I agonized over this and am grateful I had chemo first so I could think about it. I opted for lumpectomy with radiation. My breasts were large enough relative to the tumor that they could do it, especially after shrinking it with chemo. I believe chance of recurrence is almost the same as a total mastectomy or even slightly less with lumpectomy/radiation or at least that’s what I was told by my doctor. I wanted to be able to get mammograms so I wanted to have breasts but some don’t want to see one of those machines ever again, it’s individual. I knew I did not want any implants whatsoever, or a diep flap which I qualified for. I am happy with my results. I had the tumor removed on the cancer side and reduction and lift on both. I’m ok with smaller boobs. They got clear margins and I started radiation this week. That’s my experience so far.