to not know how to feel about Angelina Jolie's announcement?

[Scarletohello]

I must admit I was really shocked to hear that she had had a double mastectomy,I don't know much about breast cancer so it seemed an extreme thing to do. Very brave to go public about it but I felt disturbed and sad,feels brutal to me. Can't really process it tbh,what do other people think..?

I don't know how I feel about it either. It's a very personal decision.

I was told years ago (when having a breast lump investigated) that I could have the gene. I have a tiny family with only 3 female blood relatives (mother and two grandmothers - no aunts, sisters, nieces or cousins). Both my mum and her mum have had breast cancer. I've seen the treatment close up (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy plus various drugs) and it is not nice, but I currently feel that I would rather monitor myself for signs of cancer and treat it if it appears than take this radical step. I haven't taken the test because it wouldn't change my course of action - i.e. monitoring myself closely.

My thinking might well be influenced by the fact that both my mum and grandmother survived the cancer and neither needed a mastectomy (my mum had quite a big lumpectomy). So as a preventative measure for a disease I have a good chance of getting but might not, mastectomy might be more radical than the treatment if I were to get cancer.

My oncologist told me that my chances were no better with masectomy as the risk for me is that some cells from my very aggressive tumour have spread from the tumour site and will end up in bones or vital organs - which would be the end of the road.

However, if he had given me even small percentage of survival rate, I would have done it.

The fact that there are some men out there telling their partners that they would rather they were dead or risking death with breasts than alive without is so incredibly sad.

If my dh said that to me I'd instantly go off him. My ex was so mature about it and so young. He told the dr he thought I should do as I wished with my body and felt it was not his decision to make. The nurses commented on how lovely he was about it and I remember thinking " who wouldn't be?" Now I know.

Well it could be good publicity for awareness of bc though some of the information is quite confusing. The bc gene appears to be rare and the newspapers reporting about AJ are talking about having this test if you have a 'family history' of bc, with no explanation of what counts as a family history of bc, which is a pity.

According to www.cancerresearchuk.org the bc gene test only really works if a living relative with bc can be tested and a faulty gene found and then you are tested to see if you have the same gene.

Also, having a preventative mastectomy is only one possible way of dealing with knowing you have the gene, so it might be right for AJ and not for another woman. Drugs and frequent screening are other possibilities.

My mother got breast cancer in her 40s, had a single mastectomy, but died of bc in her 40s so it's something I'm particularly aware of. I had my first bc screening last year and it was fine, and reading about this now has made me wonder if I ought to ask for (or arrange privately) annual screenings.

I don't think awareness of breast cancer is the issue. Barely a week goes by without me getting pleas for sponsorship in some Race for Life or other.

What I think is important here is that a woman known and praised for her physical beauty has made the point that she is more important than her breasts - a point which some men do or seem to grasp.

I have had my BC risk tested on NHS (family history). I'm at higher risk but not of the aggressive fast growing types so I just have to start mammograms a little earlier, that's all. There are many different types of BC "some are Rottweilers, some are poodles" as the consultant said.

But yeah, YABU and frankly ignorant. Did you not read her original article? It explained everything.

I'm astounded that some 'D'Hs can react as people have described. How can anyone who claims to love someone want that person to risk death just so that they have something nice to play with..??! Incredibly shocking.

I also do not understand how people can dither about this. How it can be in any way more important to have breasts than to avoid cancer. If I was offered this operation I'd consider it and I don't even have the gene.

And before I get arguments about feeling less of a woman etc: I only have one ovary due to cancer at a young age. Doesn't make me feel like less of a woman in any way, shape or form. Yes, it's not a visible 'lack' like removing breasts, but it's still a reduction of my female parts. However, rather alive with one than dead with two to put it bluntly.

Having had cancer once I would go through a lot to avoid it again.

lala, I think it depends on the circumstances. If I were told I could either opt for a double mastectomy now or annual screening, and both were equally successful in cancer prevention, then I'd opt for annual screening to avoid major surgery, nothing to do with valuing my breasts.

Also you could have a mastectomy and then get cancer somewhere else in your body, so it wouldn't make sense to have a mastectomy unless you've been told you are high risk of bc.