This was a very interesting read Jen and extremely important that women should know of choices. I consider myself very very lucky that I was referred to the Sydney Clinic and one of the brilliant surgeons that were referred in the research article Louise mentioned. I had IBC in both breasts and my breast surgeon offered me immediate skin sparing ( couldn't save nipples) bilateral mastectomy with expanders, this was done in May 2013, followed by 6 months of chemo finishing in November, a break to enjoy summer and have just had the exchange surgery for silicon implants done in March of this year. Also as my breast surgeon is an oncoplastic surgeon he did both my surgerys so no separate plastic surgeon needed. Due to this I have never felt like I lost my breasts and from the outside people would never know that I had a bilateral mastectomy. After reading and hearing the many breast cancer women's personal stories and blogs it would appear that where you live and who you are referred to is how decisions are made but it is VITAL that women ask more and be given all the information available without feeling intimidated and nervous about questioning what else is available. In my situation I knew within the first minute of my initial consultation with my surgeon that I had I got one of the best and with a calm reassuring manner I never felt anything but confident with the decisions made. I know follow their research with interest and I wish and hope that all women are able to access as much info as possible in regards to this.
