Role/Reboot article about non reconstruction

MT1 - just read and very much enjoyed your article!

The option to simply go flat is one that should be more widely known.  Before I had bc, I thought mx was a radical treatment only used for advanced bc!!!!  Sounds ridiculous I know!  Especially since I used to work in the field of biology/science, and have always been well-read about womens' health issues.  How did I not know how prevelent mx's are in the treatment of bc?!  Ironically I now find myself nearly a year on from a Stage 0 bc dx and yes, a rmx!  (Reconstruction is too much surgery and complication risks for me personally, so I'm happy to stay half flat.)

People know that bc happens, but they often don't know how frequently mx's also happen, sadly I think, because society pressures women to either hide it or fix it. 

Kudos to you for helping get the word out that flatness is an option too!

Awesome article, been meaning to comment and I wish I had your sewing skills!

@MT1, I hope it's OK for someone who intends to have reconstruction to comment on this thread. I enjoyed your article. I only had cancer in one breast, so I only had that one removed. If I had needed both breasts removed, I might have contemplated passing on reconstruction, at least to see whether I could deal (emotionally) with being flat. Before my surgery, it wasn't the idea of missing a breast as such that freaked me out, it was more the idea of being aysmmetrical. Needing to have one leg or one arm or one eye removed would I think have affected me the same way--not that if faced with such a necessity I'd have had the other arm, leg or eye removed for symmetry! I also didn't like the thought that I would see a big diagonal scar when I looked down my front, and was very concerned to have the incision somewhere where even with reconstruction I wouldn't be forced to look at it every time I got dressed. I felt it would be a continual reminder of cancer, always forcing my illness into the forefront of my mind.

Since I  planned (and still plan) to have reconstruction, I requested a skin & areola sparing surgery. When I woke up after the operation, I was very surprised to see how "un-flat" I am on the surgical side. I'm small-breasted to begin with, and unless I wear a snug-fitting shirt, it's not obvious that I'm missing one, even though I don't use a prosthesis. Because I still have an areola, it looks to me more as if my breast has been deflated than actually removed, and sometimes I think that is a help to me psychologically. I don't say this to try to convince anyone not to go flat or one-breasted, but because it makes me speculate about an in-between option of "flat with nipples", whether the original ones or tattooed replacements, and putting the incision somewhere other than the usual location where it is not so visually obtrusive, perhaps along the bottom of the removed breast (I don't know whether that is surgically feasible). Or is "flat with nipples" a contradiction? Is choosing to go flat mainly a refusal to fall in with society's gender perceptions, and keeping or replacing the nipples contradicts that refusal? Or is that too political, and being flat or being reconstructed is mostly about what makes or keeps an individual woman dealing with breast cancer comfortable in her own skin?

Edited to add: I forgot to say there is also a thread with photos of the same woman in several different outfits, with and without her prostheses, another good resource for anyone considering non-reconstruction.

(Edited by Mods to make the link clickable.)

MT1, I hope I didn't give the impression I think you are anti-reconstruction, because I don't. I think it is possible to be "pro-flat", in the sense of advocating that going flat/one-breasted should be presented as an option to all who are in treatment for breast cancer, without being against reconstruction. That is the impression I get of you.

When I was first diagnosed, I was given two videos to watch. One was about choosing between mastectomy and lumpectomy. The other was about reconstruction options, and it presented a wide range of options: none, prosthesis, implant or flap, with comments from women about which option they chose and why, plus "before & after" pictures at the end of women who had mx w/o reconstruction, implants, and flap surgery. I wish those videos were online so I could send the link to newly diagnosed women if they don't get it from their own doctors. I found them both really helpful in making those decisions.

Great article!  I had a single mast. in 2006 and after weighing the options decided to skip recon.  I do, however, wear a prosthetic on the mast. side.  Somehow it makes me feel more balanced-if truth be told that refers to physically as well as emotionally.

I do not regret my decision at all.  My docs encouraged me to look at the recon options but I really knew early on that I didn't want to go through recon.  After going for a consult  I was certain reconstruction was not the right decision for me.   My docs were and are very supportive.  I also had to wait to make my decision and I am thankful for that.

Thank you for sharing this article!  After already having had two separate surgeries for a BMX and an incomplete Diep, I am seriously considering not having any more reconstruction at least for quite some time if ever.  The number of surgeries involved with Implants freaks me out.  I'm 52 years old and single.

I had a total masc in june- reconstruction done immiedately- with "skin- nipple sparring' procedure. No one ever asked me about recon- becus I was part of a "study."  Well 1 wk after my surgery, & being home, I had to go back to hospital with chest wall staph infection, have 2 more surgeries to remove the implants- and right nipple- that they "now found cancer on".  I have never been in so much pain in my life, & after talking with a kind, knowlegeable dr, he also suggested I might think about "no reconstruction."  And when I told my ps & breast surgeon this, they both told me to wait before I made that decision." Actually I have to wait- until I am healed from the first 3 surgeries- but right now, I am looking forward to living my life to the fullest -& I dont need fake boobs to do it.  I am ME- its been hard to accept, but Ive made it this far, and I hope people love me for who I am- not what I look like.  Thanks for the great article.  PS - I was told by my ps-" Im their "1st patient to ever get a staph infection" after such a procedure."  It wasnt ME who gave me that staph infection- sorry i messed up their perfect record!  Feel more like an "experiment " to them than I do a patient-- does anyone know- can you change breast cancer drs in mid-course? 

Curveball, I think you bring up a good point.  I think that the thing that looks the strangest to me about my chest is that I don't have nipples.  Everyone has nipples.  With nipple sparing masx, I wonder if the surgeon would do that for someone who does not want reconstruction.  That would be awesome.