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Chelee · 04-10-2007, 01:15 PM

Grace, Interesting article...thanks for sharing that with us. It wasn't long ago I asked on another board how many of the women had their surgeons or onc bring up the topic of breast reconstruction? I was interested because it was *never* mentioned to me. When I was first DX I was so overwhelmed with far too many other things that having reconstruction never even crossed my mind. (Wished it would of though.)

Now that its been a bit over a year I know more about it and that fact that our insurance *will* cover it. I wish someone would of brought it up to me...but not once did they. I only heard about it on this board and one other. I think its interesting that the article states that surgeons say 64% of their patients just aren't interested in it. (I wonder if that is really true?) Or could it be that the surgeons *never* even brought it up to their patient?

As it states in that article, & to be quite honest....when it all started for me I had no idea it was even an option for me. I think this should be mandatory that women are told about this from the get go. If they can find time to talk to you about which chemo trt you will have, radiation trts, and tell you about having a mastectomy. They can certainly find time to tell you about reconstruction I would think. (I'm sure many women did have good surgeons that brought this up at the beginning...but still far too many just don't cover it.)

Chelee

04-10-2007, 01:15 PM	#2
Chelee Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Southern, CA Posts: 2,511	Grace, Interesting article...thanks for sharing that with us. It wasn't long ago I asked on another board how many of the women had their surgeons or onc bring up the topic of breast reconstruction? I was interested because it was never mentioned to me. When I was first DX I was so overwhelmed with far too many other things that having reconstruction never even crossed my mind. (Wished it would of though.) Now that its been a bit over a year I know more about it and that fact that our insurance will cover it. I wish someone would of brought it up to me...but not once did they. I only heard about it on this board and one other. I think its interesting that the article states that surgeons say 64% of their patients just aren't interested in it. (I wonder if that is really true?) Or could it be that the surgeons never even brought it up to their patient? As it states in that article, & to be quite honest....when it all started for me I had no idea it was even an option for me. I think this should be mandatory that women are told about this from the get go. If they can find time to talk to you about which chemo trt you will have, radiation trts, and tell you about having a mastectomy. They can certainly find time to tell you about reconstruction I would think. (I'm sure many women did have good surgeons that brought this up at the beginning...but still far too many just don't cover it.) Chelee __________________ DX: 12-20-05 - Stage IIIA, Her2/Neu, 3+++,Er & Pr weakly positive, 5 of 16 pos nodes. Rt. MRM on 1-3-06 -- No Rads due to compromised lungs. Chemo started 2-7-06 -- TCH - - Finished 6-12-06 Finished yr of wkly herceptin 3-19-07 3-15-07 Lt side prophylactic simple mastectomy. -- Ooph 4-05-07 9-21-09 PET/CT "Recurrence" to Rt. axllia, Rt. femur, ilium. Possible Sacrum & liver? Now stage IV. 9-28-09 Loading dose of Herceptin & started Zometa 9-29-09 Power Port Placement 10-24-09 Mass 6.4 x 4.7 cm on Rt. femur head. 11-19-09 RT. Femur surgery - Rod placed 12-7-09 Navelbine added to Herceptin/Zometa. 3-23-10 Ten days of rads to RT femur. Completed. 4-05-10 Quit Navelbine--Herceptin/Zometa alone. 5-4-10 Appt. with Dr. Slamon to see what is next? Waiting on FISH results from femur biopsy. Results to FISH was unsuccessful--this happens less then 2% of the time. 7-7-10 Recurrence to RT axilla again. Back to UCLA for options.