One of the most difficult things about breast cancer is having to wait for the diagnosis to be confirmed and then being asked to make decisions about the type of surgery you prefer to have done.
I had to wait two weeks for the biopsy results and they were the worst two weeks out of the whole thing. I did get upset then. I already had a gut feeling that it was cancer because my mum’s sister was roughly my age when she was diagnosed and she died
of it after it had come back in her bones. My dad’s sister died of breast cancer when I was very tiny. I have always known since I
was a kid that I would get it. It wasn’t really a big shock when they told me. My friend who was with me was more shocked. As
soon as I was told that it was cancer, I thought that I had to get on with it. There was no point in crying and being miserable.
It’s often helpful to meet or talk to other women who have faced similar choices to you. Your breast team should explain your options, and help you with pictures and printed information about the different techniques. It’s important you ask about anything you don’t under - stand and if you’re unhappy about advice you’ve received, you’re entitled to ask for a second opinion.
I was 74 at the time I was told that I needed to have a mastectomy. I have always had a horror of mastectomy. I did not want to have one and looked for other solutions that would stop that. I can’t believe that I was the only woman feeling like that.
I wonder whether there was an ageist thing with me. When I asked the first doctor in the clinic about reconstruction, he told
me that we could talk about that later. I thought that I should have known about that at the time. I felt that they thought it
wasn’t worth bothering with reconstruction at my age. Of course reconstruction has been worth doing at my age. After having a second opinion, my reconstruction was quite simple, but
I felt that I was denied the initial discussion because of my age. Other people should not be put off if they want to pursue it. When looking for solutions that avoided mastectomy, the second
surgeon suggested removing just the disease in the one breast and then reducing the size of the other breast to balance them at the same time. I was very happy with that. Having surgery on the unaffected breast didn’t worry me. I thought that it was a brilliant
and happy solution.
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Appearance after volume displacement for a tumour in the lower part of the right breast (the left breast has been reduced in size to match)
Front view Side view
If your surgeon thinks you’ll need radiotherapy after the operation, it’s likely you’ll be advised to avoid having a reconstruction with an implant. You may be encouraged to consider delaying reconstruction altogether until after all your treatment has finished, or to think about having an autologous LD, TRAM flap or partial reconstruction, as none of these techniques involve the use of an implant.
The surgeon then said I could either have a mastectomy and after the chemotherapy and radiotherapy was finished, I could have
the breast reconstructed, or I could have a latissimus dorsi miniflap reconstruction. With this, sometimes after the radiotherapy the muscle shrinks and looks a bit odd. I was told that it was up to me. They are both long operations but the full reconstruction takes longer. I was offered a TRAM flap because I was advised not to have an implant and then have radiotherapy.
However, I did meet other women who had implants at radiotherapy. I decided straight away which one I was going to
have. I thought that a really long operation was silly and I couldn’t cope at the time with the thought of losing my whole
breast. I thought that I would rather keep as much of me as possible. The possible risk of the shape changing after radiotherapy didn’t enter into it. I just didn’t want to wake up without a breast there. I had a partner at the time and he was very supportive and upset but didn’t take part in the decision-
making. What got me was how upset everyone else was. I felt fine but couldn’t handle everyone else. I talked about it with my partner, friends and my brother and sister-in-law. I just wanted to
get it done as quickly as possible.
I saw the breast care nurse and she showed me pictures. They didn’t really make a difference because I had made my decision. Don’t be stampeded, take your time when deciding what to have done. People get scared when they have cancer and think that it must be dealt with immediately. I thought that it had been going for some time, so I should see what the options were. Even if a
partial reconstruction had not been an option, I would have probably tried the full reconstruction. I have no regrets at all. Even
though my breasts were a better shape before the treatment, the main thing is that they are still there.