Hi
Firstly, I hope you lovely ladies are doing ok. This cancer thing is a real pain isn’t it!
I’m currently week 10 (of 24), and am due to start my 2nd 12 week treatment cycle the end of July. I’m currently on immunotherapy, carboplatin and Paclitaxel. In my 2nd cycle I’ll be changing to immunotherapy, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide. I’m quite nervous at this change as I’ve heard EC is a harsher treatment. Has anyone had the same treatment , and can you offer any advice please?
Also, I’m meeting my surgeon in August to discuss my mastectomy. I can’t have a lumpectomy as I have 2 tumours in the same breast.
I’m going to request an aesthetic flat closure,. double mastectomy. I’m not going to have reconstruction and want a completely flat chest with no dog ears. Has anyone had experience in requesting a double mastectomy with aesthetic flat closure, and if so can you offer any advice on how I can best prepare for the surgeons meeting, the surgery itself and share some insight as to how the recovery is please? I’m dreading the op.
I’d be interested to know what the outcome was for others and how the end result looked.
Thank you xx
Hi Mouse, I had two separate mastectomies with flat closures, the first Aug 24 (the boob with the cancers in) and then the other Dec 24 as an elective surgery to get symmetry (plus I didn’t ‘trust’ my other boob much and I didn’t want to go through MRIs each year -none of my 3 tumours showed up on mammograms!). If I were you I would be prepared that your surgeon is not going to want to do both boobs at the same time, if they are willing great, but my surgeon said to concentrate on the cancer first, and worry about symmetry later. In hindsight this was a good move, there is so much to deal with and recovery from one mastectomy is pretty straightforward, even with drains etc. but I think a double mastectomy for me when I didn’t technically need it would have been tough. I was very focussed on getting the second boob off as soon as possible after recovery, but looking back I did appreciate the time to come to terms with it all in stages. I had to see a psychologist to discuss my desire to have the second boob off and that was also pretty helpful looking back. In my experience going flat is a journey in stages and it takes time to adjust - this is my second summer flat and I feel I am getting more of a grip on what to wear, swim suits etc as I am completely flat after having had big boobs for a long time and I haven’t worn any prothesis at any stage. It’s very freeing in lots of ways and I love my new body now the more time I spend in it! Good luck with your meeting x
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Hi @kmcc , thank you so much for your response. I found it incredibly helpful and it makes a lot of sense.
I’ve been quite adamant about having a double mastectomy, and had it in my mind to just get it over with, but I think doing it in stages is probably a wise move. The consultant I met today said the same thing as well.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Xxx
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