**DECISIONS**
Previously on BREAST CANCER & ME
bad mammogram, led to a needle biopsy being done
a Dx of DCIS, ductal carcinoma in sutu, basically cancer stage 0 still within the milk ducts and breast lining.
After my doctor called with the DCIS dx., we were in his office within a few days.
He examined the biopsy site and reassured me the bruising was normal.
He came back in to discuss options after I was dressed again.
Drawing a picture of what MY DCIS looked like was very informative. The cells were not only in the milk ducts, but also attached on the outside of them. There were a lot of them on several milk ducts. They were all still contained within the breast lining so far.
Several were very close to my right arm pit/ lymph glands. He doubted they had spread, but would want to remove it to make sure it's clean. I agreed.
He then laid out ...
SURGERY OPTIONS
Lumpectomy, removing just the affected breast tissue. In my case that would have been almost the top half of my right breast. I was a 36C barely. So basically, would have been breast removal.
No go for me.
Plus lumpectomies usually mean radiation followup and I did not want to undergo that with my MS fatigue. He said radiation would make me extremely tired. My DH answered that I wouldn't be moving then because I only had a few good hours of energy a day already.
MASTECTOMY OF AFFECTED BREAST
My case, just the right one breast would be removed. I wanted all the cancer cells removed, so that was a definite yes.
DOUBLE MASTECTOMY-
SIMPLE ONE ON LEFT BREAST, RADICAL ON RIGHT
I asked him if i was crazy to want both breasts removed and would Medicare pay for it. He reassured me that it wasn't crazy, many women did that. In his opinion, my left breast would probably be affected within a few years.
This was going to be my 14th surgery, if I could avoid another one, I would.
So I told him that was what I wanted to do.
The term 'simple mastectomy', doesn't mean it's easy. Just that they only take the breast tissue, not any lymph glands. The one lymph gland they took from the right side made it a 'radical mastectomy'.
TO RECONSTRUCT OR NOT TO RECONSTRUCT
Like most of us women, i rather liked having boobies. They made clothes fit better, definitely help with my body & self image, etc.
So, I asked about reconstruction. The surgeon explained that it would make for a longer surgery. He would do the mastectomies, then a plastic surgeon would come and put in implants.
It sounded straight forward enough to me. I was imagining waking up with fake boobies after surgery.
PLASTIC SURGEON APPOINTMENT
I was referred to a plastic surgeon. It took longer to get into see him. I was becoming impatient, but still holding onto the idea of having 'boobies' after surgery.
Well, plastic surgeon burst my bubble! He explained that saline implants went in after surgeon.
Then wait for breast to heal about a month before doing saline injections,
At this point I was fogging over because this is NOT what I wanted to hear.
Weekly injections, breast tissue expanding, etc., etc.???
I left with 9 pages of read and sign consent forms. While reading, (remember these were MY plastic surgeon's forms, others may be different) I realized that I had a problem with at least one item per page.
I didn't realize that saline implants were pumped up to right size over a month or more, then SURGICALLY removed and silicone ones inserted!
I didn't want ANY MORE surgeries!
Plus there were a lot of disclaimers about twisted implants, infections, breasts not being symmetrical, etc. All that alone almost made the decision for me.
But, I still searched the web to see pictures of what I would look like with reconstruction and without. There were plenty of websites that I researched and studied for days. I will list them at the end of this. Some are not medical websites so PLEASE view them for what they are, someone's OPINION. NOT MEDICAL FACT
After much prayer, research, talking to brave women who've faced breast cancer. Their stories helped me a bunch! Thank you to all who helped me through this time!!!
Also discussing with my husband, who told me to do whatever I needed to do.
It was a hard decision, but I opted for
NO RECONSTRUCTION.
It was the right decision for me. I'd had so many surgeries, I had a grandbaby due in a month, which meant she could come at anytime. A reconstruction would take longer to recover from and I just wasn't willing to put my life on hold that long.
My decision in no ways puts down those who opt for reconstruction.
I TOTALLY understand why anyone would want reconstruction. Under different circumstances, I might have.
But I had time pressure and was so sick of being sick!!
I'd just 'recovered' from a relapse that took months of steroids & antibiotics to relieve the symptoms. So I was physically weak going into all this.
FYI- there are several types of reconstruction surgeries. Some can even be done years after mastectomies.
Listed are some websites that helped with my decision,
Please be aware that not all of these are medical websites (from a hospital, cancer institution, etc,) As before I strongly suggest reading what your plastic surgeon gave you and check out their websites first.
Several of these sites have graphic photos of actual chests before and after reconstruction. They are purely to help you decide. Only the torso is shown, nothing identifiable about the person. These I found very helpful in being very realistic about what to expect to look like if I didn't do reconstuction.
Read carefully what the captions say, some chests look like they did not have reconstructive surgery, but in fact did and something went wrong.
I also have listed a website dedicated soley to those who decide, for whatever reason, not to reconstuct. This site I still find very encouraging and instructive.
Prosthesis are also a consideration if you don't do reconstruction. There are so many advanced ones coming out. Great alternative to surgery.
But that's for another post.
http://slu.adam.com
http://www.siteman.wustl.edu
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Recons...rocedures.html (this one has before & after pictures of many different breast surgeries.
http://breastfree.org (this website is not run by a medical facility. It shows what to expect after surgery. Advice on breast forms, or to go breastfree and even what type of clothing to wear.
I still consult this site. It's very informative and uplifting to me to realize others have decided not to do anything but surgery.
Still more decisions to be made, though i'm not in a hurry.
Of course, this is just a small sample of what all is out there. Do some research on your own. What you decide will affect the rest of your life. So take your time, research, talk to others, whatever you need to do to feel confident about your decision BEFORE you act on it.
Please contact me if I can help you personally at www.poohb3ar@msworld.org and I will answer you as soon as I can.
Take care and may God bless you!
Previously on BREAST CANCER & ME
bad mammogram, led to a needle biopsy being done
a Dx of DCIS, ductal carcinoma in sutu, basically cancer stage 0 still within the milk ducts and breast lining.
After my doctor called with the DCIS dx., we were in his office within a few days.
He examined the biopsy site and reassured me the bruising was normal.
He came back in to discuss options after I was dressed again.
Drawing a picture of what MY DCIS looked like was very informative. The cells were not only in the milk ducts, but also attached on the outside of them. There were a lot of them on several milk ducts. They were all still contained within the breast lining so far.
Several were very close to my right arm pit/ lymph glands. He doubted they had spread, but would want to remove it to make sure it's clean. I agreed.
He then laid out ...
SURGERY OPTIONS
Lumpectomy, removing just the affected breast tissue. In my case that would have been almost the top half of my right breast. I was a 36C barely. So basically, would have been breast removal.
No go for me.
Plus lumpectomies usually mean radiation followup and I did not want to undergo that with my MS fatigue. He said radiation would make me extremely tired. My DH answered that I wouldn't be moving then because I only had a few good hours of energy a day already.
MASTECTOMY OF AFFECTED BREAST
My case, just the right one breast would be removed. I wanted all the cancer cells removed, so that was a definite yes.
DOUBLE MASTECTOMY-
SIMPLE ONE ON LEFT BREAST, RADICAL ON RIGHT
I asked him if i was crazy to want both breasts removed and would Medicare pay for it. He reassured me that it wasn't crazy, many women did that. In his opinion, my left breast would probably be affected within a few years.
This was going to be my 14th surgery, if I could avoid another one, I would.
So I told him that was what I wanted to do.
The term 'simple mastectomy', doesn't mean it's easy. Just that they only take the breast tissue, not any lymph glands. The one lymph gland they took from the right side made it a 'radical mastectomy'.
TO RECONSTRUCT OR NOT TO RECONSTRUCT
Like most of us women, i rather liked having boobies. They made clothes fit better, definitely help with my body & self image, etc.
So, I asked about reconstruction. The surgeon explained that it would make for a longer surgery. He would do the mastectomies, then a plastic surgeon would come and put in implants.
It sounded straight forward enough to me. I was imagining waking up with fake boobies after surgery.
PLASTIC SURGEON APPOINTMENT
I was referred to a plastic surgeon. It took longer to get into see him. I was becoming impatient, but still holding onto the idea of having 'boobies' after surgery.
Well, plastic surgeon burst my bubble! He explained that saline implants went in after surgeon.
Then wait for breast to heal about a month before doing saline injections,
At this point I was fogging over because this is NOT what I wanted to hear.
Weekly injections, breast tissue expanding, etc., etc.???
I left with 9 pages of read and sign consent forms. While reading, (remember these were MY plastic surgeon's forms, others may be different) I realized that I had a problem with at least one item per page.
I didn't realize that saline implants were pumped up to right size over a month or more, then SURGICALLY removed and silicone ones inserted!
I didn't want ANY MORE surgeries!
Plus there were a lot of disclaimers about twisted implants, infections, breasts not being symmetrical, etc. All that alone almost made the decision for me.
But, I still searched the web to see pictures of what I would look like with reconstruction and without. There were plenty of websites that I researched and studied for days. I will list them at the end of this. Some are not medical websites so PLEASE view them for what they are, someone's OPINION. NOT MEDICAL FACT
After much prayer, research, talking to brave women who've faced breast cancer. Their stories helped me a bunch! Thank you to all who helped me through this time!!!
Also discussing with my husband, who told me to do whatever I needed to do.
It was a hard decision, but I opted for
NO RECONSTRUCTION.
It was the right decision for me. I'd had so many surgeries, I had a grandbaby due in a month, which meant she could come at anytime. A reconstruction would take longer to recover from and I just wasn't willing to put my life on hold that long.
My decision in no ways puts down those who opt for reconstruction.
I TOTALLY understand why anyone would want reconstruction. Under different circumstances, I might have.
But I had time pressure and was so sick of being sick!!
I'd just 'recovered' from a relapse that took months of steroids & antibiotics to relieve the symptoms. So I was physically weak going into all this.
FYI- there are several types of reconstruction surgeries. Some can even be done years after mastectomies.
Listed are some websites that helped with my decision,
Please be aware that not all of these are medical websites (from a hospital, cancer institution, etc,) As before I strongly suggest reading what your plastic surgeon gave you and check out their websites first.
Several of these sites have graphic photos of actual chests before and after reconstruction. They are purely to help you decide. Only the torso is shown, nothing identifiable about the person. These I found very helpful in being very realistic about what to expect to look like if I didn't do reconstuction.
Read carefully what the captions say, some chests look like they did not have reconstructive surgery, but in fact did and something went wrong.
I also have listed a website dedicated soley to those who decide, for whatever reason, not to reconstuct. This site I still find very encouraging and instructive.
Prosthesis are also a consideration if you don't do reconstruction. There are so many advanced ones coming out. Great alternative to surgery.
But that's for another post.
http://slu.adam.com
http://www.siteman.wustl.edu
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Recons...rocedures.html (this one has before & after pictures of many different breast surgeries.
http://breastfree.org (this website is not run by a medical facility. It shows what to expect after surgery. Advice on breast forms, or to go breastfree and even what type of clothing to wear.
I still consult this site. It's very informative and uplifting to me to realize others have decided not to do anything but surgery.
Still more decisions to be made, though i'm not in a hurry.
Of course, this is just a small sample of what all is out there. Do some research on your own. What you decide will affect the rest of your life. So take your time, research, talk to others, whatever you need to do to feel confident about your decision BEFORE you act on it.
Please contact me if I can help you personally at www.poohb3ar@msworld.org and I will answer you as soon as I can.
Take care and may God bless you!
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