Cancer...

... sucks. My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2008. She had a thoracotomy to remove part of her lung in January of 2009 shortly before her 66th birthday. She has serious side effects from the anesthesia and other medications they give her. We almost lost her. More than once. But, it wasn't her time, and she came through it and did her chemo with few side effects. Seemed like we beat this cancer.

She had a knee replacement (arthroplasty) in October of last year. Again, we almost lost her due to complications she developed post-surgery. Again, she pulled through, thankfully.

Now, she's been told the worst news a woman can hear: She has breast cancer. I don't know the severity of it yet, but she also feels like it has spread to the rest of her right lung as well, and she will be getting an MRI soon to determine what she's dealing with. We all know what surgery does to her body, and wonder if we will be lucky enough to have her survive another, if that is what the doctor wants to do. And Mom is adamant that she will not do radiation. Maybe chemo, but NOT radiation.

I've been doing some reading on the Internet, and I can see why she does not want to have this cancer treated. Surgery usually helps (except for her poor track record with side effects), but in more cases than not, chemo and radiation don't work and have such serious side effects that they don't actually prolong life. They reduce the quality of the life you have left. (Informative article I read.) I need to look into things further, and I want to accompany her when she goes to the oncologist and the surgeon (may not be the same person, but possibly will). My dad has been gone for almost six years now, and I don't want to lose my mother. Cancer sucks!