Urgent Surgery advice

Julez1958 said:

Hi sorry you have to be here.
I was diagnosed with a 5.5 cm lobular cancer in my left breast.
At the first consult with my ( very experienced) breast cancer surgeon he talked about a choice between lumpectomy and mastectomy but that was when we thought the the cancer was 4.5 cm.
At the second consult he said it was my choice but that it might be he could not get clear margins with a lumpectomy given the extent of the tumour and then I would need a mastectomy anyway.
I am 62 and that may have been a factor but I decided to go the mastectomy route.As it turned out the cancer was more extensive through the breast ( apparently that’s a lobular thing) so the mastectomy was the right choice.
I had  a skin sparing mastectomy with insertion of tissue expander ( plastic surgeon operated with breast cancer surgeon) and will have a DIEP flap surgery in the next few months.
its a lot to take in and not an easy decision to make, I asked my surgeon what he recommended and he said “ it’s your choice, I can only give you the pros and cons”.In my case my breasts were E cup so there was the possibility of still having enough breast tissue with a lumpectomy.It would have been a lot easier decision if I was a smaller cup as it would have leant much more towards a mastectomy then.
I got a reduction in my other breast and don’t regret my decision at all.
It might be worth  joining the “Choosing Breast Reconstruction group here to see other people’s stories. Hope that helps.