The news/non-news: Had the MRI last night, which showed a possible second area of activity in the same breast. Did an ultrasound today to see if that was able to shed more light on this; nope. This means I'll have the new area biopsied on Thursday next week. It could be something or it could be nothing, which is delaying making a plan for next steps. My choices will include: 1. Outpatient excision (lumpectomy) of the first area (if biopsy shows second area is nothing), followed by daily radiation for 5 1/2 weeks. 2. Outpatient excision (lumpectomy) of two areas, if biopsy shows the second area is something, followed by daily radiation for 5 1/2 weeks. 3. Double mastectomy, in hospital 1, maybe 2, nights, no radiation.
I've always thought that if I ever needed a mastectomy, I wouldn't bother with reconstruction -- mostly because that seemed to be the source of most discomfort for women who had it done. The surgeon convinced me that it would look pretty weird -- not just flat, but maybe a bit concave, and that since I'm "only" in my 40s (not for long!), he'd recommend doing it. Do I care? I don't know. He didn't really recommend doing a single mastectomy, mostly because we'd still have to stay on monitoring the other, and that it would look really weird. When you've got breasts as big as these (cracks knuckles), you can't just re-make a match. And it would be a significant uni-boob.
I kind of like the idea of picking out some smaller breasts, installed a bit higher and compact enough to never need to wear a bra. That's the fantasy right now. Bob says not to get my hopes up.