How Many Feel Safer Choosing A Mastectomy When A Lumpectomy Is A Viable Option?
How Many Feel Safer Choosing A Mastectomy When A Lumpectomy Is A Viable Option?
Absolutely! The “survival rates” they spout at you in the beginning are correct...for the first five years. However, the chances of a recurrence are higher with a lumpectomy as more tissue remains. I for one, wanted to be as aggressive as possible from the get go.
I chose a bilateral mastectomy. I only had Cancer in one, but years of breast issues ( calcium and cysts ) in both of them. I already had 2 lumpectomies and several core biopsies . I just wanted them GONE. No reconstruction, flat and loving it!!!
It’s a very personal decision. The right decision for one person, even with the same diagnosis, may not be the same for another person. There is no right or wrong choice - just the choice that you decide is right!
Please remember —even a bilateral masectomy does not guarantee that your BC may spread in the future. I’ve heard far too many women say that they chose a bilateral mastectomy so that they never had to worry about a reoccurrence. That is completely not fact based.
My advice, do some research ( but don’t over research) , make your decision, and never second guess your choice. We make those choices based on many things, including our personal emotional situation.
I chose a lumpectomy, had clean margins, found it spread to one lump node, then had chemo, followed by radiation. Five years on AI Letrozole for estrogen + BC , ending after next month. I’m currently a 5 year survivor and doing well. Given what I know now, do I think I should have made different choices- possibly. Yet I am confident that the decision I made was right at the time - no thoughts of “what if I would have?”. Life is too precious to waste it with those thoughts.
Trust yourself. Be well!
@A MyBCTeam Member: I was dx with one small (1.6cm) tumour and was offered lumpectomy or mastectomy. I went for the mastectomy and it was a damn good call, because I ended up having 3 tumours (one almost 4cm). If I had chosen lumpectomy I would have been required to have a pre-surgery MRI which would have shown the other tumours and taken lumpectomy off the table anyway. But since I chose mastectomy and got an early surgery date there was no time for MRI, and no reason for it because I was removing it all anyway. If I had waited for the MRI it would have delayed my surgery until after the holidays (I was dx Nov 30, had surgery Dec 21) and I was not prepared to wait that long.
It's a personal choice as inthegrey says - I will say I have no regrets doing it the way I did. 💖
A MyBCTea...
I had my lumpectomy Nov 6 im still recoverying doing well
