Hi @repascoe, big hugs to you as you go through this. You are definitely not alone on here as there will be women who've had plenty of experience with all these parts of the journey, others like me mid journey, and some in the same stage as you. I've met such lovely people on here <3
Excuse my using dot points below, it's just quicker because I'm mid chemo though that's going quite well, I'm into the hair loss stage today.
Anyway, I found out I needed a bilateral mastectomy because I had two cancers, one in each breast, and I was fairly small breasted as well.
I made the decisions 1.to agree to the bilateral mastectomy 2. and axillary clearance (if sentinel lymph nodes were to test positive in surgery, which they did), and 3. to go flat, more or less at the same time.
When I first got my diagnosis the lovely dr and nurse at the WA Breast Centre gave me information and told me it was early days but they were planting seeds so I would have time to think about them.
They're all personal decisions and important you weigh up what you can know (because no one can tell you everything) and what you want, so here were my thought points:
1. My faith helped me feel sure I was going to be ok, no matter what, and it's helped my stay positive.
2. My mother had breast cancer at 70 and 82 - she had a single mastectomy and regretted not having the double. By the way we were told it was unlikely to be genetic, but now this has happened I'm getting genetic testing, and my older sister is considering pre-emptive surgery like Angelina Jolie.
3. I have three teenage daughters and a bit going on. When I had my twins I had preeclampsia and a bit of a rough time with emergency surgery. For this reason I wanted everything to be as simple as possible, surgery wise. I didn't want to be returning to have implants replaced down the track, and I didn't think I was up to doing the plastic surgery with my tummy having taken a beating from the twins.
4. With 1,2 and 3 in mind, I decided yes to the bilateral mastectomy if the surgeon deemed it necessary, and my gut instinct told me I wanted to go flat as well.
5. When I met my lovely surgeon, she was gutsy and gave me her opinion straight away to go for the mastectomy, and she was willing to put implants in straight away or send me to talk to plastics, but we talked through everything logically (she is a great communicator, and a mum with 3 teens like me), I told her I thought I'd prefer just to go flat and she said I could have something done later if I changed my mind. She booked me in for surgery, but I also had the weekend to change my mind about anything.
In my case, surgery went well - everyone who's seen my chest (I'm now about 7 weeks past surgery) has commented on my neat chest wall and tidy scars. I had 13 lymph nodes taken under my right arm and some cording since but that's almost sorted now. My physio at the hospital is wonderful.
There's been some tears and grieving over the breasts, I forgot to mention my hubby, I did include him in my thinking but he wanted me to do what I felt best. But I am really happy with my Berlei Bra (that you will be given) and my proper prostheses which I got last week. I'm not really thinking about it a lot, but that's me.
I hope this helps a little bit!
Helen xo
