Mastectomy in Stage 4?

Hi annielou52  I was diagnosed Stage IV with bone mets one year ago and immediately had a bilateral mastectomy as I had a 10cm primary tumour in the right breast and a 2cm primary tumour in the left breast.  I had 29 nodes removed on the right side, all were cancerous and I have extensive mets in bones from skull to femur.  I didn't hesitate about having bilateral mastectomy and the actual operation was easy.  Drains are a bit of a nuisance until they're removed, any time up to three weeks post op but, apart from that, the only problem I had was terrible pain from the bone mets.  You don't feel a lot of pain from the operation because the nerves are severed so the area is numb for quite a long time.  If I hadn't had the bone pain I would tell you I sailed through it and I'm in my mid sixties.  I was ill for three years before diagnosis because nothing showed up on mammograms.  After the operation and removal of the tumours my health improved a lot and I went from feeling as though I was dying to living again!  I didn't have reconstruction because I was too ill and I don't honestly care that I don't have breasts now.  That's not to say I didn't grieve; I did but I'd rather be alive with no breasts than have breasts that are killing me.