Laura

I'm in the same boat as you.I had a lumpectomy,full node clearance and radiation in 2003.It came back 7 yrs later in the same spot-I was really shocked,thought I was in the clear. So I  had a mastectomy then chemo in 2010.I have been on Tamoxifen for 2 yrs now. I wear a prosthesis and it's ok. I've thought of losing the other boob and doing recon but I also had 3 surgeries on my ankle between the boob ops and I can't stomach another operation for the moment.Also I have become paranoid about checking my scarline incase cancer comes back again.Like you,I would be limited to Diep recon (cos of the radiation)and that is a long,more complicated surgery.But having one boob is not without it's problems too.You have to buy higher neckline tops or "doctor" your wardrobe.That's probably the case with  no boobs as well.These are all difficult decisions and in the end just go with what you feel is right for you at the moment.

                            Tonya xx

I'm in the same boat as you.I had a lumpectomy,full node clearance and radiation in 2003.It came back 7 yrs later in the same spot-I was really shocked,thought I was in the clear. So I  had a mastectomy then chemo in 2010.I have been on Tamoxifen for 2 yrs now. I wear a prosthesis and it's ok. I've thought of losing the other boob and doing recon but I also had 3 surgeries on my ankle between the boob ops and I can't stomach another operation for the moment.Also I have become paranoid about checking my scarline incase cancer comes back again.Like you,I would be limited to Diep recon (cos of the radiation)and that is a long,more complicated surgery.But having one boob is not without it's problems too.You have to buy higher neckline tops or "doctor" your wardrobe.That's probably the case with  no boobs as well.These are all difficult decisions and in the end just go with what you feel is right for you at the moment.

                            Tonya xx

I had my ovaries out because both of my cancers were very eostrogen positive, and when my blood was tested, my eostrogen levels were very high. Since I already had 5 years of tamoxifen between 2002 and 2007, my oncologist didn't want me having it again. She thought femara would be best for me but as its only for post menopausal women, I had my ovaries removed. I had chemo in 2002, and again this time around. The chemo had put me into temporary menopause, but my ovaries were quite robust and looked like they would kick back into action. I asked my oncologist if she would remove her other boob if she was in my position and she said yes without any hesitation. She is involved with lots of international studies and clinical trials and I trust her advice completely. Her husband is a breast surgeon too. I didn't think I'd be too fussed about reconstruction, but after having no boob for 11 months, I'm very keen to have boobs and a cleavage again! I find the prosthesis a bit of a pain, and my plastic surgeon showed me some awesome photos of his patients who had the same procedure I'm going to have. My breast surgeon who did my lumpectomy in 2002 and my mastectomy in 2011 also agreed having the other boob off was a good idea. I asked her if I was over reacting by wanting it done, and she said that it was a sound medical decision and was very common now. What will your treatment be like this time around? xx Jane

Hi Jane

4am and I cant sleep. Thanks for the reply. My tumours have both been small. Both  about 1.7cm and both times I found them myself.

At this stage my oncologist isn't recommneding having both off.

What reason did you get your ovaries removed and why is the oncologist recommending the other boob.

Did you have chemo second time and are you on tamoxifen or anything?

Even if I choose to have both off  I am pretty certain that I dont want a reconstruction.

Pauline :)

Hi Pauline, I had my first cancer 10 years ago when I was 34. I thought I'd probably seen the last of it, but got a new cancer in the same breast last August. I had a mastectomy this time (for the same reasons as you) and had my ovaries removed in January. On the 6th of September, I am having the other boob removed and a double reconstruction. In the end, the decision to have the other boob off was easy. My oncologist recommended I do it too. Were your tumours very big? Big you find them yourself? All the best xx Jane

First posting for me. I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time 10 days ago. I previously had breast cancer 15 years ago, when I was not quite 34. At that time I had a partial mastectomy and node clearance. The nodes were clear. I then had 6 weeks radiotherapy. And then had been healthy since. Thought I was well and truly safe from it.

But it was not to be. It has come back in the same breast. I have seen the oncolcogist and because I have already had radiotherapy and it has come back I have no option but to have a full mastectomy. He will also do a sentinal node biopsy and if needed another node clearance.

Not all that happy with my situation. Never expected to be in this positoin again.

Now trying to decide if I will have a bilateral mastectomy so that I never have to worry about it again.

Big decisions.

Anyone else had the same thing. 

Thanks Dan for that and am so pleased that you have a great onc. She sounds as though she is definately listening to what YOU want and I think that, that is most important. Hope your feeling good today :)

Di, how are you going???? Thank you SO much also for the link, I will have a look shortly and hope you are travelling along well!  :)

Loz 

xoxo

Don't mind me butting in, but I thought I'd give you the link to the glossary page in the website, too, in case that helps: http://www.bcna.org.au/about-breast-cancer/glossary.

Di

Ooopsy sorry lovey, DCIS is ductal carcinoma insitu. It's when there are cancer cells inside the milk ducts that haven't broken out into the surrounding tissue. DCIS is often picked up on mammogram in lots of women and people sometimes refer to it as "pre cancer" my pathology had a mix of DCIS and invasive tumour in it and my first excision had DCIS in the margin so I had to go back to have more taken. The 2nd excision had 2 ducts with DCIS in them within 1mm of the border which is too close for me so I will be asking for more surgery at the end of chemo. I don't want to risk even 1 cell being left behind to grow into another tumour. MDT stands for multi-disciplinary-team. MDT's are basically a group of different clinicians: doctors, surgeons, nurses, radiologists, pathologists etc who come together and look at a patients case to discuss the best treatment. In my breast MDT there are the breast surgeons, the medical oncologists (chemo docs) radiation oncologists (radiotherapy docs) pathologists (the ones that look at the stuff under the microscope) breast care nurses, clinical psychologists, social workers etc. All new breast cancer cases are presented and they all discuss the best way to proceed. In my case they looked at my pathology on a big screen and blah blah'd about what to do. It was decided that it was most likely that all the cancer cells were gone, but that they would monitor me with scans very closely. Unfortunately my med onc wasn't there as she was at a conference and I have a feeling she would have pushed for more surgery. But that's what she is doing now so we are all good! :) also my genetic tests are back and I get them this week. If we are positive both of those bad boys will be whipped off anyway! Hope this clears things up for you. xx Dan xx

DCIS = Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (or I think it is) - means ductal cancer that is still inside the actualy milk duct and hasn't invaded any more of the breast yet.

MDT = Multi Disciplinary Team (a team consisting of multiple members, from different fields, such as your medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, breast surgeon, breast care nurse, oncology nurses, community nurses, physiotherapist, dietician, lymphoedema specialists etc etc)

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I am sure you probably know the following but I will put them here anyway ...

ER = Oestrogen Receptor (The E comes from the USA spelling of Estrogen) (this tells weather or not your cancer is "fed" by Oestrogen or not)

+ = positive (such as ER+ = Oestrogen Receptor Positive)

- =  negative (Such as ER- = Oestrogen receptor Negative)

PR = Progesterone Receptor (this tells weather or not your cancer is "fed" by Progesterone or not)

HER2 = Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (this is a gene which promotes the growth of cancer cells when positive mean that this gene doesn't work properly and it makes too many copies of itself, which makes the cancer grow faster)

IBC = Inflammatory Breast Cancer, but I have also seen it used to mean Invasive Breast Cancer

BRCA1/ BRCA2 = Breast Cancersusceptability Gene 1/ 2 (these are 2 genes that if you carry them can increase your risk of getting breast and/or ovarian cancers, if you have one of these genes it also means that any offspring can inherit the faulty gene from you - the risk is something like - the general population have a lifetime risk  of about 12%, people with a faulty gene have a lifelong risk of about 60% for breast cancer and a 1.4% lifetime risk in the general population and a 15 to 40% risk for people with the faulty gene for ovarian cancer) - also known as Familial Breast Cancer in some places.

BSE = Breast Self Examination

US or U/S = Ultrasound

CT or CT Scan = Computer Tomography (A type of medical imaging that uses a computer to organise multiple x-rays and construct a cross section view of the body)

Rad = Raditation, on these sites usually means Radiation Therapy.

PET or PET scan = Positron Emission Tomography (a medical imaging technique that uses radioactive tracers to show upareas of damage or faster growing areas like cancers - used to find metastises in some people)

MRI = Magnetic Resonance Imaging (A medical imaging technique that uses a large magnet linked to a computer to create detailed pictures inside of the body)

Mets = Metastases or secondaries (this means the cancer has spread or metastasised to other barts of the body such as the bones, or organs like lungs, liver brain etc)

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There are HEAPS more too, but I can't think of any more at present. ?

Hope this has been of some help (we need to make a file with all of the definitions, so that we can refer to it when we come across a new one or read one in our biopsy, or pathology reports, or blood test results etc etc.