breast cancer

[ellie1605]

My mother in law has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She is going in on Tuesday for a mastectomy on her left breast she is 69. She has to have all her lymph nodes removed. She found a lump behind her knee doc thought it was a varicous vein and referred her to vascular clinic,she went on Monday and was told it was not a varicous vein and there was some fluid there. She has to go for us popliteal fossa lt do you think this could be related to breast cancer. Also she is getting very forgetful and really mixed up.

[katarina777]

Dear ellie, your mother in law's mental decline could also be due to a totally unrelated cause like  Alzheimer's, or vascular condition, or even Depression, or a medication she is taking.

I would not worry about the cyst in her knee. Cysts are very common and when they are cysts they are not cancer.

Even the size of the tumor in her axilla may not be as bad, or even...I don't know. (The size of something is not usually what makes it dangerous)

Best to you and all, Katrin

[ellie1605]

She has been getting forgetful for the past year and a half. The doc said the lump under the arm showed a tumor and that he would be removing all the lymph nodes.The doc doing ultrasound on her knee said its a cyst and will have to be removed we are very worried.

[katarina777]

If she was becoming forgetful before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, that could very well be realted and maybe the bc has spread to her brain. If the 'confusion
started at the time she was diagnosed this may very well be related to anxiety.

Will  your mother in law have all her lymph nodes removed because they tested positive for cancer? because if some or many of them did there is a higher chance that some of her cancer has spread already past this lymph nodes, i.e. her knee.

Please understand that I am not making a diagnosis but just saying what could be, not what is.

I with your mother in law and the rest of the family the best of luck, Katrin