SURVIVOR ~ Breast Cancer Stage IV

My mother was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in October of 1999. She had found the lump several months earlier, but because she had had two benign lumps previously removed and had been told she just probably had lumpy breast she delayed going to the doctor until after a month long vacation to her home state. When she called me I was devastated and scared. My grandmother had died of lung cancer six years before and I remembered the horrible side effects of the chemo, and the burns from the radiation and finally death after only a year. She underwent a modified radical masectomy of the left breast followed by chemo, radiation, and was on tomoxifen. All of her follow-up visits and blood test were good. We went about our lives.

In July 2001, after several abnormal pap-smears that doctor's told her were due to a bacterial infection, we found out the cancer was back. The true source of all those abnormal pap smears was breast cancer in her uterus, cervix and vagina. She was taken off the tamoxifen.

She has been receiving herceptin once weekly and taxotere once every three weeks for the past three months. Her most recent cat scanned doesn't show much improvement. She is going to start radiation soon. I'm scared, angry, and feel it can't be real. I want to be optimistic, but I am constantly thinking about the possibility of her dying. My mother is 48 and I am 28, but she also has two other children 14 and 15 with my stepfather. I am worried about them being left without a mother at such a young age.

My mother looks healthy and says that she feels good other than occasionally being tired. Her current treatments are not making her sick and her faith is strong. I ask for your prayers.

All external links open a new browser window for your convenience.
This site is hosted and maintained by DiscoSpider Solutions.
Contact our webmaster on the design of this web site.
Copyright © SURVIVOR ~ Breast Cancer Stage IV 2001 ~ 2006