She will know after a bone scan if the cancer has progressed beyond the tumors that were removed from her scar. Since her surgery her lymphedema has become much worse. What suggestions do you have for this condition. She is having therapy and wraps her arm nightly. I will let you know what the course of therapy is after the bone scan.
Bone is just one of the common places to which breast cancer prefers to spread.
Lung, brain, liver, etc., are more common than bone. If I were her, I would become a sudden student of effective alternatives whether or not cancer is found on the scan. So far as the lymphedema is concerned. It is likely that the surgery is not the only cause of its worsening. Tumor cells would clog up the lymph channels too.