HER2+ - uni or bi-lat opinions

I had a lumpectomy due to the size of the tumour. I was told a mastectomy would remove the need for radiation - that's all. The HER2 status was not a factor to consider a mastectomy. Even if I had positive nodes, I wouldn't have had further surgery. I know others with a few positive nodes and were HER2 who have only had a lumpectomy.

 Hello,

I had a bi-lateral mastectomy without reconstruction. I know of several women who had lumpectomys and the cancer came back or a new cancer in the other breast. I just thought I would tackle this disease the best I can after going through a lumpectomy twice. I didnt have clear margins. I had to decide on either going in a third time, having a unilateral or bi-lateral or just do radiation. It was a tough decision but  I decided on the bi-lateral. i'm happy with my decision. At times I do miss my breasts but I didn't want to be  lop- sided and if you have reconstruction the outcome is better if you had a bi-lateral. I probably will have breast reconstruction later on.

I know someone who had a lumpectomy and then cancer came back then she had a uni-lateral several years ago and she had asked the surgeon if she can have a bi-lateral and he said she didn't need to remove her other breast and she just found out that now she has a new cancer in that breast. 

Best of luck to you.  

Suspen, My 30% chance is based on my tumor size, grade, being hormone negative, and no node involvement and of course HER+.  It is reduced to 15% for me with Herceptin.  I misspoke.

I suspect your pathology is a little better than mine and so you have a lower chance.  Best wishes and I LOVE AUSTRALIA!  Was there a few years ago and had a great time.

Boo

I had a unilateral.  My tumor was 3.4 with multifocal disease, so I had no choice but to have a mast. However, I didn't want to remove a healthy breast.  You lose all your feeling in your chest and I chose sensation over a perfect matching reconstruction. (I'm in the TE expander process now.) 

I intend to hug any future grandchildren to my breast and since I can't have any kind of reconstruction but TE, the choice was easy for me.

Good luck.

I had a bilateral masectomy because I was Stage III and I found my tumor after getting a mammogram less than 5 months earlier that was supposedly clear.  I decided rather than chance having to go through this again I would eliminate at least one place the cancer could come back.  The toughest thing was/is the expanders.  I get my permanent implants in May.  It is tough sometimes because all you want is to be "normal" which will never happen.  Hence, you have to make the decision of what you can live with and move on.  I want to see my grandchildren so I took the most drastic measures with my treatment.

I did a uni lateral.

The Her2 factor didn't play a roll in my decision. Both my onc and surgeon said "no". I also tested BRCA - for bothe genes. No family history and was diagnosed with IDC.

If I was BRCA+, Triple -, or diagnosed with ILC, then yes....I would have removed both.

I had multifocal IDC, node pos, 2 tumors 2.1 cm and 1.5cm and I had a lumpectomy and Rads.

The Her2 part of my path did not come into my surgical decision to have a mastectomy or lumpectomy, my BS recommended the lumpectomy as the tumors were in the same quadrant of my breast, so that's what I went with.

I was dx at 39, no risk factors for BC, and I'm happy to have just had the lumpectomy and not have to worry about reconstruction.