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Reoccurrence following reconstruction with implants

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and cancer decided to make me acutely aware of what month it is. I received my biopsy results last night. Original diagnosed 6/3/2016, now 10/13/2022.

It has been a while since I had my implants checked. My oncologist called and asked me to make an appt. Had to wait almost 3 months and at that appt the surgeon found the lump. Not to worry she said, it’s most likely fat necrosis. Three days later had my six month checkup with the oncologist. She also said not to worry as mostly likely fat necrosis. To be safe the surgeon ordered an ultrasound. The tech came back and said they saw something and requested an order for a biopsy. The biopsy was done Tuesday afternoon

For those that have reoccurrence following mastectomy with reconstruction surgery what happens? Did you have lumpectomy? Did they remove the implant? Did you have additional lymph nodes tested? Chemo? Radiation? Both?

I had been taking Anastrozole up until Dec, 2021, but suffered horrible side effects. My oncologist decided my body had enough and I stopped taking it. Now 10 months later here I am again. Devastated.


Comments

  • serendipity09
    serendipity09 Member Posts: 769
    edited October 2022

    Rightsideslacker - so sorry you find yourself in this situation again.

    My situation is different with regards to how long I had, or din't have my implants. I was diagnosed with a recurrence right after my exchange to implants (July 2021, nine months after my BMX (Sept 2020). Because it was determined during BMX surgery that it spread to my lymph nodes, I did 3 of 5 months of Xeloda. My body couldn't handle it and I was taken off. A month later I found a bump. Like you, the bump was brushed off for 6 months by MO, BS and PS as a "blemish." Once determined that it was a recurrence, they went in to make sure to get clean margins. Once healed from the exchange I had to do 5 weeks of radiation and six months of Xeloda. I was triple negative, depending on you your dx treatment could be different.

    I am eight weeks out from having had DIEP due to other health reasons.

    I hope that someone else that has had a similar experience responds.

    I hope everything works out in your favor!

  • mavericksmom
    mavericksmom Member Posts: 1,275

    OMG, where was this thread hiding? I just wrote a new topic to see if anyone knew of someone who had a recurrence after mastectomy, and now I read two of you did! I am so sorry for both of you, but thankful that you wrote here.

    I searched for a topic like this, I guess I didn't use the right words? This time I was looking for those with implants who weren't happy with the results, and voila, here is the topic I was originally searching for!

    I had my exchange surgery 3 months ago and now found two lumps. I wrote them off as fat necrosis because I had that in my left breast with DIEP reconstruction. I wasn't going to mention them to my BS who I see in two weeks, because I never heard of anyone getting recurrences after mastectomy.

    I still think mine are fat necrosis, but I will definitely say something to him now!

    I would love to know how you are both doing!