I was diagnosed 5 years ago at Stage 3 of right breast only with some lymph involvement. My surgeon gave me both options 'though he was leaning towards the mastectomy. I started on 7 months of Letrozole to shrink the tumor hoping to avoid chemo. No such luck. I chose the lympectomy because a) my left breast was "pristine" (my surgeon's words) and b) it was out patient surgery with shorter and easier recovery. I did have 7 of 13 lymph nodes involved which made chemo and radiation necessary. I'm not vain about my breasts, but even with the tissue removed I'm not obviously "lopsided" which is what I was going for. I'd make the same choice today. The one drawback was the first surgery did not produce clear margins (cancer cells were found in the area beyond the tumor) so I had a second lumpectomy which was successful. The second procedure was a piece of cake, and as it included implanting a port for chemo it it was going to happen anyway to a certain extent.