Tell your mom this... No one can make her quit smoking most drs won't demand she give it up - but people who smoke through treatment have a much poorer outcome. When I was looking at the stats only 5 -10% of people who smoked during treatment were alive 5 years later. Why would she want to help her cancer? Struggling to beat this disease is hard enough without her working against herself. It also shows the drs. how far she's willing to go to fight - medical professions will do the standard treatment on all patients but human nature dictates this mentality - if I have a someone who ended up with cancer through no fault of their own, and someone with a history of smoking, who won't stop, who am I going to work harder for? no one wants to believe that drs are human and capable such judgement, but I've worked in hospitals and it happens.

Secondly - one of the best weapons against tumors is oxygen - many of our treatments use oxygen to make the tumor vulnerable - if she's smoking less oxygen will be available as the carbon monoxide produced by the smoke binds to the oxygen receptors in her blood therefore creating a hypoxic state. Most tumors love this.

The weight loss worries me. I'm sorry to say. My mom was a heavy smoker she complained a few months before her dx she was losing weight (without trying) her bum had disappeared. When I was in nursing school that was one of the first signs of cancer. The minute she said that to me cancer was the first thing that popped into my head. Usually at that point (unless she's having trouble eating) the cancer is pretty advanced. Cancer is a wasting disease - moreso in the later stages.

I truly hope this isn't the case. You said she's stage one - have they scanned her completely? Chest and head?

Best of luck