Newly Diagnosed also have BRCA2 Gene
Hi, Sorry I'm a newbie, apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong section. I have just been diagnosed with DCIS. Had a lumpectomy 1 week ago and will get results tomorrow. They have said if it'...
Forum Discussion
I'm having a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction next Friday.
I had a 1.6mm tumour with no spread to the lymph nodes. I had a wide local excision (lumpectomy) but there weren't clear margins so my surgeon went back a week later to take more. This turned up a big bit of DCIS that hadn't showed up in any scan or ultrasound. I am generously endowed in the chesticle department so while you can see a difference now it's not too noticeable.
From there I could have proceeded to radiation and left it at that. However my family history is dreadful. My mother had BC at my age and survived, but my sister didn't when she got it, dying less than two years ago at 47. Genetic testing was done but no known gene was found. However there is something going on in my family and I am considered at high risk for having more. As I am now raising my sister's kids as well as my own, there's no mucking about with this bugger of a disease. I had a genomic test to see if chemotherapy would be curative on any stray cells that were looking for somewhere else to roost. The test came back clearlypositive so I had chemo.
There are a number of other factors that have led to my decision to have the bilateral mastectomy. I was also influenced by radiation mucking up the chances of a good recon. These decisions are massive and highly personal. There's no wrong or right. Listen to your gut and your medical team. How risk averse are you? Can you live with yourself if you don't have a mastectomy and you develop a BC? Or is life too awful to contemplate without your own boobs? A very useful thing for me was to write down all the reasons why I was proceeding, when a friend asked me on WhatsApp. It unexpectedly clarified everything for me and I stopped going backwards and forwards on it.
Think about it, talk about it but also do an activity you enjoy and don't think about it! Let your subconcious mull it over for a bit. Best of best luck Ruby. K xox
I had a 1.6mm tumour with no spread to the lymph nodes. I had a wide local excision (lumpectomy) but there weren't clear margins so my surgeon went back a week later to take more. This turned up a big bit of DCIS that hadn't showed up in any scan or ultrasound. I am generously endowed in the chesticle department so while you can see a difference now it's not too noticeable.
From there I could have proceeded to radiation and left it at that. However my family history is dreadful. My mother had BC at my age and survived, but my sister didn't when she got it, dying less than two years ago at 47. Genetic testing was done but no known gene was found. However there is something going on in my family and I am considered at high risk for having more. As I am now raising my sister's kids as well as my own, there's no mucking about with this bugger of a disease. I had a genomic test to see if chemotherapy would be curative on any stray cells that were looking for somewhere else to roost. The test came back clearlypositive so I had chemo.
There are a number of other factors that have led to my decision to have the bilateral mastectomy. I was also influenced by radiation mucking up the chances of a good recon. These decisions are massive and highly personal. There's no wrong or right. Listen to your gut and your medical team. How risk averse are you? Can you live with yourself if you don't have a mastectomy and you develop a BC? Or is life too awful to contemplate without your own boobs? A very useful thing for me was to write down all the reasons why I was proceeding, when a friend asked me on WhatsApp. It unexpectedly clarified everything for me and I stopped going backwards and forwards on it.
Think about it, talk about it but also do an activity you enjoy and don't think about it! Let your subconcious mull it over for a bit. Best of best luck Ruby. K xox