn't have one. However, nor did I have a general surgeon perform the MX. My surgeon only does breast surgery and although perhaps not as neat as those of a PS, his incisions are very neat and clean.

ravzari

Momine, I don't doubt that one bit, especially after seeing the charges from the plastic surgery part of my BMX!

We only owed $25 out of everything as we'd hit our out of pocket maximum months ago due to all the appointments and diagnostics for the high risk stuff, but her charges for recon were $19,034 per breast! I can't necessarily say it wasn't worth it as she did a great job and once all the swelling is gone it'll look like a pretty normal, flat chest, but dang...glad I wasn't paying out of pocket.

The mastectomy itself was $6,096 per breast. Marshfield, evidently, charges per breast and not as an overall--either that or my insurance provider doesn't have a specific code for a bilateral mastectomy or bilateral reconstruction so it has to get billed per breast.

The funniest (or saddest) part is that FtM trans people who pay out of pocket for private surgeons to do a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction to a flat chest tend to pay between $7,000-10,000 for the whole surgery, including the hospital theater fees for the surgeon.

My general surgeon was interesting; he's primarily a bariatric & gallbladder surgeon, but was a 'general surgeon' for 10 years prior to moving into those specialities.

There is an actual breast general surgeon (as in all she does is breast surgery, she doesn't do anything else) in network too, and I was a little surprised they didn't send me to her initially as it's likely I wouldn't have needed a plastic surgeon involved if it had been her, but found out after the fact that she had a waiting list 8+ months long and since I wanted to get this all over with ASAP the next best in line was the surgeon I had and he's just...not good at cosmetic 'clean up' with breasts (by his own admission, he reiterated that several times to me during our consults) and was, thankfully, honest enough to admit that up front so I could weigh the options and choose to have a plastic surgeon involved to make sure I had an end result that would look okay. He was also up front in telling me that, while he'd done several mastectomies in the past (from simple to radical), they've all been total mastectomies and not nipple sparing in any way, so if I elected to really go without a plastic surgeon involved he couldn't guarantee I'd have a good result if I wanted to keep my nipples, which I did. He also was up front in telling me that he had never done any sort of tissue rearrangement to avoid a concave appearance and couldn't guarantee I wouldn't have a concave chest if I elected to not involve a plastic surgeon.

Overall, I'm just glad he was honest about his own shortcomings and skills--as that can be rare to find in surgeons--so I could make a more informed decision about involving a plastic surgeon or not.

Jennie93

amw, that is unusual, I don't think I've ever heard of a non-recon MX being labeled as recon. Maybe because you kept your nipples.

I had a general surgeon for my UMX and he did a fine job. Nice flat scar, no extra skin, no dog ears.

ravzari

Jennie93 that may be it, and it wasn't a standard nipple sparing mastectomy due to size and how loose my breast skin was as that would have just left me with "a lot of puckering" or the look of "AA breasts with perpetual headlights" (interesting way of putting it!) so we elected not to go that route.

It was still really strange as I'd always assumed 'no reconstruction' just meant 'leave it flat'/'I don't want implants'.

TroubledT

Hi there.  I am a plus sized woman with no reconstruction.  I was a 40DD.  I was diagnosed at 43 on left breast had a mastectomy then at 49 my right breast failed me and had to have another mastectomy.  Due to complications from chemotherapy after my first breast, I was unable to proceed with reconstruction. By the time my second breast had to come off I decided to go flat.  I was relieved to have both of them removed and to be completely flat, as opposed to having one breast.  That was very awkward and impossible to deal with without a prosthetic.  So do I think you are crazy?  Clearly not!  I love not having to wear a bra most days.  Days where I need to go out or not want to look too flat I layer my clothes or simply put my bra and prosthetics on.  No one is the wiser!  My friends and family are all very supportive.  The only thing that I will say about it is that if you have a bit of a tummy it is emphasized because you have no breasts. I see now what I couldn't see before.  It was always there, just that my breasts hid it from view when I looked down.  Bathing suits do not fit without a prosthetic.  Blouses fit better when I wear my prosthetics and some of my dresses that were more form fitting no longer fit in the bust (even with my prosthetics).   I purchased my prosthetics in a smaller size than what I was originally and this too was liberating.  Two prosthetics can be heavy on the shoulders and I have some residual tissue on my right side and it gets uncomfortable when I am wearing my bra.  I sometimes do feel sad when I look in the mirror because I am flat and have no nipples but overall I feel like I made the right decision for me.  If you have a surgeon that you can discuss it with, make sure you tell him/her your intentions as it makes a difference in how the surgery is performed. My first mastectomy had to be corrected to remove excess skin and a dog ear and was done on my second mastectomy. All the best to you.

ravzari

Oh yeah, I can second the tummy bit!

I knew I had what I thought was a 'bit of a tummy', and it turns out my breasts were just good at balancing the look out because they stuck out beyond where my tummy stuck out.
After I was flat it changed, in terms of how visible it was, from "Okay so maybe I could stand to lose a few pounds, but really, I'm rocking a thick hourglass look here!" to "Well, I look like I'm about 5 months pregnant--or like I drink a lot of beer. Awesome."

It's starting to become less obvious to me as I'm more used to how I look now (and Pokemon Go play has already had me see 10 pounds lost in about a month!), but the first time I saw it it was a little jarring as I didn't realize just how much of a balancing illusion the breasts gave.

christmas718

so many say how heavy prosthetics are-- wonder why in this day and age- something can't be designed in a more 'lightweight' material?

ravzari

My first guess would be that, if they were lighter and not of something that had a similar feel/weight to natural breast tissue that the complaints would be that they didn't feel or look like natural breasts.

The heavy feeling may come in to play because, as close as implants can get to the look and feel of a natural breast, it's still not breast tissue and sits in slightly different positions/angles than natural breast tissue (and may or may not be under the chest wall muscles, depending on the type of implant chosen) would be so the feeling and weight distribution is bound to be a bit different as it is, in the end, a foreign object inside your body even if it is close in look/feel/weight to what natural breast tissue would be.

It can also happen if the implants are maybe sized too large for the person who has them, whether by accident, by the person who has them thinking they wanted larger breasts initially and just can't get used to how the extra weight feels, or just kind of because everyone is different.
Even though it's not the exact same thing, I know several people who have silicone subdermal implants for body mod purposes (one guy has a silicone skull under the skin of the back of his hand, and a couple women I know have hearts under the skin on their arms). Most who get that done eventually stop noticing the implant is there as they become used to the sensations, weight, how it feels when they move etc...but there are other people who may have a similarly sized or placed subdermal implant done and they can never shake being constantly aware that it's there, when it moves, etc...and they never get used to those sensations as normal/expected.

I'd imagine breast implants are similar; for some women, once they get used to the new sensations of how an implant feels, their brains just may shove it in the 'normal' bin and they're just not really aware of the implants unless something happens that makes them stop and purposely focus on thinking about them, where some other women may simply just not be able to get used to the feelings and sensations of having the implants and may want them removed or not necessarily enjoy having them (even if they choose to keep them for personal reasons) because of that.

Luckynumber47

Not only was I shocked by my large tummy but I was also shocked by how atrocious my posture was. I had some weird little S curve thing going on. Now I am always reminding myself to suck in my gut and stand up straight.

You are not crazy to not want reconstruction. I think it's a shame that so many women have it done without realizing how many surgeries are needed and how painful the implants can be.

I was a DD before surgery and was a candidate for a "Goldilocks" reconstruction. Basically, the PS takes all that extra skin and rolls it into little mounds to make little tiny A cups. I don't really have breasts, but I'm not flat either. I could have had fat grafting for a little more fullness but chickened out.

If I wear a sports bra or camisole with those "modesty" cups (like the Amoena camis have) it rounds me out nicely and I look like I have an athletic build. Or I can add in breast forms (Genie bra has 3 pairs for $10 or less) for a little more fullness. I've also got 2 pairs of prosthetics but mostly save them for special outfits.

I think many of the prosthetics were made heavy to match the weight of the remaining breast but now they have lighter weight options too.

I am really happy with my decisions and I'm sure you will be too - whatever you decide

boobsBgone

Thank you ladies for all the great information. I just finished chemo (well forced to finish chemo since I got so sick). and now Sept 13 I am having DMX, no recon. You all gave such good questions for me to ask my BS - she is supposed to be one of the best, but I am still going to ask a few questions based on your experiences.

My cousin made me think, by bringing up that I may react different after sx once the 'girls' are not there anymore. Has anyone had a reaction to being flat after sx? I am only 36C, but never thought I would miss them. We'll know soon enough.

Are there any additional questions I need to ask before my sx date? Thank you all for sharing your stories.

Bearhitch

I think it is totally reasonable - especially since you have had cancer before! I have very strong family history and discovered that I had the BRCA1. At first I didn't care, until 2 years later I found a lump. The stress of that (plus all of the regular testing) was just not worth it to me and my husband and I decided to do the masectomy. Thankfully the lump was just a lump but peace of mind is worth something!

Bearhitch

Okay so I will chime in here to just to have another voice. So, plus size woman - was a 42DD before surgery. I went completely flat and I never wear the foobs - I love not wearing a bra and could not go back to that. The tummy thing is real - after my surgery I gained 40 lbs and so now I am back to trying to lose that so I don't look so - pregnant. The best way I get around this is completely changing how I dressed.

I went from dressing to hide the breasts (dark colors, no prints, v necks, longer cardigans so they didn't stand out so much and that) to the opposite (shorter cardigans, prints!, ruffles and all kinds of things). Lularoe is my new favorite thing because the shirts are so fun and flattering and modest which are perfect! Swim suits were tricky but I did finally found one!! The thing I try to remember is there are actually women who are - basically flat - and so, I've adapted the mindset that this is how God made me. He put this struggle in my path and so, knew how I would respond. Doing the best with what I got!

That said I've had equal amounts of back issues though because although the weight is gone - awesome - I do not walk with the same straight posture I had before! I previously had fantastic posture but now I crunch in a bit so my chest is not sticking out. Before there was something there to show off I guess.

Momine

About heavy prosthetics, I don't use them. I do have one pair, but they sink down in the bra and sag. Instead, I use a bra shield with a silicone bra liner behind it. It gives just enough of a bump to make fitted clothes hang right. In some f my summer dresses, I have simply stitched in sturdy bra shields and I leave it at that. That way I can also completely skip any kind of bra

sh2015

I am SO glad I joined this and can see that I'm not the only one who wants the double mast and no reconstruction! I had a lumpectomy and radiation and now, a year later, am so worried that they will miss something that I've decided to have the BMX. I know I will get alot of push-back but my mind is made up. My mam was 'clear' but I have a TON of scar tissue and am concerned about that. My 'girls' are also 2 different sizes so a bra, right now, is difficult.

I have an appt with my MO in a couple of weeks and will get it scheduled.

LeslieMemsicMD

I am so sorry to hear about your DCIS recurrence but I agree 100 percent with your choice to have a mastectomy. DCIS is such an early and treatable cancer and it has already recurred after your more conservative approach. Large breasts do pose a challenge and I totally support your decision to forego reconstruction -  I have many patients who have chosen this course of action. Some patients have undergone unilateral mastectomy without reconstruction then returned to remove the other breast for comfort. They do not need to wear prosthetics for symmetry. A loose blouse and they are out the door. You can always proceed with reconstruction at a later date if you change your mind; although the large scars will remain. Before you proceed with mastectomy without reconstruction, please consult with a plastic surgeon (or 2)so that you understand all of your options.  Good luck and take care.

Ilkkgandm

Hi, I am older than you 66, with stage 2b lobular breast cancer but I too did not know what do do. I assume you have made your decision by now, but if you decided on a mastectomy, this is how I felt about it. I did not have complications like yours, but after sleepless nights, I came to the conclusion. " Who cares that I did not have two breasts." I didn't make my decision for my husband. I did it for me. Yes, as I look in the mirror I am saddened by having only one breast, but oh so thankful I was done with surgery, draines etc. After the surgery, It took me a few weeks to be able to lift my arm, but slow and steady, I did it! Do I regret it? Not at all. I just finished with 33 rounds of radiation. Luckily I did not need chemo. Radiation got tough the last couple of weeks, but today I'm feeling much better. I start hormone therapy (Letrozole) next week. I read all there is to know about the medication so I am informed of the pros and cons. That is also something you should read as many articles written by doctors that you can find. It made me feel empowered that I am doing all I can to live a long and healthy life. Whatever you chose or have chosen, be strong and do it for what you can live with. My thoughts and prayers are with you,