Skin Sparing Mastectomy - What Choice?
Skin Sparing Mastectomy - What Choice? I am scheduled to have a mastectomy next Thursday. It has been a few weeks now since my diagnosis and I was coming to terms with the idea - I’m 45.
Last week I met a woman who had had a skin sparing mastectomy, where they leave the skin and put a temporary implant in place so that you can go ahead and have radiotherapy and then have the permenant implant done once you have the all clear.
I asked my breast care nurse and she said it is possible, but there are risks.
My problem is that my original surgeon, who does these procedures is on holiday until after easter. I am now with a new consultant who does not do this type of procedure. In order to investigate the possibility of skin sparing mastectomy, I have to cancel my mastectomy booked for Thursday and wait until the other Consultant returns, then be evaluated for suitability. This could delay my op for about a month.
I just want the cancer out and had decided to stay with the mastectomy and forget the skin sparing option. Now the surgery is getting closer I’m getting more and more anxious about it and it’s all becasue I’m losing the breast - I’m frantic at the thought. But I don’t want to delay the surgery.
I have a supportive husband and 8yr old son who need me around and I don’t want to put myself in further danger for the sake of vanity.
I just wish I knew what to do to be right.
Decisions, Decisions Hi Nettie
Even though I am 59 I still found it very difficult to come to terms with a mastectomy. I spent hours and hours trawling the net to find the best solution for me. I had a grade 3 tumour plus extensive DCIS and although I delayed surgery for 3 months I know I eventually made the right decision.
I had a skin sparing mastectomy with an immediate diep reconstruction. When I left hospital, although my reconstructed breast was a bit odd looking, when I looked down, I still had a clevage which made me feel normal. I have since had chemo but no radio and am currently on 12 months Herceptin. I will have a nipple reconstruction in May and a tidy up.
Personally I think it’s worth having the skin sparing mastectomy even if you can’t have an immediate reconstruction but we are all different and you have to do what you think is right for you.
You didn’t say what your diagnosis was and this could have a bearing on your decision.
Wishing you all the best.
Love
M
I hope you read this in time! Nettie,
Unless you have an extremely aggressive form of cancer (you don’t say), the difference a month makes biologically is negligible.
You owe it to yourself to make the right decision and find the right surgeon, so don’t rush into anything that you might regret later. Never forget it is your body, your life and your choices.
Wishing you all the best xxxx
Reporting back Thank you for replying to my post. What a couple of weeks. I went ahead and had my surgery and now I’m back home. It’s so hard knowing what to do, there is a whole sea of information out there but at the end of the day I did not have the confidence or the nerve to make a stand. But I’m OK and we’ll move on from this. Not the perfect result I would have liked, but at least the cancer is gone.
Good luck to everyone out there.
Nettie getting rid as fast as poss has to have been the safest choice. The SSS sounds great/is great mostly but there are some spills and you can’t know if you’d have been lucky or otherwise so it looks as if you chose well.
At my hosp [in high br ca area] there’s only a 6 month waiting list for recons so you shouldn’t have long to go before you’ll get your cleavage back. Also it gives your body more time to cope with the mast. Best wishes, dilly
Hi Nettie
I too had to make a quick decision about the mastectomy, I dont think my surgeon would have been happy to do a skin sparing one, but i was offered immediate recon. However this would have meant co-ordinating with the plastics team from a hosp 20 miles away and having the surgery there rather than closer to home where my family could more easily drop in to visit. Like you I was reeling as i thought the wle had dealt with it, but margins not clear forced mastectomy. I opted for the mastectomy closer to home and within 5 days of being told, those 5 days were hard enough. The cancer has now been surgically dealt with and chemo underway. I was also concerned about chemo interfering with healing, as rads can for the unlucky ones.
This way at least we have time to consider which recon we will be happy with, and let ourselves make the decisions without the pressures of the cancer still being there waiting to be dealt with.
I hate my flat chest (not quite lucky enough to have had a proper cleavage being a teeny A cup!) but know i will have a healthy body for recon and no treatment to compromise the outcome.
I’ve asked for my referral to plastics right away so i can plan for the recon once chemo done with, maybe you could get referred now so have positive steps towards yours too, and be on that waiting list?
Wishing you all the best, and look forward to that recon being something to celebrate towards the end of a bumpy road.
best wishes
Mandyx