Hello all,

my mother (73 yrs old), who lives in Europe, was diagnosed a few days ago
with stage IV breast cancer. The tumor in her left breast was rather large
(~8 cm). It has metastasized to the brain (cerebellum, about 3-4cm). My
mother had ignored the lump in her breast, apparently for years. The
symptoms that led to the brain tumor discovery included severe nausea,
vomiting, and imbalance. The attending physicians decided to do first a
gamma knife procedure to deal with the brain tumor; the procedure took place
4 days ago, and, at the moment, she seems to be slowly recovering from the
nausea that was attributed to the brain tumor.

No tests have been done yet to determine the tumor type
(estrogen-positive, -negative, etc), as best as I know. A series of scans of
the abdominal area were conducted, followed by a bone scan. There were 3
liver "cysts" that were seen in one of the scans (as I understand, the
differential diagnosis between tumors and cysts in the liver, based on
imaging alone, is rather hard).

I have read as much as I could the last few days and am familiar with the
odds. I was wondering if anyone could add comments to help me shape the
picture of things to come, in terms of possible avenues for treatment,
quality of life, and prognosis? I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
Loukas