Disclaimer: My story does not intend to replace professional advice or treatment. This is my personal experience, and my intent is just to share my journey with you. You must seek professional advice according to your own illness and your doctor must tell you what treatment, products and procedure to follow. I don’t make any commission or money by talking about the book I mentioned in this blog post.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
For those who are facing the decision to have a mastectomy or a lumpectomy, it’s not an easy choice. I remember since the beginning that I knew what I wanted. I wanted to keep my breast if possible, but I also didn’t know if that was going to be a choice.
During the season where I had to chose my surgical procedure I was praying constantly, literally all day. I wanted to follow God’s plan for me, the treatment he wanted for me, the care he wanted for his beloved child. I knew he was with me. I felt his Holy Spirit all the time with me, I read in his Word that he was faithful and I knew he was going to give me the wisdom to chose the right procedure.
A lot of people also told me to look for a second opinion with a different oncologist. I had no idea how to find a trustworthy oncologist for this task. But God, in his mercy and wonderful grace did something amazing. I discovered that my Bible Study teacher at Church was an oncologist and his specialty was women’s health. What a coincidence a lot of people might think. But no, actually it was God’s providence.
I remember I approached to him to ask if he could check all my papers and see if my treatment looked like the best for me. He happily said yes and I shared with him all my analysis, tests results, etc. He went over all and told me that he would do exactly the same that my oncologist was doing for me. He even gave me the future change or treatments with all the possible outcomes. I could not feel but relief and joy. God is good, always.
My breast surgeon, my oncologist and my radiation oncologist, explained to me that because of the tumor’s size I had, it would be the same result if I had a lumpectomy (taking out the tissue where the tumor is and some more around it) and radiation; or a single mastectomy (the entire removal of the breast tissue and ducts) with reconstruction and no radiation. It was simple, in my head, I just wanted to keep my breast.
Some reasons that I knew so far were: I wanted to be able to have sensitivity on my real breast, I wanted to be able to try to breast feed if I had a child, I wanted to keep my breast.
Every person chooses according to the options the doctor presents to her. The tumor size, type of cancer, grade, involvement of nodes, treatment, etc., are important factors for the decision about the final surgical procedure.
I read a very instructive book called Dr. Susan’s Love Breast Book. In this book I had a detailed explanation of the different procedures and the details of them. What a relief to get so valuable information in such a valuable moment. It was a gift to me from a family member just when I had no idea about anything. This family member had breast cancer in the past and she knew what it was to be in this position. I am so grateful to her!
If you or anyone who is going through Breast Cancer wants to read about it to be informed, this book was a great resource for me. We need to share what was good to us. Sharing is caring 🙂