To remove or not to remove, that is the question?

Hello BlueKoala,

Not easy decisions - I agree.

I am 48 and live on the GC, Australia.

I had a laparoscopic hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy 10 days after my mastectomy and diagnosis and about 10 after that I had my first AC round. It was a gynae oncologist who did my surgery and I have to say I was in overnight only - good health and weight. I had a wildly hormone positive tumour and being late 40s it made sense for me. I think that schedule was a bittight but I was in a - no one better get in my way mood;)

Now comes the question of what to do about the other ...

I hate scans and I had fibrocystic breasts retrospectively - so for me it's coming off.

When ? Probably when I am "allowed" to get my port out ( same time thing hopefully) so perhaps in the next two years...

Good luck with your decision,

BlueKoala,

I sympathize with the difficulty in decision making and agree it such a personal thing. I was 38 when I had to decide, and never really even considered BMX. I had originally wanted LX, but had multi-focal DCIS and we had to make sure we got it all. I guess going from LX to UMX was the biggest leap I could consider at the time.

I've been 14 years NED. That is 14 years for one boob to grow, change, (and, yes, sag) and the foob to remain virtually unchanged. Initially, it really wasn't an issue; but it has become more so over time. I guess if I had maintained a constant weight (my bs/ps did tell me that would give me the best outcome) it might have been better. Currently, the lack of symmetry does result in routine thought about what I'm wearing, especially in the summer or if I want to go for a swim.

Just thought my experience might be helpful in your deliberations. Good luck and I know you'll make the best decision for YOU! ((hugs))

Dear BlueKoala

Like you said you need to take the decision yourself and be comfortable with it. You already seem to have gone through pros and cons.

I can share my story with you. I am 45, with a positive family history, and pending genetic tests. Last January I got diagnosed with low grade dcis, and have global background parenchymal enhancement on my MRI. I opted for a bilateral Mx which I did one month ago. I'm doing reconstruction and have tissue expanders at the moment. I feel happy with my decision as I did not feel I could wait to develop invasive cancer if I could avoid it. After my exchange..... (no time frames but hopefully around 6-7 months time) I then plan to have both ovaries out.... Probably around six months later. It's 12-18months of surgeries and anaesthesia but it will pass. I am at peace with my decision, though some may say its overkill.

Personally if you're still going to need to go into menopause, I would definitely go for oophorectomy rather than Zoladex. I had Zoladex in the past for fibroids, and apart from the painful injections and oh so terrible mood swings, I'd rather have the ovaries out since to date there is no way of monitoring for early diagnosis of cancer of the ovaries.

Think it through and good luck.

Good luck BlueKoala.

I must say that it took me less than 60 seconds to decide on my bilateral as soon as my radiologist explained the Mri results and I figured (and she confirmed) that the radiology was not going to help in screening in the future. Then we did the biopsy since there was microcalcificatiom and the rest is history.

Having said that, I had many blue moments before the surgery. I'm feeling a lot better today one month after my surgery. I do have my occasioned blue moments. There are the ups and the downs. As time passes the blue moments become less frequent. It's amazing how you adapt. I have my next fill this morning.

Take care and thinking of you lots!