1. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Oct 17, 2008, 9:27 am PDT

My masectomy was skin sparing but the thought of having reconstruction imediatly is somewhat misleading. I was told due to my cancer it would be a bad choice. I should start treatments asap. The reconstruction takes much longer to heal. So I went for a year and a half with the very graphic masectomy....did I care yes but life is way more important than my body. I am now cancer free a three year survivor and had a masectomy done on the other side also and chose to do my reconstruction at that time.

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2. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Oct 17, 2008, 12:10 pm PDT

First, congrats to the poster above. We have a come a long way in regards to treatment. Hooray! Second. The sorry and revolting fact remains that perhaps the 2 largest contributors to breast cancer incidence in this country remain the two that the AMA and the media do NOT want you to know about: 1) oral contraceptives 2) abortion Countries that have long outlawed both have seen reductions in breast cancer incidence - as should be expected with all the advancements we've seen the last 50 years in medicine, the environment, and diet. But countries - like this one - that have gorging on both for decades have numbers that have gone thru the roof. Facts are facts. www.bcpinstitute.org www.abortionbreastcancer.com

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3. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Oct 17, 2008, 2:17 pm PDT

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH.. BC RUNS IN MY FAMILY AND IF I OR A LOVED ONE IS FACED W/THIS DECISION IM GLAD WE HAVE THIS OPTION.

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4. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Oct 17, 2008, 2:40 pm PDT

I don't know if you attribute reduced incidence of breast cancer to banning abortion and contraception. Its been known for awhile that not having children increases breast cancer risk. Contraception and abortion are just two of many things that make it less likely a woman will have children. Becoming a nun is another. We gonna ban that too?

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5. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Sat, Oct 18, 2008, 12:26 am PDT

That's good to know but I still don't think it makes mastectomies any less scary. It's still surgery and it still involves having a part of your body removed.

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6. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Sat, Oct 18, 2008, 5:33 am PDT

Disfigurement is at the bottom of many people's hesitancy to go with mastectomies, tw125. Granted, "it's still surgery." I've had surgery and had parts of my body removed. However, my grandmother had the old-fashioned "radical" and was unable to use her left arm for much, afterward. It saved her life, but she was very careful to hide her scars, never wore a sleeveless dress or a swimsuit, etc.

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7. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Sat, Oct 18, 2008, 7:28 am PDT

I dont agree with the doctors or about the mastectomy. I have had the radical at 40. I believe that it will come back later if it isnt removed. I know several women that kept there breast and it returned later. No thanks but this is not enough study for this to be an exact science. Cathy Miner

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8. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Fri, Oct 24, 2008, 1:23 am PDT

Sorry Lillie, Your article reads as if a skin sparing mastectomy with reconstruction is as esay as icing a cake with a can of ready made frosting. I feel this article is very misleading to newly diagnosed patients facing this type pocedure. I am speaking from experience. You are leaving out the long painful recovery time & the many complications that can & do occur. You know what they say about a cake when you slice it & find it has too much icing? The thick icing is to cover up a cake that has failed in some way. The cake then becomes too sweet because of the excessive icing & all is lost. You are usually right on top with your infor- mation, but not with this article. Cancer Survivor

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9. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Mon, Nov 10, 2008, 3:08 pm PST

Sean - your agenda is not welcome here. It is not possible to blame me for contracting breast cancer. There is no scientific evidence linking breast cancer with abortion or birth control; which BTW are very hot issues with some organized religions. Respectfully, I ask you to take your discussion of to a more suitable forum. Sisters and survivors, mastectomy and reconstruction are not easy. I'm grateful for getting my life back.

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10. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Sat, Dec 06, 2008, 10:43 am PST

Get Real! Very few mastecomies are undetectable. This paints an unrealistic rosie picture of an outcome. Women need real truth not marketing hype. I know, I have had a mastectomy.

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11. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 6:06 pm PST

I decided to go for a double mastectomy after being the 4th sister to get diagnosed. And I was the only post menopausal sister. My other sisters where under 47 and younger. My suspicious site was caught during my annual mamo and lucky for me, it was very small, less than 1/2 centimeter, no node, but Estrogen, Progesterone and HER2 positive, My sister 10 yrs younger, was diagnosed 2 weeks before me. She was not HER2 positive. She chose lumpectomy & radiation. I think, that at her age, I might have made the same choice she did. I liked my breasts a lot. They were big and beautiful but I was not at all interested in radiation. So, the choice seemed like a win, win situation. The initial surgery was a traumatic experience. The nursing care at the University of Michigan sucked a lot. I ended up with two incision sites, one on my new left breast with reconstructed nipples & a 3" crater on my back that required skin grafts (which are not very pretty) and another hospitalization for a wound infection. I was on a wound vac machine (Mr. Slurpy) for about 6 months. The whole healing process took 9 months and I'm still in the final recovery stage 12 months later. It has not been a smooth process. But here are the plus parts. I no longer need to ware a bra; I'm a lot more perkier. I did indeed skip radiation and chemo and lucky me, I lost 20#s the hard way. I'm on arimadex for the next 4 years, which sent me back into menopause again. My sisters recovery was faster, but both of us don't regret our choices. It just is not quite as rosy as this article seemed to convey.

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12. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 6:28 pm PST

I decided to go for a double mastectomy after being the 4th sister to get diagnosed. And I was the only post menopausal sister. My other sisters where under 47 and younger. My suspicious site was caught during my annual mamo and lucky for me, it was very small, less than 1/2 centimeter, no node, but Estrogen, Progesterone and HER2 positive, My sister 10 yrs younger, was diagnosed 2 weeks before me. She was not HER2 positive. She chose lumpectomy & radiation. I think, that at her age, I might have made the same choice she did. I liked my breasts a lot. They were big and beautiful but I was not at all interested in radiation. So, the choice seemed like a win, win situation. The initial surgery was a traumatic experience. The nursing care at the University of Michigan sucked a lot. I ended up with two incision sites, one on my new left breast with reconstructed nipples & a 3" crater on my back that required skin grafts (which are not very pretty) and another hospitalization for a wound infection. I was on a wound vac machine (Mr. Slurpy) for about 6 months. The whole healing process took 9 months and I'm still in the final recovery stage 12 months later. It has not been a smooth process. But here are the plus parts. I no longer need to ware a bra; I'm a lot more perkier. I did indeed skip radiation and chemo and lucky me, I lost 20#s the hard way. I'm on arimadex for the next 4 years, which sent me back into menopause again. My sisters recovery was faster, but both of us don't regret our choices. It just is not quite as rosy as this article seemed to convey.

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13. Posted by A Yahoo! Health User on Sun, Jul 12, 2009, 11:20 pm PDT

Oh my gosh, this is just frustrating to read. I had a bilateral mastectomy in 2006, and I can honestly say there has never been a day or moment when I look down at my reconstructed breasts and heave a sigh of relief at how natural they look. They look like hamburger buns, and that is NOT what my breasts looked like before cancer. I hate them, but as many survivors have said, I choose life, and have to deal with the pathetic mini-issues that come with having "foobs." Clothes don't fit right at all because I am a size medium chest and size XL everywhere else. I hate when people hug me too closely. I could go on for days. Please oh PLEASE, use this blog space to TEACH the women who walk the road after we have. Tell them what it is like as a SURVIVOR. Newbies don't want fluff, they want the truth.

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