[Vic]

Good Morning,

My friend's mother-in-law, 78, was just diagnosed with bc and a huge 9x11 cm tumor. She also has early Alzheimer's, but still has a love for life. My friend raised the following question:

"Is it possible to have a biopsy and Not know what kind of cancer? 3 months before surgery? Does this sound weird to you?"

Actually, some of her details are misleading to me, because she also added:

"oncologist told us that the biopsy sample was too small and so he wouldn't know what kind of cancer until the surgery which he thinks should happen in 3 months-mastectomy and then radiation and maybe chemo. In the meantime she is supposed to take an estrogen blocking drug that should shrink the tumor. This thing is huge! And how can you not know what type of cancer from a biopsy? Does this make any sense to you?"

I don't know how to advise her, because it seems like they know something about the estrogen factor of the tumor. Reading into it a bit, there are also family dynamics at play concerning her age, but this daughter-in-law says even with Alzheimer's, this woman has an extraordinary love of life.

"I think the oncologist saw alzheimers and said screw it. But...this woman my mother n law still has a love of life. I'm not sure how far to push this."

Your thoughts on this would be helpful so I can help her!

Thanks,

Vicki