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Feelings about single mastectomy
Has anyone else felt sad about having a mastectomy prior to surgery? I’m scheduled for a single mastectomy with a tissue expander on July 11th and while I’m very grateful about my prognosis, I feel sad to lose a part of myself. I’m also afraid of how I will feel when I see myself post surgery and post reconstruction. My nipple can’t be spared which also makes me feel sad/worried about how I will feel about how I will look. I plan to have a nipple tattoo but that will be a long ways off. I just wondered if anyone else was feeling or felt this way.
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I had a double at the end of March. I feel safer with the tissue gone, plus they discovered cancer in my left breast that they didn't know was there. So I feel lucky. I currently have tissue expanders in, that's a bigger deal than I thought it would be. The drains where in a long time. I needed another surgery to fix a expander that wasn't positioned right. It's a lot to go through but you'll get there.
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3 ReactionsHaving to live with a single mastectomy Nov. 2021 and I would one million percent recommend a double mastectomy from the onset. If you keep the other side you have a higher than 1 in 7 chance of getting BC in the other side. It’s higher than 1 in 7 because you have had BC before. If you have a prophylactic mastectomy the chances go down to 5%. That’s what my surgeon told me. What’s higher 17-20% or 5%? Its a no-brainer. If women knew they wouldn’t be choosing singles. I had to fight tooth and nail for them to take the otherwide off after the fact (standard of care and public health care in Canada). So relieved it’s gone. As well, my cousin who is a surgical nurse said plastic surgeons prefer symmetry. I now have a double reconstruction that looks great! Why would I want to keep that sagging old breast in the first place. Change to a double mastectomy if you can. Good luck.
Hi - yes, I was very sad and grieved. Even though initially they only found cancer in my left breast, I opted for a bilateral due to concerns of the cancer coming back in the other breast.
When the pathology was done during the surgery, they did indeed find irregular cells in the right breast that didn’t show up on the mammogram or mri.
The tissue expanders are rigid and uncomfortable. It was a relief when they were replaced with implants.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I had an oncology social worker who was very helpful to me through telehealth visits. This site was very valuable and helped me feel I was not alone. Best wishes to you!