Mastectomy with immediate reconstruction cancelled

Hi @lupa73 , there is a thread on the main forum about this,  where hormone positive women gave been told they will be given tamoxifen or letrozole for the next 3 months (or longer) instead of surgery due to the Corona virus outbreak. I think that they are trying to free staff for the front line.  Chemotherapy has also been put on hold for many women. I developed a posterior vitreous detachment ( as a result of my chemo/biophosphates/ letrozole affecting my eyes adversely). I was supposed to have a follow up at Moorfields Eye Hospital, but all out patient appointments are cancelled there now for now,  so I'm living with the worry I could end up needing urgent surgery if it worsens,  but that's the only way I'll get help in the next few months despite some pain and flashing lights in that eye sometimes.  I worry if I get thr virus and cough a lot I could lose sight in that eye, but  everything is on hold across the board.

I wouldn't have been happy (think extremely distressed!) If my surgery was postponed when diagnosed last year. I pushed for surgery after being diagnosed and my wonderful team jiggled things for me so I had a simple mastectomy a week later, much faster than usual as the HER2+ results only came in the day before surgery!  I was offered reconstruction as my surgeon was in the fortunate position of being timetabled with non- cancer surgeries that day so cleared his schedule,   but I wanted to lose weight and maybe have a diep operation instead at a later date.  The  tumour had clear margins,  but only just, as it was 2mm from my chest wall.  I don't know if letrozole would have worked well enough to keep it away from it,  and if it reached my chest wall I'd have been stage 3 instead of stage 2.

Have you had an MRI as well,  as that often picks up things missed by mammogram and ultrasound? Would you be happy to wait 3 months or more for surgery? Is it hormone positive so you could take tamoxifen? How would you feel to be flat on one side, and wait a year or more for reconstruction? Have you looked at the Macmillan booklet on different reconstructions as it has lots of pictures of each type.  It's available online too, and might give you an idea at least.......

Good luck with your decision. It's a really difficult time under normal circumstances,  and I can't imagine how hard it must be at the moment.  X

Londonmumof2 hi, 

I'm so worried of not being able to access chemo too. Can you please tell me the link of the forum where women have been offered tamoxifen for 3 months instead of chemo? I just feel so anxious that people like me will be denied the same chances at fighting this due to corona and the road ahead is so unsure.

Thanks x

Thank you @Londonmumof2 for the reply and helpful info. 
I didn’t have a MRI. All I know is that I have DCIS. 10 cm and they couldn’t see if there were any invasive cancerous cell from biopsy.

They didn’t give me any other options. I was scheduled to have mastectomy with reconstruction this week and now changed to simple mastectomy next week.

I would prefer to have the reconstruction straight away so I don’t have to have further surgeries and being without a breast for long time is going to be traumatic I think but not sure I can wait three months or more... 

All the best for your treatments.
thank you. X

Hi Lupa73, I’ve had simple mastectomy 3 weeks ago and although the thought of being flat on one side for a year doesn’t bother me it is strange. But the fact that the cancer has gone is a huge weight off my mind, and now all treatment they do is preventive. Mine was also 10 cm and 2 nodes.
Good luck with it all x