Breast Cancer Advice Center

Breast cancer - mastectomy and treatment after. Anyone out there had any experience of it?

I've been diagnosed with breast cancer and am having a mastectomy followed by chemo and radiotherapy. I have the option of reconstruction at the same time but am worried about the effect of radiotherapy on it. Can anyone offer me their advice or tell me their experience of the whole thing? It's obviously worrying and nerve-wracking and i'm trying to make a decision.

Public Comments

1. Not from a personal point of view but I have from a nursing point of view.
   I have seen women have a mastectomy and refuse reconstruction...some will have it done later, others opt for it at the time of the mastectomy. In that situation I would have the reconstruction at the same time. Its traumatic to have to undergo major surgery a second time when it can all be done at once. The radiotherapy will not affect the reconstruction. If you want the reconstruction I would advise having it done at the same time. It causes less mental trauma too. It can be hard for a woman to adjust to having no breast post surgery. Self esteem tends to be higher (in my observation) in woman who have had reconstruction and mastectomy.
2. my niece had it, she is so proud of her new boobs.I was in hospital with a lady, had one off years before she said i am having the other one off now they wanted to do lumpectomy I told them take the blasted thing off, well that was a fab way of thinking so when I had a lump I always think of that lady what courage,my lumpy boobs were sorted thank god abscess in the nipple sorry to hear of your bad news though but always think positive, easy for me to say but I have been in hospital with a lot of positive women who have had the all clear good luck with the surgery and chemo xx
3. I have never been through it, but this might ease the process of further treatment. My suggestion is serious vitimin C. The RDA says 64 miligrams a day. Linus Pauling who got 2 nobel prizes for his work on vitimin C and organic chemestry said a minimum of 1000 mg a day and 2000 mg if you are sick. I had something, to this day the doctors have no idea what it was, but I was flat on my back for 2 weeks in usually Nov and again in Feb. I went on vit C when I got sick and after a couple of years I have never been sick again. During those times I was sick I took a varying amount daily and it followed a bell curve over the 2 weeks. I was up to 40,000 mg a day at one point, 300,000 mg over 2 weeks. It was a narrow range I had to maintain. If I took too much I got diarrea and if I took too little I was sick. In that range I was totally asymptomatic. You need to drink a lot of water because Vit C is a natural diarretic. Also, you doctor will say your kidneys will disolve or calcify, but drink the water and it SHOULD be fine. A couple of years ago the had a report out that said the best cancer-fighter was Interferon - at $15,000 a gram - but it also said that Interferon is a product of the natural breakdown of Vit C in your system. Shortly after that they tried to make Vit C by perscription only. Guess why. Good luck.
4. I had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in 1995.
   I wish I had had the option of recontruction at the time, it wasnt available or offered at the time.
   It will be 12 years since my operation this coming March, and although I was offered reconstrution a few years later, Ive not had it done.
   If I was you I would do it now.
5. Go the Breastcancer.org. They have a chat room. That would be a question you could ask the women in there. Good luck.
6. I have just been through it myself - and I opted not to have breast reconstruction. l was worried that my body might reject it, as happened to a friend of mine.
   It has been a year now since I finished my chemotherapy - and I am fine - very healthy. You will be too. Just believe in LIFE and take each day as your first. Good luck and God bless you. There are lots of realistic prothesis on the market. They fit them especially for you. My hair fell out, but is now growing back, still short and has turned out very curly. It looks cool. I wore bandannas until some growth came back. It is not the end of the world, believe me. Have faith and think positively.