Your mother is weak, and you are saying it is “too late” for any treatment. which means she is terminal.
I hate to say it, but many doctors will call her breast cancer “treatable”. Keep in mind treatable is not curable. I think it is a trick word the physicians use to keep their pts coming back for more.
If your mother wants further treatment, by all means she should have it, but if she thinks she has had enough. She is terminal and she should stop treatment and end her life the way she feels most appropriate. Sometimes this is when hospice comes into the picture.
Chemotherapy is nof for the weak, sick and weary. You must be healthy enough to get it aside from the tumor growing in your body. Chemotherapy in itself kills.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but have been giving chemotherapy for 12 years and sometimes I am surprised people go thru with it, but they just all have hope. I am not the person to take that away from them.

While it may be “too late” to do anything for your mom, let me share our own story…

My mom’s been a cancer survivor for 7+ years. What makes her story somewhat unique, is that she chose to go the “alternative” route (with a focus on diet and nutrition), versus the “traditional” path of drugs, surgery and chemo. While everyone’s decision is personal, we felt obligated to share some of the details by making them publicly available [for download] through a “Health” folder I created at: One document worth looking it is entitled “Hitting Cancer With Everything We’ve Got”. Another one is on Oxidative Stress.
There is other information, as well…pertaining to high protein diets, high fat/low carb diets, building up the immune system, ideal blood tests, macular degeneration, diabetic neuropathy, free radicals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, synthetic vitamins vs whole food, etc. so please feel free to peruse.

“There is no gift you can give your mother which can repay the gift that your mother gave you.”

PS: If you have an interest in Prevention versus Treatment, send an e-mail to and request their free DVD on oxidative stress and it’s link to breast cancer. Dr. Delia Garcia explains how proper nutrition can reduce our risk while assisting in one’s [present] battle.

The signs of advanced cancer all depend on the organ affected and whether or not the tumor has spread. I just lost my mom to stomach cancer and her first sign was weight loss, which is common with digestive cancers. If the cancer involves the liver, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) is usually a symptom of the cancer being avanced.
As for chemo, even if it can’t cure the cancer, it can still help shrink the tumor and prolong life. But if you see her conditition is worsening more over time, I’d get her off chemo. My mom didn’t stop taking chemo till about 3 weeks before she died (only because she kept drifting in and out of consciousnesn) and she had virtually no quality of life. She wasn’t even able to move her arms and legs. Sure, the cancer causes this too, but I think she would have been much better off if we stopped the chemo months earlier.

My brother had stage 4 non-hodgkins lymphoma 3 years ago and did chemo and is now cancer- free. You just have to keep believing that miracles can happen

Terminal cancer is when the cancer has spread to bones, lymphactic system and major organs (aka Stage 4). It is very possible your mother-in-law has suspected something wasn’t right (felt a lump) quite a while ago and was afraid to find out that her suspicion might really be cancer. However, some forms of breast cancer are very aggressive. I had a normal mammogram in December 2004 (abosolutely no indication anything was amiss). 4 months later I had a 2cm tumor with 4 positive lymph nodes (Classified as Stage 2).

Whether chemo can save someone who is stage 4 depends a lot on the person and their age, if, as you say your mother-in-law is very weak already, chemo could be worse than doing nothing. (Taking chemo itself isn’t painful but the side effects are awful). However, Lance Armstrong beat it…..

Check out Dr. Susan Love’s website for some very good info on Breast Cancer and also the Lance Armstrong Foundation

check out healthboards.com
maybe you’ll find an answer there.
good luck, and I’ll pray for your mom.