First lumpectomy and now mastectomy.

Becca, that is exactly how my saga began.  When they went back and did the mast they found my breast full of cancer.  

Re loss of sensation...we were discussing this the other day on a thread.  I had dbl mast without reconstruction and I DO have some feeling on my chest.  I think it is because there are some nerve endings that either repair or are not totally damaged.  If you put something (implant) between the nerves in the chest and the skin on top, you will not have access to the nerve endings.  Just something to consider.  That was not my only reason in not choosing recon, but it was a nice result because of the choice I made.

Sorry missed the part about reconstruction.  I went back and forth on DIEP. I went back and forth on implants.  In the end I went with implants because I was on my feet and back at work the soonest, which was important to me. I have heard and read good and bad on both. I have friends who have had both.

Becca - I am your age. I was candidate for lumpectomy/radiation/Tamoxifen. But for me lumpectomy would mean 1/2 my breast. Also 15% recurrence within 15 years. At 42, I don't like those odds. So then I debated with doing single masectomy, as DCIS was in my left breast only. Then my Mom's friend, who went thru DCIS diagnosis 10 years ago and had single masectomy with reconstruction, mentioned how her two breasts don't match. The natural one is succumbing to age, gravity, etc. She wishes she had done both. She also panics every time she has a mammogram. Then I thought about bilateral masectomy (BMX) without reconstruction and decided that with (hopefully) another 40 + years to live, I would feel bitter going thru life without breasts, even if they were fake.  So I just had BMX 4 weeks ago, with immediate reconstruction (saline implants, Alloderm sling). The first two weeks of recovery were rough. I am now past "pain" stage and into "discomfort" stage. Still trying to get used to my fake boobs. Feels weird. Looks weird naked, looks good in clothes. Just went to my support group and found out that a woman with same diagnosis as me, but who went lumpectomy route, has just had her THIRD lumpectomy and now has a breast infection. She is doubting her decision to not go ahead with masectomy in first place. I hope this helps...every woman is different and has different reasons for her choice of treatment. We are lucky to be at a cancer stage that HAS choices, but it does make your head want to explode, trying to figure things out. It's a big decision.

Becca, I'm so sorry you're going through this.  I had a very similar experience, so I can absolutely relate to what a surreal nightmare it is to go in for what you've assumed or were told was a successful lumpectomy -- only to then find out that there's a lot more to the picture, and that your surgeon is recommending a mast.

Other than some time to think it through (I figured the worst of it had been taken out)  --  what got me through it was (1) going for a second opinion, and finding doctors I really trusted to guide me.  (I'd lost trust in my first surgeon because of the way things evolved.)  And (2) looking at photos of reconstruction on the internet, especially Diep reconstruction, which is what my new medical team strongly recommended I do.  But even with that, it took me weeks to let go of the idea of going back for additional lumpectomies (I had multicentric disease), and come around to agreeing to a unilateral mast.

It will take awhile to wrap your head around the situation and decide what you want to do, but my best advice is to keep talking to people about it.  The more you do, the better you will be able to decide what's best for you.    (((Hugs)))   Deanna