Mom, twice survivor of bc (23 years) passed away

hi there, I'm posting here to try to help. BC patient or not, stage I or IV, hold on to life. Fight and know you are strong. Here is my mom story who just passed away few hours ago of conditions completely unrelated to bc.

In 1993, she was first diagnosed with bc, i think it was stage I or II, can't recall because I was underage. But i do remember she had her breast removed and was placed on tamoxifen.

She was fine for the next 12 years, can you imagine?

In 2005, it came back again, this time it was tough and brutal, it was stage IV and it spread in her body. Her lungs was full of cancerous fluids.

But mom was tougher.

She had a minor surgery to drain those fluids and then was placed under chemo for about 6 months.

At that time she was old enough (60 years old), where she was already hypertensive and diabetic. And the chemo was really unbearable: infections, vomiting, nausea, and general fatigue. This made it difficult to fight but she did it. And did it strong.

Her doctor placed her on hormonal therapy (femara) for 5 years with appts every 3 months. This medicine was also tough on her legs but she remained strong.

After those five years ended, doctor asked to stop.

Now i'm no doctor and can never qualify this statement nor i can make it as an advice, but I felt that she should continue on femara, so we consulted her doctor and pressured him to continue her treatment, I have to owe it to him and our national healthcare system that makes such decisions easy, so he agreed and she continued for another 5 years up until 2016 when during normal checkup, one of her cancer tests showed abnormal activity (CA something). At this point the doctor suggested she changes back to tamoxifen.

It was difficult to accept, why change after 10 good years? We took the risk. And things went back to normal.

Now in 2016, she had a major hip fracture and had to go through a major hip replacement surgery. This was really another tough year. She was old enough now (70 years) to go through such a hussle: major surgery, recovery time, then a lengthy physical therapy process to regain her walking ability. But as you expect, she was tougher.

She gradually recovered up until two months ago when she developed heart problems that got worsened up until today when she passed away due to heart failure, luckily she didn't struggle, it was almost peaceful.

Now I'm writing this because exactly 11 years ago i posted here celebrating the end of her chemo. I would've shared the post but for some reason I couldn't retrieve it.

Also, I firmly believe that her strength and deep desire to live had a great impact in being a double survivor. Now I have no doubt that luck was a factor, but luck alone wouldn't have made it for her. You can imagine the amount of tears, fear, and pain those 24 years had.

I hope you will find in her story hope and a push to hang in and remain strong and positive despite all the fear and tears.

PS: forget the poor articulation, I'm finding it difficult to arrange my ideas with the shocking news, I just hope to create a small moment of support.

Wish you all the best.