I had a double mastectomy with tissue expanders placed at the same surgery. I had a plastic surgeon and the breast surgeon removing the breast both working together during the surgery. Because the breast tissue is gone, an expander goes under the muscle. The purpose of the expander is to stretch the muscle/skin. After surgery, i was initially flat. Over the next few weeks, the plastic surgeon filled the expanders with saline to ïnflate¨ them. I had 4 ïnflations¨ until the expanders reached the desired size. The expanders stayed in from August until May. They were not painful, but not really comfortable either. I did have radiation while my expanders were in, I did not have any problems with the expanders during the radiation, but I have heard that some do. After I was healed from any radiation skin issues, my plastic surgeon did a 2nd surgery to take out the expanders and replace them with the implants. He had me wait 4 months after radiation before the implant surgery. The implants are much more comfortable and that surgery was much less painful and recovery was quick. I am a teacher and I missed 5 days of work. I am pleased with my final implants and I am glad I opted to do this. Everyone is different. So my timeline was - initial surgery Aug 2022 Radiation 31 sessions from Nov 1st - Dec 18th. Replace tissue expanders with implants - May 2023 (I did not have to do chemo)

I had a bilateral mastectomy with no reconstruction. It is certainly a matter of choice, but I wanted to recover as quickly as possible and have had no regrets.

I had a single mastectomy done in September 2022. I had no desire for reconstruction, but I was 67 at the time. Because of my size, I need to wear a prosthesis during the day. My prosthesis is large (size 11) and feels heavy, but I need the weight to balance my body and stay in alignment. I think if I had needed a double mastectomy, I would go flat at home, and wear prostheses when I went out.

SherrieBarber gave a great description of her reconstruction. I didn't know everything that was involved, just stretching the skin.

thank you all so much for being so open with me and sharing your journey and choices! If I could hug each one of you, I would!

I had a double mastectomy March 1, 2023 and I am very happy with my decision. Everyone is different, but for me, I did not want to worry about the cancer coming back in another breast, which I know happens sometimes. The recovery was not as intense as I expected, and they look pretty good. I did not have huge implants put in, I went with what worked for my body, so I did not have to do expanders or anything like that. One surgeon removed the tumor and did the nipple sparing, and the other surgeon did the reconstruction and put the implants in. Both done during same surgery.