My Fight with Breast Cancer

I met with Dr. S this morning.  He is the surgeon that my gynocologist recommended.  He looked at my mammogram film and examined my breast, then sat me down in his office to go over my options. 

First, he took a piece of paper and drew a line down the center, separating it into two columns.  At the top of the left column, he wrote Mastectomy.  At the top of the right column he wrote Lumpectomy + Radiation.  He explained that, statistically, a lumpectomy with 6 weeks of radiation has the same effect as a mastectomy.  (That was the whole purpose of the chart- to show me that the odds were the same.  He could have just told me that.  I don’t need graphics to understand “equal odds”.)

The choice then, would be which surgery I prefer.  He said that regionally, it seems that women in the western side of the U.S. seem to opt for the mastectomy, while more lumpectomies are performed in the East.  God knows why…and really, who cares? 

Anyway, with a mastectomy, the whole breast is removed, including the nipple.  After the mastectomy, I would have to go through a series of breast reconstruction surgeries.  He said that a nipple would be fashioned and tattooed to match my other breast. 

During a lumpectomy, only the tumor is removed.  Once the breast is healed from the surgery, 6 weeks of radiation is applied to the breast to “sterilize” the area where the tumor was removed.  This sterilization process kills any microscopic cancer cells that may have been left behind during the surgery.  Of course, I found out later, it also- ironically enough- leaves you more susceptible to cancer in the future.  You get lots of lose / lose choices when you have cancer.

Dr. S then told me that once my surgery is over, a pathologist will examine the tumor and an oncologist will decide whether I need chemo or not.  He estimated that there is a 50/50 chance that I will need chemo.

Dr. S is giving me the weekend to make my decision.  He wants to schedule the surgery ASAP.