[alicem]

Dear Joan,

I guess I'll chime in as well to give you one more opinion. I did read what Becky said and I agree that dealing with this appropriately means Lumpectomy with radiation OR a Mastectomy. It sounds like your oncologist is wanting a lumpectomy but with NO radiation? Is that because of your previous radiation to your back?

I had a similar experience as Carolyn (West coast girl) in that up until my mastectomy, my mammogram, biopsy, MRI and lumpectomy only showed DCIS. It wasn't until they did the mastectomy (because I only had 1 out of 6 clean margins) did they find a 2 cm tumor. It never showed up anywhere else. I am so grateful that I needed the mastectomy because I would not have known about the invasive tumor otherwise. Myself and about 4 other doctors never felt it either.

You stated . . . "is it crazy to consider reconstruction when it could raise the level of chance for infection and require another surgery?" I'm not sure why reconstruction would raise the chance for infection. I had the mastectomy and the reconstruction done all at the same time. I also had the DIEP reconstruction which used NONE of my muscles. The combined surgery only took a total of 5 hours and I couldn't be happier with the results. Since no muscle was used, the recovery was relatively easy. I had a hysterectomy 2 months earlier (the same day as the lumpectomy) -- that was much harder to recover from.

I got the feeling from my oncologist that he wanted me to try and keep as much of my original body intact as possible, and looking back I think it was more for psychological reasons than anything else. I don't miss the original "girl" at all. I feel like she turned her back on me and I don't miss her at all!!!

I hope some of this helps you in making a decision, but it is your own decision, not mine or anyone else's. Hopefully you will be able to make the one that is right for you.