Right mastectomy 3 yrs ago....now left side?

[mjm]

Hi Deeze,

sorry to hear about your recurrence. I believe breast recurrences aren't considered as big a deal for survival than mets to other areas, so if you've got through the original liver and lung mets and still doing well I'm hoping this will be a 'road bump' rather than anything more (please don't take that as dismissive of how stressful any more cancer and surgery is).

Mum had a unilateral mx and her doctor is leaving it to her as to what to do regarding the other side - he said there is a small increased risk of recurrence in the other side which was cancer free (I think he said 5 or 10% over 5 yrs but I'm not 100% sure), but not high enough that he would recommend surgery, but it's up to her what she prefers.

They seem to be pushing the least-acceptable surgery line at the moment, and in some ways that's good (avoid overtreating that's purely based on fear) but conversely some women are happier with the reduced risk of a local recurrence from having a mastectomy or double mastectomy and I like it when a doctor offers sensible advice but lets people make informed decisions about their own body.