1. < Breast Cancer

Reconstruction DURING Lumpectomy

Posted by stephthompson @stephthompson, Apr 10, 2022

Does anyone have experience with reconstruction with lumpectomy, with the reconstruction being part of the lumpectomy, and do you know if they will do reconstruction at the same time?

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polianad22 | @polianad22 | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @delormv "@polianad22 I’m not sure how they knew they got clean margins the second time around. When..." + (show)
@delormv

@polianad22 I’m not sure how they knew they got clean margins the second time around. When pathology came back, it showed clear margins, but I had the lift/reduction already. I know my surgical oncologist took VERY wide margins to help with getting all the cancer cells. I go for monitoring/imaging every three months, so if any cancer was left, it will get caught early.

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Understood. May I ask you why you didn't do mastectomy? It looks like when you do lumpectomy, the patient needs to check carefully every three months. What do you do every three months? Mammogram, MRI, blood test, ultrasound?

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delormv | @delormv | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @polianad22 "Understood. May I ask you why you didn't do mastectomy? It looks like when you do..." + (show)
@polianad22

Understood. May I ask you why you didn't do mastectomy? It looks like when you do lumpectomy, the patient needs to check carefully every three months. What do you do every three months? Mammogram, MRI, blood test, ultrasound?

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I didn’t do a mastectomy because it didn’t seem to be a better choice nor was it statistically better for my type and stage of cancer as explained by the oncologist. The follow up appointments always consist of a breast exam, interview if there are new or concerning symptoms, and imaging for me. I’ve only been twice since chemo ended in February of this year. I’m not sure what subsequent visits will entail. I did go for my yearly in august of this year and microcalcifications were found in the other breast so they did a biopsy. Atypical lobular hyperplasia was found, which isn’t cancer but a marker for cancer. They’re being very diligent and aggressively taking action when anything at all is appearing on imaging.

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delormv | @delormv | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @polianad22 "Yes, it's called frozen section. My understanding is that are not always reliable and some hospitals..." + (show)
@polianad22

Yes, it's called frozen section. My understanding is that are not always reliable and some hospitals don't do it during the surgery. Where did you do the lumpectomy? How big was your tumor and what type of cancer did you have?

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I had my lumpectomy done at UVM in vermont by Dr. Sowden as she was recommended by a friend who had breast cancer years ago. She was wonderful! I looked up her credentials in line and was quite impressed. My tumor was 1.2 cm and was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive DCIS.

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1 reply
polianad22 | @polianad22 | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @delormv "I had my lumpectomy done at UVM in vermont by Dr. Sowden as she was recommended..." + (show)
@delormv

I had my lumpectomy done at UVM in vermont by Dr. Sowden as she was recommended by a friend who had breast cancer years ago. She was wonderful! I looked up her credentials in line and was quite impressed. My tumor was 1.2 cm and was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive DCIS.

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Did you do radiation and chemotherapy?

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delormv | @delormv | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @polianad22 "Did you do radiation and chemotherapy?" + (show)
@polianad22

Did you do radiation and chemotherapy?

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I had an oncotype dx test to determine if chemo was beneficial and my score was borderline, so my medical oncologist weighed all of my risks and strongly recommended 4 cycles of chemo. She left the decision up to me and I chose to go ahead with chemo. Radiation didn’t really seem to be an option so I had 20 rounds of radiation. Chemo wasn’t fun but doable. Radiation was nothing compared to everything else.

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polianad22 | @polianad22 | Oct 15, 2022
In reply to @delormv "I had an oncotype dx test to determine if chemo was beneficial and my score was..." + (show)
@delormv

I had an oncotype dx test to determine if chemo was beneficial and my score was borderline, so my medical oncologist weighed all of my risks and strongly recommended 4 cycles of chemo. She left the decision up to me and I chose to go ahead with chemo. Radiation didn’t really seem to be an option so I had 20 rounds of radiation. Chemo wasn’t fun but doable. Radiation was nothing compared to everything else.

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What are the effects of your radiation and chemotherapy? How old are you?

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