mother in law diagnosed this week need help/advice

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lmyamen
lmyamen Member Posts: 3
edited November 2018 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

So this has been a big shock to our family. My mother in law who is extremely healthy and no family history went in for a lump she felt in the shower. Biopsy came back as stage 1 IDC. She has a MRI scheduled tomorrow. We found out monday the results of the biopsy and tuesday she met with the surgeon. She has from what i know so far IDC stage 1, from what we have been told it is not in the lymph nodes and the doctor said her nodes felt good during the examination. She was told she will be going through 6 months of chemo, and the treatment would be once a week on mondays.

I am still a bit in shock and not sure what questions we should be asking or what info I should be finding out? Is that pretty standard to do weekly chemo for 6 months or does that seem excessive? Is it possible that she won't have to be on chemo that long if the cancer is receptive to the treatment? From what i am reading this type of cancer can have a fairly good prognosis??

On the flip side i want to know what we can do to make this process easier on her. My wife (her daughter) is pregnant with our first child and I am wanting to try and help keep everyone's spirits up but it is hard right now. Any advice on how to help everyone remain positive and on how to be the most helpful we can through out this process? I have never had to go through anything like this and I am a bit lost on what to do or what information we should be finding out... Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated.

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited November 2018

    Hi and welcome to BCO!

    Does your mother-in-law know the hormone receptor status of her tumor? That (among other things) tends to shape the chemo decisions. Stage 1 does have an excellent prognosis, but treatment depends on the receptor status. And staging isn't finalized until after surgery.

    Has she met with an oncologist? The oncologist is the one who decides the chemotherapy regimen while the surgeon decides what type of surgery to do. And then the radiation oncologist if radiation is needed. They do work together as a team though.

    I recommend she start with trying to find that information if she doesn't already know it. And if she has access to a "nurse navigator" through wherever she is getting treatment--that's an excellent person to reach out to. They are very helpful if she has one and will help guide you through the entire process.

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  • Lucyred
    Lucyred Member Posts: 64
    edited November 2018

    I was dx a year ago as triple negative IDC stage 3. I had 16 total chemo treatments, the first 4 were a cocktail of AC (one every two weeks) then I had 12 weekly treatments of taxol. The triple negative is an aggressive form of cancer, she definitely need get her hormone status. After the chemo, I did have a double mastectomy and just recently finished up 16 radiation treatments.

    I agree with gb2115, her stage 1 is good, hopefully she is not triple negative and will response well to the chemo.

    My only recommendation at this point for you is to be there with your mom. Make sure someone is with her at all her appointments to ask questions and take notes.


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  • lmyamen
    lmyamen Member Posts: 3
    edited November 2018

    thank you both for your fast responses. She is meeting with her oncologist tomorrow morning so I will know more after that visit. My wife and my mother in laws husband will be going with her tomorrow. My wife will take notes and bring along some of the questions i am gathering like what the hormone receptor status is.


    This is all very new and I am trying to research and educate my self as much as possible. Thank you for the help so far

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited November 2018

    Hi Imyamen, and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

    We're so very sorry to hear of you MIL's diagnosis, but we're really glad you've found us. As you can already see, our Community is an amazing space to get advice, answers and support from those who have been there.

    In addition to the great advice from the members who have posted, you may find it helpful to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's section on Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis, which will explain what each piece of your MIL's tumor pathology means for treatment. There's also a great page on Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Your Diagnosis and also Talking to Your Doctor About Chemotherapy.

    In addition, if you're looking to talk with others who have a loved one facing a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, you may want to join the discussion board forum For Caregivers, Family, Friends and Supporters.

    We hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you soon!

    --The Mods

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  • lmyamen
    lmyamen Member Posts: 3
    edited November 2018

    So I am getting the results as they come back in, she is stage 3 and triple negative, the HER2 came back as negative. So it is more aggressive than we were hoping. The doctor said 6 months chemo followed by a lumpectomy and possibly radiation. I was hoping for better news this morning.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited November 2018

    There are some triple negative threads here that will be very helpful to your mother-in-law and your family. Good luck to her.

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