Digging deep for hope

pumpkin1984

Hi All,

My Mum was diagnosed with stage III BC today and I am pretty devastated, though she is holding up remarkably well now that she has the official diagnosis!

She found a large lump in her breast last Sunday, had a biopsy of the lump and a lymph node on Tuesday and was diagnosed today. She is scheduled for surgery (mastectomy) in 2 weeks to be followed by chemo and radio. We do not yet know whether it is IIIb or IIIc, and will only find this out after the surgery, when we will hve a better idea of the extent of the cancer's spread throughout the lymph system - I suppose we might also then be looking at whether it is stage IV too. We also do not yet have full results about whether it will respond to hormone treatment.

I am finding this all very hard to deal with, despite having a lovely supportive family. I am an only child and my Mum and I are incredibly close - my Mum is my best friend. On top of all this, I am 20 weeks pregnant with my first child - Mum's first grandchild - and am finding it very hard not to think the worst and panic that my son might not know his wonderful grandmother!!

I would love to hear from anyone with any similar stories to mine and my Mum's, anyone who can offer a glimmer of hope.  I could do with some words of wisdom to help me smile for the first time in over a week!