Single Mastectomy or Double?

Kentrunner, This is a difficult decision for sure, even without the medical concerns (which momine covers well). I chose a BMX without hesitation simply because I wanted to give myself the best possible prognosis. (I'm only 47 now.) It was recommended to me that if I wanted reconstruction, I delay it, which I did. I have lived flat, with a prosthesis, and am now undergoing reconstruction. I do not regret anything I've done in terms of my course of treatment. IF you think you will want reconstruction, consider the fact that it is harder to match an existing breast, rather than creating two new ones. But, I don't have sensation, so you have to weigh if leaving one breast with sensation is important to you.

Best wishes to you and good luck with the upcoming biopsy and all that you have ahead of you. Hugs!

KentRunner - as others have said this is a difficult and highly personal decision. I chose to have a unilateral mastectomy a couple weeks ago with immediate DIEP reconstruction. Having IDC meant I had little chance of contralateral disease, unlike ILC where it's much more likely. All tests and scans show my right breast is clear and healthy. I thought about a double mx for the sake of symmetry but couldn't justify (to myself) removing a healthy breast that had little risk. Additionally, as Momine points out, I wanted a breast with sexual sensation if it wasn't a risk to keep it.

I was originally dx four years ago and had lumpectomy, chemo and radiation. I had a local recurrence several months ago that required chemo again. I had to do the mastectomy because I couldn't do radiation again. I am acutely aware of the risks of recurrence, and I'm still 100% confident in my choice.

Good luck to you, and I hope your other breast turns out to be clear if any disease.

Wildtulip, the question of age is also relevant. There is some evidence emerging that in younger women, CPM may confer longterm survival advantage: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24606434

I also had very dense breasts and diagnostic mamogram showed areas of suspected DCIS. My pre-surgery diagnosis was stage 0 (DCIS) as shown by stereotactic biopsy. Due to the large area affected (shown by breast MRI), I chose mastectomy, and as I didn't want to deal with this later again if it came back in the other breast, I chose bilateral with the left one prophylactic and went the skin-sparing way.

You can see in my signature what was the final pathology - I was NOT a stage 0 but a stage IIB with a 3 mm tumor in the sentinel node. And the left breast had large areas of tissue in the pre-DCIS and pre-LCIS stages.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying "do this" or "don't do this". All I'm saying is that you never know what is in there until it's all out. And sometimes not even then, you may get surprises later. It's all luck or lack thereof.

Kent, fingers crossed for good results. Let us know what you decide and how you are doing with it all.

The learning curve is STEEP! I read and research for a living, but trying to learn everything about breast cancer in a few short months was pretty daunting. These boards can help. Also think about friends or acquaintances with some medical background perhaps, just to have someone knowledgable to bounce things off. Finally do watch out for the piles upon piles of misinformation on the interwebz. If it sounds too good to be true, assume that it isn't true. I wasted a lot of time digging through info on supplements, Gerson therapy and baking soda concoctions.

I had a single one year ago. My oncologist wanted me to have a double, my breast surgeon didn't feel it was necessary. It is a very personal decision! I made the decision to have a single quickly and then had many discussions with my BS and MO about the second one. In the end I decided to not have another mastectomy. I couldn't see putting myself through all that again. I am monitored very closely. I am on tamoxifen. My BS told me I had a .05% of getting cancer in the other breast a year. This would be a 20% chance over 40 years. I know statistics don't mean much if cancer returns but the odds are in your favor. Again - very personal choice but I do not regret my decision.