My mother was three months ago diagnosed with Breast cancer. Should she have surgery?

My mom had a right radical mastectomy at 80 y/o. She had no problems afterward. She was followed by her oncologist/surgeon for maybe 2 years after and took chemotherapy by mouth. She stopped going for follow up after about 3 years and lived to be 89.

I say discuss what stage her cancer is with her care team and if it has metastasized anywhere else. Breast cancer in elderly women is fed by estrogen which they don’t produce anymore. You may be pleasantly surprised. My mom had high BP, heart disease, and high cholesterol well controlled with medication. She had the surgery and came home with a Jackson-Pratt drain (looks like a depressed bulb that provides suction for wound drainage). She had me as a RN to take care of that and a dressing change when needed.

My mother made it through her surgery very well. Don’t write off the surgery until your mother and you get all her specific information.

Good luck to you and your mother!

Maybe discuss palliative care with your mother's doctor. She can probably qualify for it now and this would mean visiting nurses would come to the house and help with getting her things that she may need in the future like a hospital bed and pain management. You are right not to put her through surgery or any other invasive treatment for her condition. Not at her age and with a past history of strokes too. You're doing the right thing. Talk to the doctor about getting some palliative homecare in place.

You need to find out if this cancer has already spread. You can have surgery so that the cancer doesn't ulcerate in some way, but refuse, if you are POA for health, any chemo, radiation, etc. You can say that you feel Mom is ready for palliative care only, not working toward cure, but toward end of life comfort with hospice being the last stage.
I am an RN all my life and had breast cancer 33 years ago. For the last decade (I am 78) I have not even done mammograms, just self exam, and I do have in writing and understood by my family that I would not take treatment any more for any cancer other than one obstructing say an airway, a bowel. That I would take palliative care and "the good drugs" for my final exit. California in fact now has right to die laws if death is imminent in 6 months or less.
Ask for a Palliative care consult and ask for staging information. If this is stage IV cancer, then death is a certainty, from it if not from something else before it.
And yes, there is almost always discomfort at end of life from something. Hospice means you accept death is coming, and you choose the good drugs to keep pain at bay, even if they hasten that death.

Also - don't answer if you prefer not to - what country are you in?

I don't know, but I think it probably depends on what stage and what size the cancer has reached, and also on where exactly it is. Before you decide against the doctor's advice, you had better find out how your mother's cancer is likely to develop. Pain is not the only issue.

Your mother's doctor ought also to have explained to you exactly what surgery he is proposing. It may be that the surgery is essential to her comfort, rather than aimed at a cure.

How aggressive is this cancer? Many breast cancers are hormonally fed, which makes them significantly less dangerous as you get older.
Who is recommending surgery? A general rule of thumb is a surgeon will almost always recommend surgery. My BIL just underwent radiation therapy for prostate cancer. When he was going to the various doctors before treatment, to get opinions on a treatment plan, the surgeon recommended surgery, but all the research showed he would achieve the same results with just radiation.
You can always seek a second opinion. You might find there are other more "doable" choices than just surgery or nothing.

Awww, poor lady.

No, I would not put her thru this. I don't know how the doctor thinks she is going to do rehab and all the post op stuff. I agree, you mayvwant to get Hospice in for comfort care. They will take care of any pain she will have. My Mom got tired of being poked and prodded.

Have you asked about whether she is eligible for Hospice or palliative care services?