Masectomy or Shaving - Advice needed please

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1

Hi

I was dx 21 Nov, 11mm grade 2 idc,had wle 13 dec, rslts 9 jan 40mm no clear margin, grade 3 oestrogen positive, clear lymph nodes.

I am at the hospital tomorrow and have to decide whether to have masectomy or shaving? 99.9% sure it is better to have mast, but keep reading post of you ladies that have had the shaving and are doing ok.

I feel really confused as to what to do, I think it is that the the grade went upto 3 that makes me think rather than keep waiting for results if I have a mast I can move on to next stage - chemo and rads.

Any advice would be gratefully received

Hugs

Karen

XXX

2

Please ladies can someone offer me some advice. Starting to panic why dunno I had made my mind up Doh

Hugs

Karen

XXX

3

Hi Karen

I dont know if I can be much help as have never heard of shaving. Will tell you my story tho (briefly) dx with stage 3 idc in July - had chemo first in the hope of reducing the tumour enough to have wle. It did not reduce that much and my surgeon at first advised mastectomy - of course I got upset and said I was hoping to avoid that. He then said he could do a quadranectomy where he would take away a quarter of the breast and fill the hole with a flap from under my arm. But of course if there were not clear margins he would then have to take me back for mast. In the end I chose mastectomy as I know I would never have forgiven myself if I had recurrence in the future and had to go thro chemo etc again.

Hope this helps.
Good luck with your decision - whatever decision you make its you that has to live with it so make it the right one for you.

Let me know how you get on
Wishing you all the best
Fiona
xx

4

Hi Fiona

Thank you so much for your reply the ‘shaving’ is how my surgeon described the op - she said that she would take out a small ‘shaving’ from around the site of the wle to try to get clear margins? Does that make sense - not a lot makes sense to me anymore. I keep reading other peoples stories and talking myself in and out of the masectomy.

Hugs Karen

5

Hi Karen

I am sorry to read you are unsure of what to do. If you would like to talk this through with one of our trained breast cancer specialist nurses please don’t hesitate to contact the helpline. Here you are able to talk in confidence about your concerns and options. This may help you to make your decision. The number to call is 0808 800 6000 the lines open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturdays 9am - 2pm.

I hope you find this useful

Kind regards

Sam
BCC Facilitator