I was diagnosed with primary cancer in April 2019. I am almost 60 years old and because I had large breasts I had several choices to make. I elected to go for a therapeutic mastoplasty with a sentinel node biopsy. Following my post op appointment I now have 2 decisions to make.
Firstly they found cancer in one of the two sentinel nodes so I have 3 options: radiotherapy & hormone treatment, lymph node surgery, or a clinical trial. Ultrasound scans have not detected any signs of cancer in the lymph nodes.
Secondly, mri scans and ultrasound detected 3 areas of concern affecting an area 70x30mm. During surgery they found 9 areas of concern and took a lot more than they were originally going to take. 2 of the lumps were Stage 2 cancerous, the remaining were Stage 1 pre-cancerous. The surgeon has indicated that she cannot guarantee that she has cleared all the cancer. It was all DCIS. Consequently it looks like now I require a mastectomy.
Apparently it is a very complicated case as there are several options that can be considered. Has anyone else been through a similar scenario and advise what they decided? I’m considering the clinical trial for the first decision. The second decision I’m still pondering. Initially thought perhaps mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, but this morning I’m thinking of a double mastectomy with either prosthetics or implants. Any thoughts or advice please.
My one train of thought is that I don’t want a long drawn out process. I want to make the decisions and get on with it and then get back to some sort of normal life.