Double Mastectomy and Recon after Chemo ︎

Hi,

Firstly, I'm sorry for all you've had to go through. It must be so hard to have lost your mum so recently, then to have a cancer diagnosis on top, plus treatment then preventative surgeries to contend with. 

My situation was similar-ish. In 2021 when I was 35, I was diagnosed tnbc, completed 5 months of chemo and 1.5 months of radio and 3 operations. Just after all that finished, in Spring 2022, I found out I had a BRCA1 mutation. Due to having had so much radiotherapy, my doctors advised to wait a year before having my preventative mastectomy. Initially, this terrified me that the cancer would come back, but the faulty gene meant I was offered to take olaparib for a year which gave me peace of mind (I imagine you will be offered this too). In spring 2023, I had a double mastectomy and opted for flat aesthetic closure (I was tired of operations and wanted the simplest option with the least risk of complication).

Whilst it's a tough decision to have a preventative mastectomy, it actually brought me a lot of peace once the operation was done. By removing my breasts, it removed a lot of my fear that they would try to kill me again and I felt a lot more at ease with my body. It was a relief for me that I had taken a big step to protect my future self from going through this again and I've never looked back. My body is different to how it was before, but I am happy in it and have no regrets.

My sister has the same faulty gene but never had cancer. She opted for a preventative mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. If there's anything either of us can help you with, please feel free to ask! There is a charity called BRCA chat which has a good website and gallery of different types of reconstruction/not and information/stories about preventative surgeries in case you want to check it out.

You're right in that hope is a big thing with cancer, it definitely helps to hold on to it! Keep doing what you're doing, you've got this and you're almost through the worst of things. Remember that “the darkest hour is just before the dawn”!

Sending the biggest hug for your journey xx