What is a double mastectomy and what does it all entail? Well, my oncology surgeon describes it as “ scooping you out like a pumpkin and leaving nothing behind.” That way there is no risk of cancer cells coming back in the breast tissue because… well there is going to be no breast tissue left. What does that mean for breast feeding? Sensation? Do I get to keep my nipples? What is the recovery like? Scars?Reconstruction?
1. No breast feeding- there is no breast tissue left to produce milk
2. Sensation will be completely gone and may or may not come back over time . They cut all of the nerves surrounding your breasts
3. Some people may have their nipples removed due to chance of cancer cells regenerating in the nipple tissue, however my tumor was so far from my nipple they let me keep my nipples!! (Small wins)
4. Recovery- depending on what surgery you decide on (reconstruction vs no reconstruction or implants vs no implants) the recovery for my surgery specifically was about 8 weeks. (More to come on the recovery)
5. The incisions for my surgery are directly under my breast so you cannot see them unless you lift up my boobs- pretty cool.
6. Reconstruction options- I was given 3 options for reconstruction.
A. No reconstruction- just be completely flat
B. Get silicone implants
C. Use my own body fat to replace the breast tissue
Option C was not a great option for me considering we do not have children yet. If they took whatever abdominal fat I had and pulled my abdomen tight there would be no room for a fetus to grow. So option C was out. Now, at 29 years old- do I want to be flat chested for the rest of my life? Do I really want fake boobs? What an odd decision to have to make at such a young age.
What I decided to do was go with option B. Choose implants that are relatively the same size as what I had naturally and move on. There were too many hard decisions to make to dwell on this one. The plastic surgeon said I can always have them taken out and do the fat replacement surgery later on after we have children.
Alright, now that I made my decision…it’s time.
Mandafit 