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sonofbears
sonofbears Member Posts: 1
edited February 2021 in Caring for Someone with Breast cancer

Hi everyone. I'm a little lost and could use some help. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this week. She has an appointment next week for a full body scan to see how far it has spread. Based on what i can find online and my experience treating animals (i am a vet tech, so obviously its not a one-to-one comparison....at the same time its hard to separate the experiences) it looks Pretty Bad. Im feeling totally lost. My mom has agreed to pursue chemo/hormone treatment/Western medical treatment if she doesn't see results in 90 days using alternative treatments (cold laser, cannabis, cutting out sugar) but i'm worried 90 days may be too long.

My dad was an amazing healer who used unusual methods, and we've always been a pretty hippie, crunchy granola type family ...but this really feels like something where we need to move solely on what's supported by research. I'm at a loss and would appreciate any input. Are my worries about the 90 day timeframe valid? Is there any support for alternative treatments that I've missed? What do you wish you/your loved ones had known going into this experience?

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited February 2021

    You'd need to provide more about her specific diagnosis for anyone to be really helpful. Size of tumor, er/pr status (hormonal or not), lymph node involvement, and why is she getting a full-body scan? That's usually for known lymph involvement or physical symptoms of spread.

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  • Caiti2067
    Caiti2067 Member Posts: 17
    edited February 2021

    I'm sorry about your mom's diagnosis. The evidence suggests your worries about a 90 wait for treatment are valid. You'll be getting a lot more information soon but I recommend looking for posts here on this site by a user named SantaBarbarian. She used standard treatment combined with an integrative approach and described some of the many complementary things you can take to support the standard treatment your mom's doctors recommend.

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited February 2021

    I've go lots of old daily weed smoking friends in their 50s and 60s. They get anddie of cancer too

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited February 2021

    Please do post the details of diagnosis - stage, size, ER/PR and HER2+ results. Some cancers are slow growing. Others like HER2+ need to be attacked before tomorrow.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited February 2021

    Dear sonofbears, We are very sorry for what you, your mom and the rest of your family are going through. As the others point out, it's important to understand the diagnosis fully (read here: Understanding your breast cancer diagnosis).

    If you mom permits, have her get the opinions of a traditional medical oncology team. Depending on what they say, maybe you could discuss with her a more integrative approach, that would combine traditional medicine, or aspects of it, with alternative and complementary. Complementary and Holistic Medicine. Please keep us posted, and know we're here to support you!

    The Mods

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited February 2021

    Caiti2067, I think it's really important to note that santabarbarian used an integrative approach. She did ALL the standard, research driven therapies, and also dealt with nutrition and exercise. It was not alternative medicines substituted for standard medicine.

    son, I am sorry your mom is dealing with this. Thank you for your efforts to help her. As others have said, we can do better pointing you in good directions if you can provide more info on her diagnosis.

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  • Caiti2067
    Caiti2067 Member Posts: 17
    edited February 2021

    MountainMia, I 100% agree and I tried to convey this with 'standard combined with' and 'complementary to support standard' etc. Sorry if I missed making that clear. I have read enough to understand that it's important to get medically recommended treatment where called for within the standards of care, even as someone with some hippie/crunchy upbringing myself. I dove enthusiastically into chemo when my onc told me why I needed it. I have some guilt because my mom wasn't given any information to encourage her to get treatment beyond a lumpectomy, and was misdiagnosed (TNBC metaplastic they initially called mucinous) so she got a recurrence in 2.5 yrs that likely could have been avoided. At the time I knew nothing and didn't do research for her and she's not a medicine fan, so I should have dug into it.

    Of course I also understand and respect people's right to refuse treatment as long as they have all the information about what the treatments are, how they work, what they're like to experience, how their prognosis may change with and without treatments, and what the risks are.

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  • wrenn
    wrenn Member Posts: 2,707
    edited February 2021

    Agreeing with all of the above.

    As an aside Caiti2067. Studies show that Metaplastic TNBC doesn't usually respond to chemo. I worried when I couldn't have chemo until I read that. Sorry your mom had a recurrence.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited February 2021

    Lots of good advice, but really, we need more information about the diagnosis to know how much risk there is in waiting and/or possibly forgoing traditional treatment. As MinusTwo said, some cancers are slow growing, but others are very aggressive. There is no "one size fits all" answer.

    I hope that sonofbears provides more information, or at least acknowledges the responses received so far.

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