Facing 1-sided mastectomy

Janewhite

I am 40 years old. I just had lumpectomy plus bilateral reduction for DCIS. Unfortunately, the pathology report wasn't good: Three separate sites. One of the sites didn't show up on my mammogram at all and had positive margins, the proverbial half a worm in my apple.

My doctor is concerned about the possibility of even more sites (I have large dense breasts) and recommends mastectomy.

Good news is, lymph nodes are negative and genetic testing is normal.

Mentally, I'm not disturbed at the possibility of living without a breast. I think the doctor expected me to be a lot more upset than I am. I'm just unhappy that I need to go through surgery again, because surgery hurts and I don't like things that hurt. Also the doctor seems to be expecting that I'll go through cosmetic reconstruction, expanders, implants, and I'm not at all sure I want that.

I have two little kids, I have a job, I'm leaning towards flat masectomy for the faster recovery time and lower complication risk. Wearing a bra with a fake boob in it seems like a small price to pay for getting on with my life. Anything else I need to think about?

bcincolorado

I am sorry you are here Janewhite.

I had a one side mastectomy but older and I had my kids young so they were in college when I got my cancer. I did reconstruction on that side. I had skin sparing mastectomy so that helped some. If I had to do again I probably would have been flat on that side. Was never the same as my "real side". Plastic surgeon said he could "lilt to match but I was tired of surgeries and wanted one side to be me really.

Some ladies chose flat anyway on both sides.

At this point in my life (I am now 60) rarely wear a bra at all and wear clothes that no one can really tell anyway.

You need to do what is best for you and your recovery. Do not let anyone push you into anything you are not comfortable with.

best wishes.

saltmarsh

Janewhite, I seriously considered going flat on one side with an aesthetic flat closure. Honestly, if I were single, perhaps I would have chosen that. For me, the only real factors that have made me decide to reconstruct my breast were the fact that I've always been heavily inclined to symmetry, my partner likes breasts and would never have asked me to reconstruct, but I still know it'll make them a little happier, and I wasn't totally confident that I wouldn't regret the choice to be different. I'm already "different" in plenty of ways and one more may have just been too much, if that makes any sense.

I completely hear you on the benefits of being done faster, particularly with two little ones and working. My kiddos are grown, otherwise I almost certainly would have just chosen to be done and had an AFC.

Janewhite

I've made up my mind, I'm going to go flat. Less pain and faster recovery is the most important thing for me.

Elizabett

just had a mastectomy aug 6 just my right side. I am going to let it be flat and get the thing you stick in your bra. Insurance actually pays for this I had the mastectomy to reduce surgeries. Everything I read looked like more pain more risk longer recovery and more surgery. I actually met a woman that worked in a plastic surgeons office snd she said she herself would never have a reconstruction it was notwithout problems. I’m actually happy with it and I’m only a week out and I am blessed my margins were clean and the lymph node. I was high risk of it coming back and feel like it was a small price to not have to worry about it coming back. I get my life back sooner. I was able to schedule surgery sooner as well especially with school coming up

I’m sorry you have to go back for surgery but I feel much the same about just getting on with life and just being flat on one side. It hasn’t been a terribly painful surgery.

Janewhite

Thank you for the feedback, Elizabett. It's good to hear your story.

Janewhite

Five days until my next surgery. I understand now why the doctor was upset by the pathology results and insists on removing the entire breast as soon as possible.

In the first surgery, she removed the tissue where she knew there was DCIS and calcifications, then the plastic surgeon neatened it up and turned what remained into a normal-looking slightly smaller breast. But in the process, the plastic surgeon needed to remove a bit more tissue.

When the extra tissue was examined by the pathologist, they found half of a very tiny additional DCIS site, one that didn't show up on mammogram at all. And the other half is still inside me. Worse, the cutting means it's no longer sealed up inside the duct where it started. And the way the reconstruction works, it's possible that the site got rubbed against a whole bunch of other tissue.

So yeah, it all has to go as soon as possible. Full mastectomy now = an end to the matter. Waiting even a few months could let it spread.

Bye-bye, boobie. Ta-ta, tata. I won't miss you, you lump of flesh that keeps trying to kill me!