Comments on: Surgery Choices: Why I Decided to Have a Lumpectomy

By: Jody

Jody — Tue, 17 May 2022 21:18:37 +0000

I had bilateral breast cancer and had bilateral lumpectomies. My decision was similar to yours based on size of tumors, no node involvement, ER/PR+, Her2-. I could always take more off, but I couldn’t put it back. All the facts aligned to start conservative. Radiation, however, was difficult.

By: Jennifer Douglas

Jennifer Douglas — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 04:58:22 +0000

In reply to Jennifer. Fear of recurrence is something that I acknowledge. I just had my one year scans, and I was anxious going into them. Here is how I managed the anxiety as I felt it. I trust my medical team that they are choosing the right frequency of scans for me. If there is something, they are monitoring me closely and we’ll deal with that problem if it happens. Somehow, thinking that way helps me acknowledge the reality of my fears, and then move on to the next step in the process. I just found out my one year scans were benign and I don’t need to go back again for 6 months. That’s 6 months I don’t need to worry about being diagnosed with breast cancer! That makes me smile! Thank you for reaching out! Happy Holidays!!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 04:23:49 +0000

I had a DCIS diagnosis at the start of lockdown this year in March (I’m in New Zealand) Mine was 60mm of suspicious calcifications seen on routine mammogram. My surgeon never offered me the option of mastectomy, only ever lumpectomy. Maybe because I have big boobs (cup size F). In the end I got super wide margins because the actual DCIS was only 6mm but the remaining calcifications were benign. I would likely have actually chosen double mastectomy as I’m sick of big boobs and extremely fearful about cancer and recurrence. Glad you are happy with your decision.
I have a question for you – how do you get past the fear of recurrence? My next mammogram is in March next year and I’ve already started to fret! Sending love from NZ xxx