Mom Diagnosed Again

I was here earlier this year for my own scare, which thankfully turned out to be no concern. Now I am back because the support here is unparalleled. Sorry this is long, I just need to get this off my chest.

My mom had breast cancer 26 years ago. She said it was "in situ" and she had a bilateral mastectomy. She was cancer free! Fast forward to a couple years ago. She noticed a small lump growing on her chest. The x-ray showed nothing concerning. Over the years, she noticed the mass growing. She thought it was scar tissue, a keloid. She has no other symptoms. Her dermatologist told my mom to go get checked out because it did not look like a keloid scar. That was last week.

Tuesday, I got the call from my dad. My world changed in that moment. They found spots on my mom's lungs in an X-ray. She got a CT scan, which also showed a small spot on her liver. The oncologist said her organs were mostly healthy looking. He said 90% of liver and lungs were tumor-free. Biopsy was Friday. Doctor called yesterday. He said it was breast cancer. He believes it was there all along but it was dormant. Something "woke it up". He told my parents that the cancer is slow growing. He said this was the best possible outcome. My parents said that he was very encouraging. Doctor said he knew many women with stage IV that have lived a long time after diagnosis.

Doctor prescribed my mom Arimidex to take daily for 6-8 weeks. He said her treatment had a 80-90% success rate. He said it will stop the growth and possibly shrink the tumors! No chemo or radiation. She has a PET scan Friday AM and then a follow up with the oncologist Friday PM. I am scared they will find more tumors on other organs. I understand it is stage IV. I just pray since there are small tumors on lungs and liver, that that's as far as it's gotten.

Other than the horrible news, the worst part of this was seeing my mom change. She has always been so strong, a very tough woman. I go to her for everything. She is my support. She was shaking so hard when we first found out. She slept the majority of each day. After the doctor called them with the news, my mom has been her usual self again. She has hope again. That gives me hope.