My decision was based on the fact that my tumor was so large a mastectomy seemed like the safest option.

Initially I only needed a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation but when the pathology came back no clear margins, my breast surgeon gave me the option of going back to the OR and take more tissue to see if we could get clear margins or elect to have prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. I chose the later and don't regret my decision.

I choose mastectomy for the same reason as @A MyBCTeam Member. The longterm survival is the same, but recurrence risk is much higher with lumpectomy.

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A MyBCTea...

I had a lumpectomy,had triple negative breast cancer, didn't do re surges before the lumpectomy, was scared of what I would fin d out, now I wished I had, would have gone for a mastectomy.

I had Stage 1 IDC I had double mastectomy without any reconstruction. I did NOT want to deal with side effects of chemo, radiation, and then on top of that take meds to control the side effects. This stuff is very expensive, time lost from work is expensive. The followup treatments (chemo or radiation or both are expensive in and of themselves). Insurance pays some but not for everything. On top of that is the cost of constant monitoring, for mammograms and PET scans to see if CA has returned elsewhere in body or if the chemo/radiation interventions are working. Seemed like constant stress and worrying to me, and Im not a strong person to deal with all that stress. So for me it was a no-brainer, double mastectomy. Luckily my nodes were clean (negative) and all I have to do is take oral pills and an occasional visit to ONC office. I totally understand women wanting to keep their breasts or as much as possible. This was just my thought process. Good luck to you on your journey to find YOUR answers and good health.