Chapter 14: How To Decide If Surgery Is Your Best Option
Plus is this the right surgeon and hospital for you?
I recently refused to have one surgery and delayed two others. I’m not anti-surgery; I’m anti-unnecessary surgery. I’m cautious because I’ve already lived through a breast cancer misdiagnosis leading to an unneeded lumpectomy in 2006. Two of the four surgeons I met with wanted to remove my cancer-free left breast (mastectomy). I chose based on my gut and my family’s mantra of no surgery without a second opinion. Yes, the surgery was time-consuming and emotionally triggering. But luckily, I avoided the emotional devastation of an unneeded mastectomy.
Now, I’m a better educated patient. And you can be, too. Using many of the steps below, I realized all three of the recommended surgeries could wait. Unless you’re in the midst of a life-threatening medical crisis (and why are you reading me if you’re in the midst of an emergency?), you have the benefit of time to get educated and make an actual decision.
All surgery is risky. There’s really no s…
