How do I choose?

[bee2]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the help and advice, hearing from you and your experiences is very helpful.

Sammie, I hope all’s going well post surgery and you’re on a good road to recovery.

I’ve not had any luck in getting my surgery brought forward, it’s still on for early Feb so 50+ days since my diagnosis and meeting with the consultant. I’m resigned to the wait now, having nagged and asked it’s just not happening any sooner.

I do though have my Mri next week and then another meeting with the consultant middle of Jan so it feels like a plan - all be it a slow one. I also take some comfort from the fact that lobular is slow growing and if the clinical team say it’s OK to wait 50 days then I trust them. I also know that lobular is sneaky and can metastasise in odd ways which plays on my mind, but that’s the hand I’ve been dealt so have to get on with it.

My current thinking is to go for lumpectomy + radiotherapy but we’ll see what the Mri comes up with, I’ve no problem with a mastectomy if that’s needed. I’ll do ANYTHING to be rid of it!!

The wait, as everyone here knows, is a real downer, I just want to know what it is I’m facing, what stage ? has it spread ? what treatment ? all these questions are the same as everyone has but crikey it’s hard getting through it isn’t it. Every day feels like a week.

I know this is just the start and I’ve still the treatment to deal with, but at least that will feel like something is happening and we’re doing things to get rid of it.

I’m following all the advice and well trodden path of staying busy and doing stuff and it does help but the night time demons are hard to banish.

I know no one has the answers, but it’s helpful just to type and get it out, thanks for listening.

Love to all x

[SueLSE]

I had a tiny 8mm lobular in 2008, had lumpectomy and radiotherapy. Started tamoxifen but stopped after 2 years because of persistent post menopausal bleeding. In 2019 I had a recurrence in the same breast - I was told the tumour was tiny, as it hadn’t been seen on mammogram and could not be felt. So I opted to have another lumpectomy. Unfortunately the ‘tiny’ tumour turned out to be 45mm, and no clear margins, so I did have to return for a mastectomy. Looking back, I’m not sure the surgeon really read my notes from 2008 and realised I’d had lobular - I didn’t even know that myself! I was never offered an MRI, so I’m pleased to hear that you are having one, as that is generally a much better tool for assessing lobular, I wonder how they have come up with 15mm so far? I actually recovered from the mastectomy faster than from the lumpectomy. I chose not to have a reconstruction, and wear a prosthesis, and wouldn’t know it’s not my breast - it even itches sometimes!! And I’m a 38F. But I am 70, and not so concerned with body image as I was when younger. It’s not an easy choice, but I don’t regret going the lumpectomy route first either time. I got 11 happy years the first time, and I’m now nearly 5 years on again and feeling fit and healthy.