[swimangel72]

Hi Rebecca - I'm so sorry you have to deal with this, but you have come to the right place for information. As to your question concerning a bil-lateral mastectomy - are you BRCA positive? This test may help you with your decision. I went with a unilaterial mastectomy because I was BRCA negative - and an MRI on my "good" breast showed no signs of cancer, so I was comfortable leaving it alone. So much depends on your tumor pathology and your level of worry.

Even though my tumor was "only" a Stage 1, Grade 1, I chose a mastectomy because my breasts aren't very large, so I felt a lumpectomy and radiation might be disfiguring in the long run. Afterwards I found out that the tumor was Her2+ so I felt even better that I chose the mx. My surgeons agreed I was a good candidate for a skin-sparing mastectomy with an immediate Diep..........it ended up as a muscle-sparing free-Tram (for some reason, the PS decided he needed to remove a small piece of my abdominal muscle, which later caused abdominal wound complications.) My new "foob" needs some tweaking to make it match the other side, but I have to wait until next year when I finish the Herceptin.

I hope you're feeling OK - good luck in your research process. It isn't easy, but together we'll get through it!