I had a lumpectomy not mastectomy..confused

It's personal choice. Statistically lumpectomy +/- radiation have equivalent survival rates for small, low grade cancers with no lymph node or vascular involvement.

I think some women will choose mastectomy for peace of mind, that "the cancer is really gone", and others with a view to avoiding radiation therapy.

I know that doctors generally don't advocate for mastectomy unless there is good clinical reason.

I am deciding right now and for me, I am leaning towards a mastectomy because A) My breasts aren't that large and I think a lumpectomy would disfigure me and I have existing implants which apparently don't react well to radiation. My doctor is pushing for that, though. But I am seeking a second opinion.

What was your experience with radiation?

I chose lumpectomy also. I decided since I was stage 1 and no nodes involved that I would take the less invasive route. I had clear margins, post surgery I had chemo then radiation, and herceptin..it has been almost 3 years since my DX and I am very happy with my decision.

I'm new too....I've only had one apointment with my surgeon and that is when I got my dX of ilc maybe 2 cm according to mri.....i have to meet with the rest of the team doctors before I make my choices. But I'm leaning towards a double mastectomy even though left breast is healthy. ... but ilc cancer tends to jump from one breast to the next quick....i just want to be done with it....I'm 55...so i was thinking of skipping reconstruction....bUT now that I've had some time to let all this sink in.....I'm leaning towards diep surgery at same time of mastectomy. ....13 hour surgery. ...but maybe that will be most of the major stuff....maybe i can avoid rads and chemo.....im already living with chronic daily migraines. ...i live alone....so i just want to get it over!!!

On another note....it would be helpful to me if someone would post a list of all the abbreviations folks use here...I've figured out some of them... but not all!!!! I have a hard enough time with the auto correct on my tablet!!!!

Btw... are any other newbies having trouble going to sleep since dx? It's almost 6 am and I'm still awake. .....This is when I used to be waking up!!!!

Blessings to all

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/131/topic...

Here is a link to an abbreviation key.

definitely a personal decision. My doc did not recommend MX for me since survival rate the same either way. From these boards I learned that MX is not a guarantee that chemo and/or rads will not be required, and it is not a guarantee that BC will not return. Given that, I wanted to keep my own breasts for as long as possible.

I went the lumpectomy route honestly due to the recovery time. That might sound weird because it seems like most people (wisely and reasonably!) make this choice based on how they'll feel in the long term. For me, I just felt like I was fine, not at all sick, and what are kidding me? I'm supposed to have major surgery all of sudden?? That was my feeling, anyway. So, I had a lumpectomy on a Tuesday and was having Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends the following Thursday, and decorating our Christmas tree the next day. This all seemed really important to me (and it felt right to me not just for me but for my family). I also did radiation. It was not fun but it wasn't terrible either. People have a range of reactions but for me it was just tiring and kind of unrelenting to have to do something every single week day. But I got through it. What surprised me about the whole experience was how little the lumpectomy changed the appearance of my breast.

Time was less of a consideration for me because I felt both tx were going to in some way disrupt my life for the same amount of time.  

Had I gone the lx/rad route I would have missed maybe a week of work, but for the following 5-6 weeks be committed to a date with RADS, so unable to do my usual routine. Plus there may be pain from burns and fatigue, so it would be 2 months till my life was back to normal.  

With the mx and diep recon, I missed 5 weeks of work (that was a bonus in my book) but I didn't have to go somewhere everyday, just be in my own bed and recover. Six weeks after surgery I was allowed to go to the gym, but had to take it easy and avoid abdominals (because of diep recon). I was fatigued for a bit, but soon life was back to normal. So comparing the two, for me, either option was going to take the same chunk of time out of my life.

I think while we try to rationalize why one way is better than another, deep down how feel about the breast actually drives the decision.  I experienced both. I had an lx first (husband convinced me to be conservative) and afterward did not at all feel like "yeah! I saved my breast". I hated it and couldn't even take my bra off. A week later when I learned I had close margins, I immediately knew that what I really wanted was an mx. Everyone reacts differently, its a very personal decision that no one can make for you.

Originally I was DX with a very small .6 cm IDC, but because I have very dense breasts was sent for an MRI which revealed a larger mass (2 cm). It was recommended that I get a lumpectomy. My Oncotype was only 13, so no chemo but I knew a lumpectomy meant radiation and my type meant 5-10 years of hormone therapy.

I kept feeling that lumpectomy wasn't the route I should take because I'm very small breasted and I didn't want radiation, so four days before my scheduled surgery I told my surgeon that I wanted a mastectomy. It turned out that my margins weren't clear and I had extensive DCIS right on my chest wall, so even if I'd gone with the lumpectomy, I would of ended up with a mastectomy anyway. Plus, I'm now having 36 sessions of radiation anyway.

I haven't regretted the mastectomy at all. In fact, I wish I'd had a bilateral mx because I will end up having the other breast removed later this year...for both symmetry and for my own peace of mind.