Christina Applegate Opted to Remove Both Breasts - Why Double Mastectomy?

I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer on 5/7/08 and opted for a bilteral mastectomy on June 20.  It was the best decision for me.  I carried the gene however I had only family history on my fathers side.  My decisions now are whether to have chemo or not.  I have had the oncotyping done and I am at the low end of the gray area and I am not sure what way to go.  I did not have any lymph node involvement and I have two different oncologist recommending two different treatment course.  Is there anyone else out there who is in my shoes?  I would love to talk with you.  You can reach me at anna.squilla@verizon.net

I am 31. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in late July. I had a bilateral mastectomy on August 16. Many young women opt for breast conserving surgery (lumpectomy), but breast cancer in younger women is very aggressive, without surgical removal, radiotherapy and chemo it will likely come back as a secondary cancer. Lumpectomy+radiotherapy is considered equal to mastectomy in terms of survival rates, but remeber that breast tissue in younger women is dense so changes in the remaining breast tissue can be difficult to detect. Mastectomy is confronting, but it gives younger women such as Christina and myself the best chance of survival. I am lucky to have a surgeon that supported my decision to have a bilateral mastectomy.The same surgeon will do my reconstruction in 12 months time. The reconstruction results are brilliant. Prosthesis can be uncomfortable for women to wear, especially if they play sport. I wish Christina well with the rest of her treatment, and may she live a long, happy and healthy life.

I had cancer in my left breast -- stage 3A.  I elected to have the right breast removed too.  Afterwards, the biopsy on the left breast showed that I had lobular cancer.  The biopsy on the right breast showed that there were small cancer cells present that were undetectable by mamogram. 

Evey person has to make his or her own decisions.  In my case, having both removed was the best decision I ever made. 

One factor I haven't seen mentioned in this discussion is balance.  i wasn't offered the choice of a bilateral, and i don't think I would have been ready to lose a healthy breast at the time.  However, in the years since my surgery, I have sometimes felt that it would be much more convenient to be the same on both sides.  I get shoulder aches if I don't wear my prosthesis because I'm unbalanced.  Fitting a prosthesis is also a nuisance because I have to find one that matches the other side, and they are never exactly right.  These sound trivial, but for large-breasted women, I think the balance issues should be thrown into the mix of pros and cons when trying to decide what to do.

I fully understand Christina Applegate's decision.  I had to make that same decision for a bilateral mastectomy yesterday.  I have early stage (7mm) IDC in the right breast.  An MRI showed another very suspicious spot in the same breast on the other side.  The nodes look okay on the MRI, but I won't know that for sure until surgery.  I was given the choice of a lumpectomy if a biopsy of the second spot is benign, or a mastectomy of just the affected breast, but let's face it.  I haven't had the genetics test yet, but the family history isn't in my favor.  I lost 3 sisters in 3 years from 1985-1988... Barbara (48) to ovarian & breast cancer,  Brenna (34) and Bonnie (46)to breast cancer.   I participated in the NSABP Breast Cancer Prevention Trial from 1993-1998 and was on Tamoxifen.  I had hoped that Tamoxifen would keep cancer at bay for me, and who knows, maybe it gave me 15 more years to get to this point in history when treatments are so much better than when my sisters were going through it.  It was a hard decision, but the logical one for me.  I hope my daughters will not have to make that decision too.  They are being vigilant, but they want to know what our gene status is and that makes me sad.

Smart woman.  I was coerced into the lumpectomy one one and am very sorry about it.