Lumpectomy for stage III???

I went with mastectomy because I had no other choice due to tumor size.  I'm sure that most or many of us here in Stage III had tumors that were too large to be removed with mastectomy.  But since there's no evidence that mastectomy increases survival over lumpectomy, if your tumor size permits a lumpectomy, I'd say go for it.  I do miss my breasts a lot.  You will have to have rads, so that's something to take into account.  I had to have rads even with the mastectomy.  BTW, how are you sure that you are Stage III?  Your situation sounds a lot like mine going into surgery...I have neoadjuvant chemo and had one confirmed node with an estimated 7 cm tumor.  At surgery, they found 10 nodes and a 2 cm tumor.  Prior to surgery, they kept telling me I'd be Stage II.  

I had a 0.8 cm tumor on ultrasound, and had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy, which was positive.  My surgeon made a 1.5 inch incision under my arm to do the axillary node dissection.  If this had been the extent of it, I would have kept my breast, but a skin biopsy found some tumor emboli in the skin of my breast--a small "umbrella" of lymphatic involvement right over the lump.  Because of this, I was advised to do the mastectomy. 

I had a lumpectomy and 6 lymph nodes removed just nine days ago. My surgeon gave me all options even after we found out about the lymph nodes. I chose lumpectomy. No matter what route I took, I still face chemo and radiation. Since the outcomes are really no different, I chose the less invasive surgery. By the way, I also had a complete hysterectomy immediately following the breast surgery. Lots of cysts and fibroids there, but I am happy to say there was no cancer there. So now I can fully concentrate on my breast cancer treatment. Good luck. It's a very personal decision.

I was given the choice to try lumpectomy, which I did. Unfortunately, they were not able to get clear margins with the lumpectomy and so had to schedule a second  surgery after pathology report came in for mastectomy. Still glad that I tried the lumpectomy first. I'm now 10 years out from diagnosis. No recurrence. Good luck!

The deciding factor for me to go the mastectomy pathway was family history more than anything.   Two aunts, two cousins with BC at fairly young ages.  Also surgeon said it may be hard to get normal "even up" breasts after lumpectomy.  You need to think it through a while.  

Someone said to me, early on, "if you had a small lump of cancer on your thigh, would you get your whole leg cut off?  That brought some perspective.  Of course, it's not the same thing, but for me, my mind went first to "get it off, get it off!"  After I calmed down and looked at the science, I would have gladly stayed with a lumpectomy if my doctors would have allowed it.

so good to hear positive comments on lumpectomy in stage 3. In the Dec chemo group almost everyone stage 3 had mastectomies. I am now 5 weeks out from finishing Rads. I was worried about being stage 3 a?c and not having a mastectomy.  my initial US showed a 0.9 cm lump, bx IDC, after the lumpectomy the final path showed the  tumor was 1.9 cm with mixed ductal and lobular cancers. I knew going in at least 2 abnormal looking LNs on MRI and core  biopsy of one was positive for IDC.  After the final path report mixed IDC and ILC in 7/13 LNs. MRI also showed  IM nodes visible on the tumor side but not the other.  PET scan had a lot of active brown fat so not clear if the IM nodes were positive or not. Rads were directed there just in case.  

Full c cup on the good side and now a B cup on the treated side. Afraid it will shrink more with time after rads.  Guess I will just have to sick a sock in  the bra.

I would have chosen lumpectomy but had 2 tumors and a suspicious area. They talked me 

Into a mastectomy.  I didn't have to have radiation really wish I could have DIEP at the same time. At stage 3 would you have radiation anyway on lymph nodes? If you can do lumpectomy you may not need any cosmetic surgery. I think the lumpectomy/radiation is just as effective as the mastectomy.

Annika, closest margin was 3 mm and there were 6 neg node past the involved ones. I hope that means the involved one caught all the cells and the remaining ones were the "blockade" 

I was going to get a second opinion at Sloan Kettereing in NYC but my insurance denied it, out of network. I may still go this fall and self pay since I could not have surgery for a few months anyway, post rads due to healing issues. 

I had 3 tumors, all in different quadrants of the breast, so the surgeon said I had no choice but mastectomy.  I did only the right breast though, and did get a lot of comments from people that I should have opted for a bilateral mastectomy.  I stuck with the doctor's recommendation and am glad I did.  I am glad I still have one natural breast, I pretty much have no feeling in the reconstructed breast.