Forum Discussion
Surgery options & decisions
I have just been recently diagnosed with early breast cancer, stage 1, grade 1. I had my first appointment, the team were great with explaining everything though I must say it’s been very overwhelming...
Hi @Ella123 Have you asked your team why they are giving you the option? It may help to make things clearer. My bc was diagnosed at 2.5cm with no node involvement and my surgeon advised a lumpectomy but said at the time that if after surgery it became obvious that more needed to come out, I would need to follow up with a mastectomy. The lumpectomy was beautifully done and hardly noticeable but as bad luck would have it, I needed the mastectomy as the tumour was 4.5cm with no clear margins and 3 nodes were affected. Regarding radiation, it's not particularly fun, but it's also not very difficult - of course, as with everything, there can be side effects. Perhaps something else to ask yourself - would you stay flat if you had a mastectomy or would you want reconstruction and if so, what sort of reconstruction would be suitable for you?