what will happen to the breast cancer patient after chemotherapy but no surgery nor other treatment?

Question

my aunt had stage 3 breast cancer & undergone chemotherapy a year ago, after that she refused to have any further treatment including surgery & radiation. recently the whole breast is opened up with pus, whole breast upto the armpit is too hard. she refused to take any medication, actually she has psychiatric problem. she only let me change the dressing at home once a day. any idea what will happen next in such case?

Answer 1

If She refuses any treatment the cancer will get worse and eventually spread to other parts of her body.

Answer 2

Chemotherapy is first administered if the tumor is advanced like stage 3. After that, she would need to have surgery and get the maligned tumor out or get radiation therapy. Maybe your mom can talk to her doctor and find out what the treatment plan is for your aunt, since your aunt has a psychiatric problem. If her breast opened up with pus, it might be something totally different than cancer, like an infection. Get her some help.

Answer 3

My best wishes for your mother. When I went thru this (and yes I am a guy and we can get breast cancer as well) I went thru 4 rounds of chemo 1 every 2 weeks. It consisted of having 2 drugs flowing thru me in an IV (it took about 45 minutes a treatment) and getting a shot to boost back up the white blood count a day after (Neulasta is what was used in the shot). I actually had no nausea at all but everybody is different. I gradually lost most of my hair in the weeks that followed, it's not like it just fell out, usually I pulled most of it out with a comb a little at a time. I was a little tired after each session but again everyone is different. I have a port in so they didn't need to find a vein each time they just popped the iv into the port and the pain from the needles was minimal. Her hair will grow back (most of it haha) so she shouldn't worry about that. Just my advice is that your family/your mom just take things slow. DOn't overexert and expect too much to be done. It won't be like before when your mom played Superwoman and took care of the family. Now she will need help and those in your family should and hopefully will take up the slack.

Answer 4

I lost my wife after a 30 yr. marriage, because of breast cancer. She let the tumor go untreated for 1.5yrs. until her whole breast became enlarged, and by that time ,the cancer had spread all over her body. When it goes to the lymph glands it spreads very quickly through the body. She also refused treatment in the beginning, but we did alternative medicine using a chineese herbalist, one of thebest, in San Francisco, and he had her in remission for about 6 months, but then the cancer got worse, and we went the conventional way with chemo, hormone treatment, and radiation, and all of that finally to no avail, because she waited to long. At this point, in your aunt's life all you can do is make her as comfortable as possible, and be prepared to use the services of hospice. I am so sorry you have to deal with this, but sometimes it is just best to let things be. It is possible if they would have treated my wife, immediately, she may not have had the quality of life that she had until the cancer finally took her. God Bless.p.s.When the cancer spread all over my wife's body, she had immense pain, the cancer puts pressure on the bones and she had a fractured hip, fractured vertabrae, from the cancer. It got into her lungs, the liver was breaking down, the kidneys were starting to malfunction,she was hooked to a catheter, and was on almost 1000 mill. of oxy-contin, and many more pain meds, and she still had pain. God, I hate what cancer can do to the body.Also, in any case of cancer, if detected early, the first thing is to remove the tumor, then treat.

Answer 5

I wish people wouldn't post stuff here about how dietary supplements are the only way.

Having personally gone through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for Stage II breast cancer, I can assure you that chemo was the worst part of the entire ordeal. Your aunt's decision to not undergo any further treatment is her decision, unfortunately it is often a decision that is probably going to cause the remainder of her days on earth to be very uncomfortable, if not painful. Please seek hospice care for her.

Answer 6

i do admire people who refuse some or all cancer treatment. cancer treatment is very hard to go thru and alot of side effects after. i am also going thru stage 3 breast cancer. its been 2 years now. if i knew what i knew know, i would have never done the treatments.