Abnormal Pap test

Hi Dale, like you, I had early breast cancer with no spread to my lymph nodes. I started out with a lumpectomy, but the tumour was much bigger, at 21mm than the 4 mm they thought they were after. It was also a very aggressive grade 3. With much thought I decided to have a mastectomy then and more nodes removed to see if the cancer might have jumped the clear sentinel node. This also meant that I probably wouldn't require radiotherapy if the mastectomy was done. My other reason for going down this path was that this tumour hadn't shown up on a mammogram, so I did become a bit paranoid about other cancers not showing up, and also scarring on the breast from the lumpectomy could also look or feel like a cancer. I was relieved that the mastectomy didn't find any more surprises, and that all 10 lymph nodes were clear. I came out of hospital on Christmas day 2010. I had discussed the other breast with my surgeon, and he said he would remove it if I desired. First he wanted me to deal with the chemo, so 6 months after I had finished this I went back to him, and also a plastic surgeon. I teamed them both up and in one surgery, my breast surgeon took off my breast , and my plastic surgeon put in tissue expanders on both sides. Reconstruction with silicone implants give a good result when both breasts are done. If only doing one, you generally need surgery on the remining breast, to lift it up to try and match the silicone one. I decided that I would always be worried about scar tissue , and my Surgeon shared my concern. Some surgeons are against preventative mastectomies, and some are for them. Some may require you to have counseling first. It really is your decision, and if your quality of life is going to lessened due to worry, then I think it is your right to do what you want. Being on this site for the last 8 months has shown me that cancer can come back, and as I am a worry wart it was the right decision for me. Love Chris xx