What is worse- mastectomy surgery or radiation therapy?

Well I am the lucky duck that got both. My mastectomies were much more difficult, but I had immediate recon which makes a big difference. And as we like to say on here, no two people have the same experience so you might find the opposite true!

had lumpectomy .....radiation was no big deal for me ......I am very very fair skinned ..cant stay longer than 10 minutes in the sun without getting a sunburn ....(irish back ground )  ...I do not tan ...just burn and or freckle in the sun  then turn white again .Skin turned a little pink during rads but that's it ....my skin looks fine today ...same as other side ...still pastey white

I had both.

For me, UMX with TE was a much bigger deal than radiation in the long run. The surgery itself wasn't so bad, but the arm/shoulder recovery is a big deal because of the chest muscle . If I'd had the choice, I 'd have had lumpectomy.

Good luck!

Lucky me, I had it all. BMX 3 years ago tomorrow. The drains were a PITA, not much pain. I mean like not even a Tylenol.

Rads, I'm very fair. My skin broke, that got me a week vacation to heal. It itched, burned, a real mess.

Plus, going EVERY day for soooooo long, you're tired, and you just want treatment to be OVER!!!!!!

It does eventually end. And takes a while to recover. About a year for me. I would do it all again if necessary to keep it away.

You can do it!

Best wishes

Another lucky duck that got both--the mastectomy with no reconstruction then 6 months later radiation.  I am olive skinned and burned pretty badly, but I got through it.    The worst part of the mastectomy for me was the drains that stayed in for 4 weeks. 

Each person is different, but the radiation never caused fatigue during the treatment, but my skin is still dark and hard 4 months later. The radiation was more bothersome in that I had to go every weekday for 6 weeks.

I had a modified radical UMX - not bad at all. With if the worst was developing a seroma after 2nd drain was removed 4 weeks post surgery. ROM was never an issue for me. I had read/been told that post surgery would need a button front shirt so I bought 1. Wrong for me. In the winter/cold weather, my 'uniform' is a turtle neck under a pull over sweatshirt which I wore in the day of surgery. When I started getting dressed to leave the next morning, it seemed that I had plenty of ROM to get them on - I did easily so I walked out in my 'uniform'. I did literally walk out - per hospital rules the discharge RN had to go with me with a wheelchair 'just in case' until I got in Son's truck.

Rads were easy during. Started them 1 week after last Taxol which had completely and utterly EXHAUSTED. I felt better every day. Had no skin issues (I am VERY light skinned) during rads. On day 24 of rads (I did 25), very slight 'pinkish' and on day 25 slightly pinker but not anything to 'think' about. Next morning entire radiated area was majorally blistered. I'm allergic to Sulfa so could not use Silvadene/Sulfadene on it and luckily never developed any infections. I still have 'good' scars over a lot of the area. Thankfully the deepest of the burns was under arm where there is nerve damage from surgery so I never felt pain in that area. Vicodan kept the other areas tolerable. What finally healed/dried it up was Domoboro soaks. Last rad was early March - last scab finally came off on June 29 while I was seeing my PA. This was a very unusual happening but then we are all different. Do not expect to have the same experience(s) that anyone else has had.

yes, my case was presented to the tumor board at my hospital. Everybody I was involved with was there. One stop. I do have Moffitt in Tampa as a plan B if I ever need it

My radiation oncologist told me that fairness of skin has nothing to do with how you will go through radiation. It seems to have more to do with total area radiated.

I am white, and I mean white, and I had no problems with radiation burns. I've had both a mastectomy and a lumpectomy/rads so am another of the 'lucky' ones.

I had a lumpectomy with targeted radiation for 5 days (SAVI). I am very happy I had the targeted radiationI as the whole breast was not radiated. The lumpectomy surgery was not bad. They removed about the size of a peach to make sure my margins were well cleared. I was surprised there was no pain from that site. I think the most uncomfortable part the where they removed the lymph nodes. I had all kinds of sensations from that area.

I will say from time to time I do have some pain where I had the radiation so I am very happy I did not have the 6 week full blown breast radiation. If I was going to have that method I would have went for the full mastectomy.

I had the same DX. Are they suggesting an MRI or any further testing before your lumpectomy? My bs wanted to make sure that there were no other problem areas in either Breast before surgery. I was already leaning toward bmx to stay away from radiation. It probably seems pretty radical to most people. My MRI showed questionable areas. Not unusual. I skipped the biopsies and went with bmx. It was the right thing for me since they found cancer in the other Breast. Good luck

Oceangirl: So happy for you. I personally feel that the least surgery you can do the better but truly that is just my opinion, so many factors to be considered with BC.

I found that after my firs rad treatment, it was fine. It's normal to be worried about rads, sounds so scary but it was easier than I thought. My skin did not burn but turned a very dark brown. Key is to keep Eucerin on it - I truly used it 6-8 times/day and think it really helped with recovery.

oceangirl654, I too had a 2nd opinion at a teaching university . The surgeon that I met with , who became my surgeon for my lumpectomy, is the head professor of the Breast Care division, so I felt that I was in good hands. My diagnosis was very much like yours except they discovered that i had a " salad bowl" of cancers from my pathology results after 1st Lumpectomy.I went from scheduling a Bmx at another hospital to a lumpectomy at the University hospital. I didn't get clear margins the first time, but the 2nd recision was good. The healing process was good . I think my sentinel node biopsy was more painful than the Lumpectimy.I'm starting rads on Mon after much research. These boards have helped! I was actually thinking of not going through w/ rads & doing more health,supplements related treatment.There are so many decisions that only "we" can truly decide. I think whatever choices we finally make, we have to feel comfortable with our decisions. There are so many uncertainties with this "cancer thing", but one thing that is for certain is that we are ultimately the ones that are in control of what we choose to do! I encourage you to look through the threads " Winter or Fall rads ... So many tips, encouragement & a place to vent our fears , concerns. Good luck to you!