Best Of

I've been down this road twice, and each time I've chosen mastectomy with what I now know is called an "asthetic flat closure." I guess you could say I've had bilateral mastectomies, 18 years apart.

On my first go-round, my surgeon was a highly regarded breast surgery specialist who told me she did approx. 300 breast cancer surgeries per year. ("Too many…," she said.) She referred me to a reconstructive surgeon she often worked with, just so I would know the options. He said an implant was the only realistic option for me because of scarring from previous abdominal surgeries and my reluctance to mess with my back. At age 55 and having breasts that were barely A/B, going flat wasn't scary. I'd even used photoshop to blur out my left breast on a selfie, just to see what it would look like. (Okay, that's weird.) My surgeon checked with me one last time in pre-op, to make sure I didn't want her to leave any extra tissue "just in case." Nope — perfectly flat, and that's what I have.

The second round began this past December with a dx of high-grade DCIS, resulting 3 wks ago in another mastectomy with flat closure (again, my choice). I'm still dealing with a pesky J-P drain that's producing/collecting too much fluid to be pulled yet. This was a different surgeon at a different medical center. I'm left with a mostly flat incision but a bit of a bulge (half a ping-pong ball) near my sternum. I've read that's the most difficult area to manage surgically when attempting a flat closure.

Again, at my age (now 73), comfortably married, and not especially bonded to my breasts after all this, I'm fine with being flat. I've been going without a bra around home anyway, "dressing up" only when out amongst a judgmental public. I do wish my stomach hadn't become so obvious these past few years, because now it sticks out whereas it didn't 18 years ago. 🙄