I had a wide excision which removed the tumour and the skin presentation (as well as 15 nodes). It's a hell of a scar, but my rash was probably only about half the size of my palm. The tumour was about the size of a walnut.
It sounds like my situation is similar, but not the same as yours. I can't understand why mine wasn't recognised as what it was, but I'm also complicit as I was happy to accept the explanations that were tendered, even though none of them were convincing. I'd been through a similar process in 2006--i had a real struggle to be diagnosed, lobular BC is a sneaky shit of a disease and we'd all prefer not to believe it's come back.
I had chemo and rads after the surgery. The radiotherapy was touted as being my best chance of long term survival. We will see. Good luck xxx