The initial protocol was lumpectomy and radiation. After the lumpectomy pathology came back no clear margins. My breast surgeon gave me the option of either going back to the OR to take more tissue for bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. I chose the later. It was a good decision on my part because pathology came back of my left breast and it has specks of pre-cancerous cells throughout the breast tissue. It could have easily turned into Stage 4 breast cancer later.

Thank you, line. I am thinking if my left @mastectomy tissue biopsy does not show clear margins that I would pursue a right @mastectomy next. I don’t need breasts any more! It is good to hear from others who have undergone his surgery. I certainly wonder about recovery but that is ahead of me and I cannot yet know how mine will go, just so appreciate the stories of others.

About clothing for lateral and bilateral mastectomies without reconstruction, curiously, I ran across this item posted in social media the other day - androgynous 1920s-style swimwear - same items for males/ females, so I thought Perfect for me, since I care not about symmetry and the difference will not be great: one of these would fit both my male and female sides: https://www.beefcakeswimwear.com/

@RobinTowt, @A MyBCTeam Member I can see that bilateral is a reasonable choice. My breasts are not especially large, and I am “chicken-breasted” - prominent breast bones/ sternum owing to a broken collarbone as a child and the figure-8 contraption used in the 50s to keep collarbone knitting pulled my shoulders back. So my moderate breasts have always sort’ve been tucked back, too. What I’m trying to say is that this would minimize the imbalance of lateral @ mastectomy - and partly since this is so, partly because I just don’t care about perfect symmetry, at this point I am comfortable choosing the lateral mastectomy. There is supposedly a strong chance that I will need only hormone therapy, but of course that could change. If it’s determined that my chance of recurrence is high without chemo, or if I flat-out encounter recurrence down the line, then I would opt for the second @ mastectomy, after healing from the first, or at that later time. At least, that is my thinking now. Just got a second opinion yesterday, and I like this new surgeon so very much. She spent an hour with me and communicated and explained and validated my thoughts and questions as rational and a perfectly good choice. What a difference from the mega medical center, which would have been good if I’d had the complications of other cancer as I had feared, but which are at this point ruled out. Instead of driving 60 miles for a 4th appointment to discuss my fears of radiation with a radiologist, then returning 20 days later for a pre-op appointment, with surgery as late as May, I should hear within the next day or so about a surgery date in the next two weeks. And the surgeon is a director of surgical residents and professor of surgery at a local medical school as well as being associate director of surgery at the hospital where I will have surgery, with 33 years of experience and a top-notch bedside manner. What a relief! Robin, thank you for the suggestion that I repost emphasizing wanting to hear about lateral @ mastectomy cohorts vs bilateral here.

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And to answer your question about recovery, I am 1 month out of surgery and doing great. It's the chemo that is kicking my butt! lol Just 3 more rounds!