Lumpectomy vs: Mastectomy?

Kitty3571

Has anyone ever regretted getting a lumpectomy vs: a mastectomy? I was only Stage 1 in Feb, 2006 - 2.2cm tumor was taken out immediately (lumpectomy) a week after diagnosis, followed by A&C, Neulasta, Taxol, Herceptin & Radiation - I'm Her2 positive which makes me so nervous of reoccurence and wonder should I have just went with the mastectomy, even a double just to get it over with in the first place instead of waiting and wondering if it's going to come back? I've been out of treatments since June, 2007 and am having a difficult time with everything, mental I know but I'm beginning to hate my natural breasts - Don't trust them, you know? Nervous of every little ache & pain lately - getting my annual mammo in a few weeks, maybe that will calm my nerves a bit - Thanks for listening. Trena

jackiemanz

Hi Trena, I know what you are going through. February 2007 I was Diagnosed with Stage 0 LCIS. Since it was stage 0 they said I could just wait and have six month follow ups or I could go ahead and have a double mestectomy because of it being LCIS and my family history with breast cancer. I choose the double mestectomy because I didn't think I could live with it the thought of the Big C still being inside me. It was a hard decision to make but it was the best one for me.

Hugs
Jackie.

Skybuf

Hi Kitty, I opted to have a double mastectomy myself. Dx in Dec 2005 and mastectomy then treatment. Taxol did a number on my nerve ends but getting better now. I am having the other one off Jan 28th...my choice. Just too heavy to carry one around, lopsided and it's in the way. Besides they said less chance of reocurrence and no more mammos.....I hate them! too scary
So, I will have surgery in two weeks and then hope to heal quickly and get on with life.
Hope your mammo shows good results...God bless

phoenixrising

Skybuf said:

Hi Kitty, I opted to have a double mastectomy myself. Dx in Dec 2005 and mastectomy then treatment. Taxol did a number on my nerve ends but getting better now. I am having the other one off Jan 28th...my choice. Just too heavy to carry one around, lopsided and it's in the way. Besides they said less chance of reocurrence and no more mammos.....I hate them! too scary
So, I will have surgery in two weeks and then hope to heal quickly and get on with life.
Hope your mammo shows good results...God bless

Best of luck. We'll be thinking of you and sending you good stuff.
jan

phoenixrising

Hi Trena, I opted for a mastectomy over a lumpectomy (Stage 11B). I have little guys so not much weighs me down and a lumpectomy would have made a significant indentation. You can still have a recurrance at the original site. It can be in the chest muscles. My margin was 1mm, so I still worry. 1mm is not very much.

You will probably feel much better after your mammo but I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't just get rid of the other one now and get it over with. Hate worrying! Good Luck to you:)
jan

seof

In my case there was not much choice...I had a large tumor and lymph nodes involved, so I expected mastectomy on the right side from the beginning. I chose to proceed with mastectomy on the left also, even though the Drs. said statistically I was not in a high risk group for recurrence. Due to my family history and my own desire not to worry, I had a double mastectomy. Cancer has a mind of its own, and it may show up somewhere else some time, but it won't start in the breasts.

You will make the best decision for you. I whish you didn't have to. seof.

Kitty3571

Thanks to everyone for your responses, kind words and hopefull wishes - I'm sure I will feel better about it all after my upcoming mammo - just getting nervous at that time of year again and lately my bones have been really achey and "cracking" when I move so naturally my first thoughts are "omg, it's in my bones" - Crazy right? Hopefully I will eventually get over the paranoid stage, thought I would already be there after 2 years but not yet! Thanks again to all - Trena

cabbott

Kitty3571 said:

Thanks to everyone for your responses, kind words and hopefull wishes - I'm sure I will feel better about it all after my upcoming mammo - just getting nervous at that time of year again and lately my bones have been really achey and "cracking" when I move so naturally my first thoughts are "omg, it's in my bones" - Crazy right? Hopefully I will eventually get over the paranoid stage, thought I would already be there after 2 years but not yet! Thanks again to all - Trena

I have a right mastectomy because the little cancer I had was in more than one spot. The biggest was 4 mm and the other documented spot was 2 mm. That's not all that big, but I still had to have a mastectomy because there wasn't enough breast to take out two golf ball size lumps and still fit a bra.The mastectomy made it so radiation wasn't necessary for me and I appreciated that. However, I was really (unpleasantly) surprised that radiation plus lumpectomy has a better survival rate than mastectomy. That stat made me think. So if you had a lumpectomy WITH radiation, you are actually protecting yourself pretty darn well. Enjoy your breasts as long as you have them. We all get paranoid and have nightmares when it is exam time. It gets better with time, but cancer is one heck of a shock the first time around. No wonder we get nervous when we see the doctor. Good luck!!!

ladybluepgh

hi...I had a lumpectomy with radiation 9 years ago but last year the cancer returned..so I had a unilateral mastectomy...they said I didnt have a choice after I had already had radiation once...I had 9 good years tho from the lumpectomy so to me it was worth it...I hope you make the right choice for you..take care

manna1qd

Decisions for treatment..
I had a unilateral mastectomy in 2001. Thinking of a prophylactic on the other side. My plastic surgeon did a beautiful job. So, I looked great but had a loss of sensation. That effected my sexual response significantly.

I remember hearing back then that Europeans got lumpectomies. The didn't automatically have the mastectomy option because statistically, they were yielding the same results. I know my decision for mastectomy as well as for a total hysterectomy nine months later, were immediately made out of fear and panic minutes after getting negative results and I never looked back...until I was a few years out.

I really wasn't well informed by the doctors or myself as to how those surgeries would change my life. I put myself through menopause ten years early and a few months after chemo. I don't think my poor brain (or my husband )ever recovered. There was a thickening of the uterine lining with tamoxifen but not anything wrong with my ovaries. My fear was ovarian cancer.

My oncologist never mentioned sterility as an effect of chemo. I didn't know my ovaries shut down until I asked a question about the risk of preganancy. She said the point was moot because my ovaries would shut down. How about being told I could freeze my eggs if I wanted to have more children? Never heard that one until later. I don't have regrets overall, and hindsight is 20/20. I just wondered what others' experiences have been with the decision making process. Informed decisions are always best. At least then you know what you are getting into or out of. In my case, I was so darn scared, I just wanted the facts I had to know without the details. Maybe my doctors were sensetive to that but I don't think so.

My first oncologist had me in for a half hour, corrected my surgeon's statistics to inform me my chances weren't as good as I thought, wrote everything down that she was telling me on her chart and then told me I wouldn't have time to ask questions, she had another patient! When I asked her if I would be able to take our planned trip to disney world she told me this wasn't about disney world! Just needed to get that oncologist experience off my chest! Doesn't she know when you have kids it's always about disney world? (I'm joking!)

This site has helped me tremendously. Just getting things out that have been pent up inside of me with nowhere to go. Thanks for listening.