On discovering a lump in their breast, women were faced with a series of decisions to make and actions to take, and these choices, and the mindsets behind them, will be the focus of the current chapter. Women made choices about the lump: sometimes they decided to ignore it; sometimes they were determined to deal with it quickly. I argue that women were active agents in their own lives, including illness, and that they made their own decisions regarding their treatment. I therefore take a glance at the sources of information on breast cancer that women had available in making such decisions. I also look at the role played in the illness and its treatment by friends, family, neighbours and various medical practitioners. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the attitudes held by patients towards the most drastic of measures and often their last recourse, surgical operation.

The past two decades in the study of women's history have revealed that within the limits of their society and culture, early modern women were active agents in their own lives and prepared for all kinds of challenges. They are no longer seen as merely victims of the patriarchal hegemony: they could run businesses, sign petitions, invest in public buildings, and hold parish and civic office. Similarly, gender history has taken a look at the ways in which both men and women negotiated the conditions of their everyday lives.