Lumpectomy or Mastectomy

Hi LisaNivo so sorry to hear of your diagnosis, and your confusion about surgery. Unfortunately I can't answer your question personally as I opted for a lumpectomy as I wanted the least invasive surgery, but my understanding is that surgeons work hard to make the reconstruction look as close as possible. I am sure there are other ladies on here who have had a single mastectomy who can advise.  Best wishes as you think this through and reach a decision. 

Hi Lisa

i had a mastectomy 6/7 weeks ago. My tumor was 47mm and 10 out of 15 nodes infected. I would not like the decision as you are not medically trained. I was told best option for me was mastectomy lymph node clearance, chemo  and radiotherapy.  So I had no choice and I’m glad.  Hope it’s not too difficult for you. 

Xx

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my message I really hope your well and are or have recovered well from your lumpectomy… I’m still confused to which route to take I wish in a way he hadn’t given me the two options it would of been so much easier really .. but he’s doing his job plus I suppose if I didn’t have those options and chose what he said and something went wrong I would blame him ( but I know I wouldn’t have ) I’m just not like that… I’m sure I’ll make the right decision for me plus he might have to do a mastectomy anyway in the end …. My heads in a mess I apologise plus  I do ramble on x

Hiya hope your recovering well… thank you for replying to my message .. like my reply to the lady above I’m just confused to be honest just wish Ihadn’t got two options given to me really …x 

Hi LisaNivo

Well done on opening up. It's not easy.

I had my diagnosis in November. I was originally told I could have a lumpectomy and radiotherapy, but after an MRI which showed a 2nd area of tumour this decision was changed to mastectomy.

The place you are at is such a difficult time. Although I didn't have to decide between lumpectomy or mastectomy I found the decision on reconstruction really agonising. 

I ended up having the mastectomy with immediate implant reconstruction. When the pathology results came through I didn't have clear margins so had to have a 2nd op about 6 weeks after the first. I don't think this is very common after a mastectomy but I'm not sure.

The surgeon will do his best to match your new breast to the other one, but in my experience there was never any mention of doing anything else to the 'good' side.

Please don't be afraid to call your breast care nurse with any questions or concerns..they are there for this reason.

Wishing you all the best x

Hi

Either way is difficult.  My recovery from mastectomy and lymph node clearance went well and I’m sure lumpsectomy will be the same.  I’m here if you want to talk. I will be looking at reconstruction surgery later down the line after chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

xx

Hi, just thinking, as well as your own medical team, it might help to give MacMillan a call, or use their chat function if you feel more comfortable doing that. There were times during my treatment I found the chat function really helpful to clarify things for me. Best wishes, and no apologies please, you're not rambling at all x

I think they always have to advise that they may not get clear margins from a lumpectomy and that if that were the case you would need more surgery. Similarly if you have sentinel lymph nodes tested and they are not clear, they may want to remove the rest which means more surgery. My surgeon said the recommendation was largely a technical assessment of the number of cancerous areas / volume of cancer versus volume of breast, and therefore whether they could get a good cosmetic result from just removing the lump or areas. She said the long term outcomes were similar. I had a wide area excision, the cosmetic result is good when wearing a bra although the breast has a dent in it. 

Hi LisaNivo,  After reading your post all my feelings came back to me as I was in a similar situation.  Sorry you are going through this difficult time.  I will give you a little background.  Initially diagnosed with DCIS in right breast and plan was for lumpectomy and radiation.  After getting over the shock I felt prepared to get on with it.  However I had more tests, ultrasound and MRI to both breasts.  Saw two areas on left breast close to each other so had open biopsy and it was stage 1 invasive ductal cancer.  Surgeon got tumor and good margins so no more surgery on that side but there was still the other breast snd now I would need radiation to both!!  I was a mess and  thought I would just have bilateral mastectomy and implants as was concerned about how large DCIS would be and scared of radiation.  I hesitated for about 6 weeks before making my decision as I was too emotional to decide.  I told the surgeon that I didn’t want to make a decision based on emotions.  I saw the radiation oncologist too and then put it all together and finally decided that in my situation it made sense to have another lumpectomy and radiation.  It is a highly personal decision and I am so grateful that my surgeon was patient and kind.  He told me that it was a good thing my cancer was not aggressive as I would have had to decide quickly.  It is hard when you have to choose but I was glad I had a choice.  Breasts look symmetrical and the right has a little less volume but not really noticeable.  I was 72 when I was diagnosed but very active and no other health issues so grateful to be on this side of cancer. 
I hope you come to a decision soon as it is a good feeling not wrestling with it.  

 Barbara