Hello Megvic98 and thanks for your post,

I am sorry to hear about your mother. I can understand that there is a lot of information to absorb. I will try and answer your questions in the order that you have written them.

I am not sure what the doctors meant when they described your mother as having stage 2/3 breast cancer and I think that it would be best to encourage your mother to speak to her surgeon or breast cancer nurse. Stage 2 breast cancer is divided in to 2A and 2B so this is what they may have been describing.

Everyone responds to chemotherapy in different ways. The chemotherapy nurses will explain the type of chemotherapy that your mother will have and the side effects that she may expect.  There is normally a combination of drugs that she will be given. Your mother will be given drugs to help control any nausea or sickness.

Before each cycle of treatment the nurse/ doctor will review the blood tests and ask your mother how she has coped with the previous cycle. It is important that your mother makes the doctors aware of how she got on with the treatment as they may be able to adjust the drugs and perhaps give her more anti sickness drugs to help control any symptoms.

I am not sure which chemotherapy drugs they will advise your mother to have. The doctors take in to account your mother's age and general health in deciding which drugs may be best. There is some information on our website about the type of chemotherapy that is used to treat breast cancer.

The best way to help your mother is to be around to help support her. If you are able to give her lifts to the hospital appointments I am sure that would be appreciated. It can also help to have a second set of ears listening to what the doctors and nurses have to say particularly for the first couple of treatments. Helping with any cooking, shopping and cleaning can also take a weight off your mother's shoulders.

You can also help your mother prepare for chemotherapy also called prehabilitation. 

The majority of the drugs that your mother will have do cause hair loss.

We have some information about hair loss on our website. In some centres they offer scalp cooling. A lot of patients find this quite uncomfortable but if this is something that your mother is interested in having, then do encourage her to talk to her team. 

Survival is a difficult thing to predict and is a question best answered by your mother's doctors. We do have some general information on our website about breast cancer survival

There is a lot of support that is available. If your mother's hospital is attached to a Maggie Centre then she may find it helpful to take part in some of their classes or the support that they offer. If she does not live near one then she can take part on some of the on line classes.

I do hope that some of these links may help. If you or your mother would like to talk any of this through with one of the helpline nurses then you are welcome to give us a ring. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

All the best,

Catherine