Re: mastectomy versus lumpectomy for HER2
 

Ack! I wrote a long rambling post and it disappeared!

@AussieGirl - thanks for the information
@Kaa - I completely understand your sister's attachment to only having a lumpectomy. Totally understandable.
@my Irish friends - oooh, is this like a highlander/lowlander thing? Love you both no matter how humble or vain you may be!

Re: mastectomy versus lumpectomy for HER2
 

Oops! tee hee hee. I just reread my post and no wonder Trish said that! hahaha. so sry (note to self: pls review post prior to posting!) I meant my mom grew up in a convent in Ireland and being "vain" was like the worst sin possible for many Irish girls raised like that! hahaha....sry for the misunderstanding....

Re: mastectomy versus lumpectomy for HER2
 

I agree with the others, it's a personal choice however I do want to point out one thing. Due to the location of my tumour I was told I would need recon anyway or that I would be horribly deformed. I didn't have much time and panicked and since my oncologist said mast I went with the mast but my surgeon said I didn't need the mast but would be deformed. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing but it's too late now. Recon was not fun, kinda brutal for the first few weeks but doable. I was also 49 when diagnosed. Weigh out the pros and cons. I struggled with self esteem issues, no hair, no breast but that all passed. I had to wait a year for recon and I think that was the worst for me, I just wanted recon and to look normal again. My cancer was never seen on a mammo, even after they found it so I don't trust mammos anyway. She has a lot to think about, there is no wrong decision. Good luck.

Re: mastectomy versus lumpectomy for HER2
 

I didn't read any of the answers but I do want to remind you this is your sister's decision. My understanding is that a lumpectomy and mastectomy have the same recurrance rates but that is up to her doctor to discuss with her, not strangers on the internet.

What I am going to tell you is my own experience with mastectomy. I had no choice but to have MX as I had multi-focal areas of invasive cancer and that calls for Mx always. I had a right Mx with tissue expander and left my left breast alone. Immediately after the surgery to put in the implant, I began having problems. Back problems, shoulder problems....I was diagnosed with frozen shoulder. It was in my right arm, and incredibly painful. It lasted well over a year, with numerous steroid shots to control it. Then it hit my left arm and then my right again. Not only that, but I have had some terrible lower back pain and cannot lie on my stomach (my preferred position). I have a constant itch in the missing breast, to the point where I have scratched holes in my skin. (It's numb so I can't feel it.)

I am Stage IV now with mets to the liver. So it is staying as I can't subject myself to another surgery. But if I had stayed a lower stage, by now I would have taken this implant out and tried without it. Although I think cutting pockets in our chest muscles is something not everybody recovers from anyway.

So, to make a long story short and if I could go back knowing what I know now, there is ZERO chance I would have had the mastectomy. I didn't want it in the first place and have had nothing but trouble since. It is hard enough being stage IV and having to undergo everything that I have: 4 years of chemo, half my liver removed, gamma knife, sepsis, c-diff, without problems with arms and back.

Mastectomies are not benign by any means, for everybody. It is, most definitely, an amputation.

If her doctor says her odds don't change with either surgery, than dont' try to talk her into mastectomy. The most aggressive choice is not always the best choice, it is just the most aggressive.

Good luck to your sister.