Posted September 30, 2010 By hopeful
I am Karyn from London Ontario and am BRCA1 positive. Having already lost a sister to breast cancer 8 yrs ago and currently another sister terminally ill with ovarian cancer, the choice of surgery was a no brainer for me. I am currently awaiting prophilactic bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. London has the longest wait times for breast surgery in the province of Ontario. I have been waiting 4 months with no end in sight. I was wondering if any of you can suggest another location with perhaps a shorter wait. Thank you for your time,
karyn
Posted October 2, 2010 By Rachel44
Hi,
I'm In Ottawa, Ontario and my surgery, bilateral mastectomy was done 3 weeks after my consultation.
I had the best breast cancer surgeon here in Ottawa. She's an expert with sentinel node biopsy and she is the head of the breast cancer clinic at our hospital.
If you want her information, give me your email addy and I'll give it to you. I'm 3 weeks post my bilateral mastectomies, I had zero pain, my incisions are beautiful and healing beautifully.
Posted October 13, 2010 By NorthernGirl
Hi Rachel44: Does your surgeon do reconstructions too?
I live in a small town and will have to travel to a bigger centre for surgery. I have had a lumpectomy, sentinel node biopsy, and another excision since the margins were not clear. The margins are still not clear, so a mastectomy is recommended. I finished chemo so it's time to consider surgery. I would love to have immediate reconstruction if possible.
Best wishes.
Posted October 14, 2010 By Rachel44
Hi NorthernGirl,
Here is her information.
Dr. Chantal Beaulieu
Centre Medical Ste Anne
500 Old St Patrick
Ottawa
Ontario
K1N 9G4
My scars are so beautiful and very minimal. She has great expertise and good bedside manners. She's a general surgeon and I"m unclear if she does reconstructive surgery but she did talk about it. Does not hurt to call her office and find out. She does surgeries at the Montfort Hospital. A consultation with her is usually done in 2 weeks.
Phone: (613) 241-3013
Posted October 17, 2010 By Kristi
Hello Northerngirl and Karen,
I had a bilateral mastectomy with LAT flap reconstruction with expanders in September 2009.
I initially had a lumpectomy with margins "not clear". Instead of another lumpectomy I opted for a mastectomy, but then my Dr in Belleville did not feel comfortable doing the surgery because of the location of the incision from my first surgery, he was worried about an open wound. He referred me to Toronto, it was there that I was told I could have a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction at the same time. I did it and do not regret it at all. About 6 months after my surgery I found another lump, which turned out to be a recurrence on my chest wall. I still do not regret my decision.
My surgery was done at Princess Margaret, my surgical oncologist is Dr McCready and my plastic surgeon is Dr Hofer, both are amazing doctors. The surgery was very invasive, it took a long time to recover, but I was very happy with the end result. Unfortunately I lost one of my new "foobs" with this latest recurrence and have to return sometime in the future to have reconstruction again.
I hope this helps both of you. Please let me know if you have any other questions I can answer.
Good Luck with your decisions.
Kristi :)
Posted May 27, 2011 By lynnw
Hi rachel44.
Did you have reconstruction or have you opted not to? I am considering bilateral mastectomy and then there will very likely be radiation afterwards, and I'm told they need to know whether I want reconstruction after because it affects the radiation.
I never hear about women who opt out of reconstruction, and I don't know if I want it myself or not. I'm not sure I'll know for a while.
Any thoughts? Advice? What's your experience been like?
Posted May 28, 2011 By Rachel44
I decided NOT to have reconstruction surgery because I figured I wasn't meant to have breasts. I decided to embrace my scars and see them as victory rather than illness. I didn't want to put something back in my body that wasn't naturally made (if you know what I mean). I have a 2 year old daughter that for the 1st year of her life, didn't have her mom so to speak. I just didn't see myself putting her through another round of surgery and healing. Then I thought by the time she's older and I can do the surgery, I'll be too old.
I'm enjoying the freedom of not having to wear a bra at home. I have my prosthesis that I wear when I'm out but it's very liberating to be "free" at home.
Good luck in your decision.
Posted October 10, 2010 By SunflowerM
I'm in Kingston. I saw my surgeon on Sept. 13 and had surgery on Sept. 30th (partial mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy).
Having spoken to other women in other parts of the province, I felt lucky to have surgery this quickly... some of my friends and acquaintances waited 2 - 3 months...
Posted October 26, 2010 By SharonE
Hi Karyn,
I am also in in London and currently being treated for BC but will be having reconstruction done eventually.
I was wondering if things had changed for you since your last post? I was told in August that London is short staffed on plastic surgeons so that is why the long wait for reconstruction. At that time they told me 6-9 months. Has that changed?
Sharon
