It's a question those with a new diagnosis of breast cancer must consider.
For some women, breast sensation is so important that they will do whatever it takes to preserve the breast. This means possibly taking neoadjuvant chemo first to shrink the tumor so that, instead of needing a mastectomy, they can now have a lumpectomy.
For others, it may mean having a very large lumpectomy, which results in breast distortion and considerable volume loss — and yet always with the primary goal of preserving sensation in their breast.
Efforts are under way here at Johns Hopkins to perfect a surgical technique to reconnect (by using a microscope) the nerves severed from the chest wall area during mastectomy to the nerves in the reconstructed DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap breast.
The surgeons hope to create a true Memorex version of what had to be sacrificed surgically, while still ridding the patient's body of the source of the cancer. It's exciting to see that some sensation may be recoverable.
But I'm curious to hear how important this issue is to you. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you value breast sensation?
Would you consider it important enough to take extraordinary steps if this meant you'd be able to save your natural breast? If reconnecting nerves turns out to be possible, and if it was explained to you that sensation would be restored but that the feeling may not be like the erotic sensation you experience now, would you still go ahead?
It's been said, and I agree, that the biggest erogenous zone we have is our brain. What do you think?
