Hi Shaz
Umm still sounds a bit confusing?? Did he mention what grade the cancer is? (this means how aggressive it grows? Grade 3 is the fastest growing). Also Hormone receptive is a good thing, because at least they know that your cancer is 'fed" by - estrigen or progesterone?? (depending on the exact pathology of the tumour) and there is medication to "turn off" the hormone that is feeding your cancer. I do hope I am not confusing you more than you were already, but this is how best to explain it.
Dont let people tell you whether to have the mastecomy or not, this is a very personal decision based on the facts for your particular cancer. Be guided by what information the surgeon gives you, the size of the tumour, the grade of the tumour and the statistics for reoccurance, so dont be confused. There is no right or wrong answer until you have all the facts and speak with all the medical team.
Take time to process all the information given to you and then make an inforrmed decision. I chose to have a bilaterial mastecomy, but my tumour was very large, very aggressive and I was very young with young children, and this is not something I would suggest to anyone else to do. But at the time, based on the information available to me, it was something that I wanted to do.
Good luck, hopefully you will be able to sleep tonight.
Tanya