must tell surgen my decision, many options, no answers and a nervious.
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sisters Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 4 |
Apr 3, 2008 01:20 pm
sisters wrote:
frist time user for chat!!!!!!!! |
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New2This Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 21 |
Apr 3, 2008 02:15 pm
New2This wrote:
Hello! Welcome to the chat boards! Sad to see another new "face" here, but happy to have another person to chat with about this. What options are you considering? What is your gut telling you? And how long since you were diagnosed? I just met my plastic surgeon this morning and am narrowing down my choices as well. Have DCIS on one breast and will definitely do a mastectomy, but also considering doing one on the "good" side as well. I'm not sure how many times I want to go through this. . .feel like I dodged a bullet with this diagnosis, which puts me in an aggressive battle mode! Was pretty certain about doing the bilateral MX right up until the PS saw my breasts and said, "you have beautiful breasts! Are you sure you want to loose both of them? That's a high price to pay!" Well, that wasn't especially helpful. . . |
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sisters Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 4 |
Apr 3, 2008 04:34 pm
sisters wrote:
Thank you for your response..First of all it is my sister who is going thru this nightmare. She has no computer and has been pretty much in denial of everything regarding all of it. She went to surgeon last week in OKC who gave her a book .. told her to read it .. and come see him in 2 weeks with her questions and answers of what she plans to have done. She doesn't know what to ask him ..much less have any solid answer to her delima. She had flesh eating bacteria a few years ago, limphodemia in left arm 2 knee replacements very recently and is 63 years old and very active as well as strong willed. Please give any input that may posibally enlighten her mind before tomorrow. She will be here in about an hour so I am gonna try to get her involved with this chat if I can. Thanks for your support. sisters |
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lvtwoqlt Joined: May 2007 Posts: 2431 |
Apr 3, 2008 04:40 pm
lvtwoqlt wrote:
sister, Welcome to the discussion boards. This section is more of a open question answer, you may not get responses immediately. The live chat rooms are on another part of this website. Here is the site to get to the chat rooms http://www.breastcancer.org/community/chat_rooms/index.jsp I am glad you are trying to help your sister. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. What type of biopsy was done and what type of cancer does she have? Sheila We are like tea bags, we don't know how strong we are until we were thrown into hot water. Eleanore Roosevelt
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New2This Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 21 |
Apr 3, 2008 05:38 pm
New2This wrote:
How was the cancer discovered? Lump? Mammogram? Has there been a biopsy and do you know what kind of cancer it is? Family history will probably be a good place to start, it can help with the general question of how aggressive she wants to be with her treatment. Once she decides about lumpectomy vs mastectomy, then she can think about her reconstruction options. You can probably best help her by encouraging her to make one decision at a time. That will help her, and you, from becoming completely overwhelmed. There's a lot to take in all at once, as I'm sure you're both discovering! But there's a lot of good information here, and lots of other women eager to help! Hang in there! |
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mradf Joined: Dec 2007 Posts: 120 |
Apr 3, 2008 06:54 pm
mradf wrote:
New2This, Regarding the comments your PS made, I'm not entirely certain that it was within the bounds of appropriate discussion. It sounds like your surgical decision was made for medical reasons (as was mine and many, many others) so it should be up to him to give you reconstruction options based on that decison only, not on his opinion about the appearance of your breasts. If he doesn't think he can re-create something just as beautiful, get anothe opinion. Let him get breast cancer and decide how high a price he is willing to pay for a long term outcome. I'm kind of annoyed at him for you. Just my humble opinion. Be well. Maria ALL WILL BE WELL. - Julian of Norwich
Dx 11/2007, DCIS, 4cm, Stage 0, Grade 3, 0/7 nodes, ER+/PR+ |
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New2This Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 21 |
May 15, 2008 04:05 pm
New2This wrote:
Hi all! I haven't been on in a while, as i've found cancer is more time consuming than I expected. LOL! Who knew it was going to be a time management issue? I DO have a different PS now, and I love him. I've stuck with the decision to do both breasts and I'm very comfortable with my choice. I'm leaving now in an hour to go for my pre-surgery dye injection (for the SNB which is unneccessary but which I'm doing anyway for peace of mind) then mastectomies first thing tomorrow morning. I can't wait! It's been two whole months now since my initial diagnosis and I'm ready to be on the recovery side of the mountain. Have bought a beautiful bottle of Dom Perignon which is displayed prominently in my Butler's Pantry. I'll drink it all (ice cold and with a folic acid chaser, of course) the day I get my nipple tatooes. Yay! This has been quite a journey so far, although nothing compared to some of you. I've been blessed to have "just" DCIS, but am still changed completely by my brush with mortality. Ask me again when the pain meds wear off, but I think I'd be willing to through this all again just for the eye opening effect it's had on my priorities and plans for the next 50 years of my life. I've spent these past two months cleaning out boxes of projects-in-progress that I now realize were just getting in the way of the things I truly want to accomplish. My time is soooo precious to me now! As for the original PS who thought my "good" boob was too pretty to part with, well, he was wrong. The decision to do a mastectomy vs a lumpectomy on the bad one was a no brainer because it allows me to avoid radiation and tamoxifin. Once I decided to do one side, going for both was simply a matter of the old, droopy boob being jealous of the cute, new perky one. LOL! If I'm getting a "free" boob job out of this, they're darned well going to finish the project and make the two of them pretty again. Can't imagine what that first PS was thinking when he said that - I'm 46 years old and my boobs look it. I can't WAIT to have my new, young again, boobs. New2this |
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