It is extraordinarily overwhelming to have to make this type of decision. I wish doctors would just tell me what to do and I will do it. However, I also had this decision to make. I talked to four different doctors, a social worker, two genetic counselors (fortunately I do not have a genetic tendency that would increase my risk of breast cancer, but I still needed to find out). I also talked to two people who had mastectomies, to find out what their experience had been, as well as two friends who had had lumpectomies plus radiation therapy. I felt totally inadequate to make a decision of this nature, and it made me mad. Doctors have years of training. Why can't they just tell us what we need to do? Since three out of four of the doctors I talked to told me that getting a lumpectomy plus radiation wasn't a bad decision, and that a mastectomy was probably overkill in my situation (stage 1 lobular breast cancer in association with pleomorphic LCIS), I decided on the lumpectomy. I needed two lumpectomies to get a clear margin. So far I am happy with my choice. I can always go back and get a mastectomy if that should become necessary. It's true that each person has to decide for herself if the outcomes are "equal" - that is, the risk of recurrence is statistically the same, but boy is it difficult! I am rooting for you.