Breast screening

diagnosed and treated for a cancer that would never have become life-threatening but how can you tell which will not be life-threatening until it has been investigated?

It is like taking out insurance against your house being destroyed by fire or other disaster - if you could foresee in advance whether it is going to happen, you could save a fortune. However, by assuming that you will never need that insurance, you could end up with no home. Or with cancer tests, no life.

Do go. I am 69 and had a mammogram last autumn. Stage 0 cells ( DCIS) were found in one breast, I had a lumpectomy and am just finishing radiotherapy. You never know how at risk you are of developing invasive cancer, in later life cancers tend to grow more slowly, but the risk outweighs the inconvenience and mild discomfort of the treatment. I may get breast cancer again, but at least I know I have been given the best treatment to prevent that happening. If I’d decided against it and got an invasive tumour I would find that decision difficult to bear. All the best!

Anything the NHS offer I always attend. Jabs, smears, breast screening etc., hate them all but would grit my teeth and get it done. So reassuring to get the letter saying all is well.

Do go along just for peace of mind. I’m also 70 and would be due this year in June but I won’t be called. I’ve already phoned them to ask if I can still have one which they are happy to do, I just have to ring for an app nearer the time.

It rather feels like no one cares if you get breast cancer later in life as they stop at 70, I’d rather know than not.

trial of

I appear to be invited to be part of an AgeX trial Nonnie - a ttual if extending the age range for breast screening to include some women under 50 or over 70

It is probably the last one you will be called for, I think they stop offering it to older women. I believe these mammograms do find undetected cancers so I would go. By further tests they may just mean a recall, I've had one of those but there was nothing found and I think it just wasn't done properly