Can She Beat This?

My mother-in-law has had some medical issues that prompted us to take her to the ER two weeks ago. She started off thinking she had a bladder infection but then other symptoms began to appear (of the female sort). The doctor in the ER scared the living daylights out of her and she walked out of there thinking the worst and planning her funeral. She was prompted to see her doctor asap with the possibility of her referring her to a specialist.
She has a good general physician who did not delay matters and mom was off to the specialist within two days. This doctor was also good and sent her for further tests the same day. On Friday we received notice that she was going to be meeting with the OBGYN specialist, her doctor and the oncologist yesterday morning. So yesterday was the waiting game. By the time I left work yesterday I was informed of the diagnosis. She has ovarian cancer.
The doctor gave her three options-leave it-have surgery and then possible chemo-have radical chemo and hope it shrinks it down. After laying it on the line and giving her the options he left the room so she could discuss things with the two of her children that accompanied her. Her first words were "I'm just going to leave it. What's the use." That was the initial shock.
The doctor came back in and announced that he is legally bound to give the options but highly recommended the surgery. Told her that although they sometimes don't know how far the cancer has spread until they open you up, he felt strongly that there was a very good chance that this could be nipped in the bud. She opted for the surgery which brought a sigh of relief from all of us.
So Doris has surgery on Monday. They'll be doing a total hysterectomy and taking lymph nodes from two areas. She'll be uncomfortable for a bit but probably not as uncomfortable as she has been for the past 6 months. The decision for chemo won't be made until 12 or so weeks after the surgery.
I had the dreaded duty of telling my husband and convincing him to be positive for his mother. We can cry at home, but in front of her we need to be strong and remain positive. She's been a fighter all her life but does tend to let the doom and gloom in at times. After stopping to see her last night I feel good that she opted for the surgery and is approaching it with a fighting attitude.