Hello there,
I recently confirmed that I have the BRCA1 gene mutation - basically my lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancers are relatively through the roof! I'm not surprised -- my mom is a carrier and nearly every woman in my family has been diagnosed with breast cancer at some point.

I've been reading a lot about woman who have chosen to have mastectomies in order to drastically reduce their risks of developing cancer. My OBGYN also suggested that we might want to consider IVF for our next child so we could genetically test the embryos and guarantee that our kid would not have the mutation.

I was wondering if any of you out there have dealt with the same decisions and what you decided to do and why? These are such personal choices so thank you in advance for sharing!

PS. Please no "I'm so sorry"s here! No need to feel bad or worry for me. We all have our medical issues to face and this is just one that I'm facing now - and I feel lucky that now I will have access to great screening and a slew of options that I wouldn't have if I didn't know I had this mutation.