lumpectomy with rads versus a mastectomy?

Wow, another Pam.  Lots of Pams here.

Sorry you had to join us, but this is a great place for support.

I choose a BLM because it was the best for me & my peace of mind.  And I wanted to Avoid Radiation on my left Side.  I also wanted to reduce my risk of a new Cancer on my Good Side.

I had a Bad Implant reconstruction & will have to have that redone (But I do not regret having the BLM still)  I wanted a DIEP but did not have enough Tummy for 2 Cs.  Although I can sure grab 2 Cs worth from my stomach.  LOL

Implants on Avg are said to last 10-15 years.   So one may need to have them replaced at sometime in the future.

I would start a list with Reasons why & why Not to have a BLM.

It is a very hard decision to make.  Only you can make the right decision for you.

Ask lots of questions here & with your Drs too.

Pam

Hi Pam.  I would discuss your options with a couple of your doctors and see benefit the mas versus lumpectomy and rads are.  The choice really should be based on that.  Like Kamico I chose lumpectomy and rads because the mas would only benefit me by at most 1.5%.  However, my diagnosis is similar to kamico3, yours is not.  You would also want to talk about what kind of treatment you would get following either choice.  And, again like kamico3, I would ask the doctor if it were a she what she would do if she was you or if it is a male doctor what do you think his wife would do or he would suggest for his wife.  I would also urge them to answer honestly.

 If I am reading your post correctly you are also HER2 +.  Ask how that influences your treatment decision.  Have the doctors discussed all types of treatments and risks and benefits?

I wish I could help you more and I wish you all of the best.  Some women have no trouble do a mas, but for me it would be an incredibly hard decision also.  I try to imagine what I would feel like if I had a part of my body removed and have a very hard time with what I feel.  My friend, however, just had a double mas and she is doing very well.

E 

Hi Pam!!!  I agree getting a list of pros and cons down for each procedure is good, along with the advice the doctors give for each procedure. I was a candidate for a lumpectomy with rads, then the surgeon saw more when she opened me up and had to do a mastectomy.  Deep down you have to do what you feel comfortable doing.  Noone can make you comfortable in this situation.  Pray about it, ask questions, get a checklist of symptoms/side effects of each procedure, then you'll see what you'll b able to live with. 

My surgeon said that although the survival rates were the same, the recurrance rate would be higher with a lumpectomy/rads. As it happens, I had three nodes involved, so for my peace of mind, I'm glad I chose to have both of mine removed.

It is a very personal decision. Part of my decision was not want radiation if possible.

Best of luck to you, and I'm sure you'll get to a point where you know what's right for you.

I'm still going through Chemo, but after talking to my surgeon, who will do my lumpectomy and all when the chemo is over with, I have decided on a lumpectomy. She tells me that my risk of recurrance is the same with a mastectomy or a lumpectomy, .. My oncologist tells me that usually when it does come back, more often it's not in the breasts but in other parts of the body...

I think alot of women who don't really medically require a mastectomy feel it gives them piece of mind........to me , that's just too drastic, it requires future surgeries to replace implants also. Not to mention I talked to a  young girl the other day at chemo who really bout made me cry. This girl had went through chemo, had gotten a mastectomy, reconstruction and was thrilled about that also, said her surgeon was awesome, had been on Tamoxifen for two years and it came back in her chest bone. So she has to go through the whole spiel all over again.........Just felt so bad for her..she said the same thing, she had gotten the mastectomy because she felt it wouldn't come back that way...I had  tears in my eyes while she was telling me this.

But everyone has to make their own decision, of course talking with your oncologist and surgeon should be included in your decision.

Deb

This decision was hard for me also. I decided to do the lumpectomy and radiation. By the way, going into the decision, it appearred that my tumor might be as large as 3.5 cm so I was tentatively Stage IIa. When they removed the lump, part of it was a benign cyst and part was DCIS; the IDC was less than 1 cm making me stage Ib. 

From what I have read and what my oncologist told me, the probability of recurrence is the same for lumpectomy plus radiation vs mastectomy. What I read said that the earlier studies showing a small advantage for mastectomy included women who got a lumpectomy without radiation. Once they only look at women who had both lumpectomy and radiation, they do as well as those with mastectomy.

One of the factors for me was that they can reconstruct the breast cosmetically so it looks fine but it won't have sensation. I didn't want to lose that when there was no survival advantage.

Also, I'm large busted, DD. The lump could be taken out without making a significant change in the size of my breast. On the other hand, if I had a mastectomy and reconstruction it wouldn't be practical to reconstruct to a DD. And if I didn't get reconstruction, being that unbalanced would be likely to lead to back problems. So even if I didn't go for a double mastectomy, I would have to have surgery on both sides to have a reduction on the non-cancer side to match things up.

That was way more surgery than I wanted to have even without reconstruction. I'm pretty sure that if I did ever need a mastectomy I would not do reconstruction.

I'm almost done with chemo and will have radiation soon. I'm not looking forward to that, but I'd rather go through that than more surgery.