Breast Cancer Now Forum

Thanks Thanks for the replies. Lisa - thanks for the information from your appointment with Mr B. I am hopeful that I will be able to keep my nipples just to make the new breasts feel more like my own, but am prepared to lose them too depending on the increased risk levels. Hi Puppydog - thanks for sharing your experience too. You really have had a rough ride haven\'t you? I guess that we anticipate that once we have \'got rid\' of our breasts most of our problems will be over, but that doesn\'t seem the case for you. I can totally understand you not wanting to put yourself through all that surgery again. Can I ask if you would have made a different original decision based on what you have had to go through, or would you do the same again? Thanks again, Saire ... View more

Nipples or No Nipples?, Hi Girls, Thanks for the warm welcome and the information about the other site - it will check it out. I feel lucky to have found you girls and just at the right time for me. I had been busy scaring myself silly by reading up on the various types of re-constructive surgery and all the associated risks. It has really helped to read about your experiences and hear real information about what happens when and what is actually available to us. Marie – I also thought that you had to have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene to be able to have the risk-reducing surgery, but I don’t think you do if you have a relatively high risk factor. I was patiently waiting to qualify for the gene test, when I found a lump and it scared me enough to look into things in more detail. I think that it might be different depending on where you live, some areas may have different guidelines. Lisa – Do you really think that Becky doesn’t mind people calling her? She must be inundated! In the documentary, she seemed to have such a positive attitude throughout it all, I admire her courage. Annieanne – Glad your genetics appointment went well. I have always found everyone so helpful ay Nightingales. They are excellent at explaining complex things in a way that even I can understand and have endless patience when answering my gazillions of questions! I rushed out and bought Cosmo and WOW doesn\'t Becky look great? All the reconstruction photographs that I had seen up until then did not look wonderful and I was really worried about how I might look afterwards. I am actually quite excited now at the thought of possibly having a cleavage again! I always feel guilty when I worry about the cosmetic results. I feel like I ought to be grateful that this option might be open to me and should just be happy to get what I’m given! Although I am not fond of my own nipples, I really want to keep them if I can. This is mainly because I think that they will look more like my original breasts (which are far from perfect, but familiar now). From what I have read, surgeons are not normally keen on this method as it doesn’t enable them to remove as much of the breast tissue as they would like. Does anybody know what your risk increases by if you keep your own nipples? I would love to join your get together and will suss out the other site for the details. I am so surprised at how many of us there are in such a relatively small area. It would be great to meet in person. Looking forward to chatting with you all. Saire ... View more

New Girl Hi Girls, I hope you don\'t mind me butting in. I have just read your posts and my head has nearly fallen off with all the nodding in recognition of the dilemmas that you are facing and the emotions that you are feeling. It feels like I could have written them myself and it is such a comfort to realise that other people are struggling with the same decisions as me. I will try to give you a very brief summary of me, you may think that you have read it before somewhere! My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 39. She had a mastectomy and reconstruction (very early version over 20 years ago now). The cancer returned in her neck and eventually her lungs and sadly she passed away almost 6 years ago now. I still miss her terribly, especially since I had my own daughter who is now 3 years old. A couple of months ago I found a lump in my breast. I will be 36 this month and was all too aware that I was fast approaching the age that my mum was when she got bc. All I could think of was my 3 year old daughter and how it would affect her. I made mental lists of all the things that I would need to do, the most ridiculous of which involved teaching her daddy how to plait her hair!! Fortunately I was one of the very lucky ones and the lump was benign. My life-time risk has been assesed as 1:4 and I have recently learnt that I would qualify for risk reducing surgery under the NHS. I am detemined to take control of my life before bc tries to take control of me. I feel that my breasts are a small price to pay for peace of mind and a chance to see my daughter grow up. I have an appintment to see Mr Baildam in a couple of weeks and am hoping that he can help me make some decisions. The lovely Jean at Nightingales told me about this forum and it has been wonderful to realise that I am not alone in having to make these difficult choices. I\'ve found that many of my friends think that the risk-reducing surgery is a rather drastic step, but most of them haven\'t watched someone close to them fight cancer. I can\'t expect them to understand what it is like to feel like you have two ticking time bombs strapped to your chest! I am very interested to know how you got to speak to Becky Measures. I watched her documentary a few months ago and would love to know more about her experience. Just wanted to say hello and thank you for making me feel less alone. Saire ... View more