Lumpectomy.
had a lumpectomy. When I was first diagnosed, I immediately thought I wanted a double mastectomy with reconstruction. I wanted them off. And because I had triple negative, I have a higher chance of reoccurrence, so I thought, why wait… take them both. As I started chemo and met more women through the breast cancer community, though, I heard so many horror stories, multiple surgeries, infections, etc, and I started to question if this was the path I wanted or maybe I should just go flat.
When I was almost done chemo, I had an appt with the surgeon. I remember saying to my husband, “I wish the surgeon were female; I’m not sure a male could understand this decision.” The moment I met my surgeon, I felt at ease and knew I was in the right hands. He talked to me about all the options and discussed reoccurrence rates. Having a mastectomy did not affect reoccurrence rates. Where my tumor was (left breast at about 2 o’clock), he thought a lumpectomy was the right decision. He also thought he could remove the 3-5 lymph nodes for examination (to make sure it didn’t spread) from the same incision. After our meeting, I felt calm and confident with the decision. About 4 weeks after my last chemo, I went in for surgery.
I have never had surgery before, so I was very nervous. Everything was smooth until the OR recovery room. I woke up and started crying (which I found out later is a side effect of the anesthesia), but the nurse thought I was in pain and injected me with pain meds… which then made me nauseous, so she gave me gravel. What was supposed to be 1 hour in the OR recovery before a few hours in day surgery recovery turned into 3 hours because my oxygen tanked, and they kept having me wake me up and tell me to breathe and put me on oxygen. My husband was pacing the halls, not knowing why my 1 hour turned to 3. Needless to say, we were both happy to go home later that day.
I underestimated the pain I would be in. I stayed on top of my Advil/ Tylenol every few hours. I also didn’t anticipate the numbness - not just in my breast but all down my side. Alot of nerves are severed, I guess. They said some would come back and I think it’s about 75% back after a year. The lymph nodes removed showed no signs of scarring, which means the cancer wasn’t ever-present and didn’t spread, which was a huge relief. I still have lymphedema in my left breast that comes and goes. Overall, I’m happy with my decision. Hope this helps. Xo
