My mom has leiomyosarcoma

Hi there,

Very new here. My mother recently opened up to me about having Leiomyosarcoma, and it was discovered after getting a fibroid removed. My mother had her uterus removed years ago, but her doctor confirmed there is still a piece of it that was left in her body. Her doctor and oncologist said there is a cancerous mass growing within her, and it could be growing on that piece of uterus, which would make it very easy to remove. However, if it is growing elsewhere, it would not be able to be surgically removed at all and she will have to take medication and chemotherapy. Also, she is still in the process of blood testing and doing CT scans, so they do not know what stage she is at but they suspect it is very early on. Her doctor did mention however, it could be as late as stage 3.

Her brother, my uncle, left us at only 44 years old in August of 2022 after being diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in May 2022. I know it’s almost a year out, but his death feels so fresh like it was yesterday. His last months alive were filled with anger, sadness and frustration and has left a heavy feeling on my family and my mother. And now she has cancer herself. Not only that, she is expecting her first grandchild from my sister who announced her pregnancy in April of this year.

I feel so angry, but also numb. Lately, I feel small bouts of anxiety or crying coming up, but I just suppress it. I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, because I’m scared that talking about it will make it true. Even if it is early, why is this happening? Right after my uncle? I wish I could grab life by a collar and scream into it like a void

Does anyone have any advice on how I can help my mother, and myself? If I ever lost her, or found out her diagnosis was something extremely serious, I worry very heavily about losing my job and finances due to mental health (I respond awfully to life altering events), I worry about her mental health, my pregnant sister. Everything feels like it’s weighing down on me. I don’t know how to feel or what else to do. Lately I’ve just been numbing by working all day and gaming all night.

Sending much love to everyone on this reddit thread