Breast cancer and me
Breast cancer blog and some information about treatment
As my lump is small I can have a lumpectomy. I could opt for mastectomy but there is no evidence to suggest the outome would be better. My surgeon said she would not have gven me a choice if the lumpectomy was not enough.
I originally thought it was a simple 'wide local excision' WLE but the consultant has said she may do a 'theraputic mamoplasty' TM, but she won't know until she sees where the 'guide wire' is. At the moment I am still a bit unsure of the reasons for this so I'm seeing the surgeon again before surgery. It seems to be a matter of the TM giving a better shape than the WLE, The WLE may leave a dent, but with the TM I'd maybe have to have the oer one done to match.
I'm also having axillary lymph node clearance. Aparently I will need a drain putting in for this and I'll have that for a while afterwards (1 -3 weeks) but I can go home with this and have it looked after by district nurse.
I have been advised to get a soft bra as I will have to sleep in it for a week or so after surgery.
I've also got some bio oil (well, rescue oil, it's cheaper from home bargain shop) for the scar healing process.
I'll update ths after surgery and let you know what happened.
After talking to my surgeon I decided to go for the simpler WLE, she unerstood my concerns and agreed the result would probably be ok for me as I wasn't planning to display my wares on the topless beaches anytime soon. As long as I can look myself in the mirror I'm fine.
Surgery
Wide local excision (lumpectomy)
This is when the cancer and an area of surrounding tissue is removed. It’s called a wide local excision or lumpectomy. This operation removes the affected breast tissue and for most women the appearance of their breast after a lumpectomy is good.
If the lump is very small, a fine wire (guide wire) is used to mark the area to be removed so that the surgeon can find it more easily. The doctor or radiologist will inject some local anaesthetic into the area to numb it before inserting the wire, using x-ray or ultrasound to guide them.
After these operations you’ll need to have radiotherapy| to the remaining breast tissue to destroy any cancer cells that may have been left behind.
Clear margins
After a lumpectomy, the pathologist examines the tissue that’s been removed to see if there is an area or margin of normal cells around the cancer. This is called a clear margin. If the margins are clear, you won’t need any more surgery to the breast. If there is still cancerous or precancerous (DCIS|) cells at the edge of the breast tissue, you’ll need another operation to remove more tissue. This reduces the chance of the cancer coming back in the future.
If taking away more tissue is unlikely to remove all the cancer cells, a mastectomy is usually advised.
Theaputic Mamoplasy
This operation involves a breast reduction, removing
most of the breast tissue around the tumour, leaving
the nipple and areola attached to a pedicle (flap). This enables the breast shape to be altered. This can only be done by cutting the breast, which leaves long scars, usually in an “anchor” shape as shown on leaflet below
Post surgery.
I've spent so much time worryng about the actual breast surgery I've hardly considered the axillary bit. As it turns out that is more of an issue than the breast bit.The breast scar looks fine as far as I can see, he armpit dent is more noticable and certainly more painful. Moving my arm at he shoulder hurts and I have to do exercises for it. I have a drain in attached to bottle at I have to carry round in a little bag. Not nice to look at. The district nurse comes every day to check how much has drained, about 100ml per day. When it's down to 30ml she'll take the drain out, about a week.