As Spookie said, no one here can, or should, tell you what to do. This is simply too personal a decision. We all look at it differently, and whichever decision you make, you are the person who has to live with the consequences - so it has to your decision based on what's best for you.

The information and questions included in the following thread might help you with your decision:

Topic: Considerations: Lumpectomy w/Rads vs. UMX vs. BMX

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/91/topics...

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Good luck with your decision! And once you decide, don't look back and don't second guess yourself.

Hi auntpondie, and welcome to Breastcancer.org.

We're so very sorry you find yourself here, but we're really glad you've found us. As you can already see, you're sure to find this Community a helpful place for information, support, and advice -- we're all here for you!

As spookiesmom said, this is a very personal decision and one that doesn't come easily. Others will likely be by shortly to weigh in with how they came to their decisions. But in the meantime, you may be interested in checking out this page from the main Breastcancer.org site on Mastectomy vs. Lumpectomy, to help you weigh the benefits and drawbacks.

We hope this helps and that you find solace in your decision. Please let us all know how we can continue to help!

--The Mods

Edited to add: We posted this before we saw Beesie's response. Both spookiesmom and Beesie are long-time members with great advice -- you're in good hands!

My personal experience was that I had a positive biopsy of invasive lobular carcinoma diagnosed via biopsy on my right. I also had been diagnosed with LCIS on the right. There were 3 spots on the left that they wanted to biopsy but I was just so freaked out by it all that decided to have a bmx with reconstruction. I felt at times leading up to the surgery that it might be overkill but I also really didn't want to go through chemo or radiation. I ended up doing bmx on 5/12. They found 2 invasive ductal carcinoma tumors (small 4mm and 5mm) on my right during pathology after the bmx. 2 nodes were removed on each side 2 weeks before bmx that came back negative so surgeon is calling this a definitive surgery! The surgery was not easy and I miss my breasts but feel justified and thrilled with my decision.

That being said, the decision is yours entirely. I know it's hard. Wishing you the best whatever you decide

Sending you hugs and strength. For me it seemed like I'd just been pulverized with a cancer diagnosis and now was expected to make a decision on which surgery to have because they say it's up to you, but many of us have no idea of what to do. I knew so little at the time I was diagnosed. Thank God for the internet, youtube and community chats like this one. I kept my diagnosis between myself and one friend until I learned more and had all the pieces. It was a rollercoaster of changing diagnosis, very poor sleep, fear, anger, anxiety etc. Once I heard multi centric (dcis in multiple areas throughout the left breast) high grade, necrosis and microinvasion, I had decided mastectomy was my best option. Even though my doctors told me that there was less than a 4% chance I'd get cancer in my right breast after mammograms and an MRI with contrast cleared it. I still went ahead with the double to treat aggressively, avoid future mammograms and possibly avoid having to go under the knife again in the future just in case. When they removed both breasts during surgery, they checked the right breast tissue under the microscope and found lobular precancer after I was cleared by both mammograms and MRI, scary stuff. It turned out that I made the right decision to remove both, as that may have also turned into cancer in the future. Both breast surgeon and oncologist told us at post follow up appointment. That being said, the decisions we make are personal and the best we can do is to research and try to make the best decisions for ourselves and our loved ones. The surgery itself wasn't too bad, I was walking up and down my driveway the day after surgery. Four weeks out and I'm walking nearly 3 miles a day just for pleasure and I feel stronger than before. My major complaints are how I wished someone would have told me to start taking stool softeners right after surgery, as the pain meds gave me SEVERE constipation. The expanders are a bit uncomfortable as expected, but I got used to them quickly. They do plan to start expanding next week, which I hear is very uncomfortable and painful. I'm trying to brace myself for it and keep a positive attitude. We've received so much support and prayer from family and friends. I thank God everyday and continue to pray for complete healing for all of us. Wishing you the very best of luck! Take good care of you, it's your time now.

This post is very helpful to me, thank you. At this time I'm having a hard time making a sound decision. I really understand that its easy to be at a loss on what to decide. I was just diagnosed a 2nd time with DCIS High grade, Comedonecrosis on a breast that I had a lumpectomy 18 months ago for DCIS low grade. Now it's in multiple locations. I'm leaning toward a BMX that some are saying is an aggressive approach, yet I'm feeling like it just all needs to go. I'm also reading about so many going this route and the pathology finding more that the mammo/mri didn't find which is scary and even more reason to have the bmx. Now I'm just nervous about the surgery and after effects. Good luck to you and thanks again for posting your experience.