Lynette used to be a high-powered advertising executive but now her husband Tom travels almost all the time and her ADHD afflicted boys and infant daughter are driving her crazy. It is as though she took a new job she thought she would love, and now she desperately misses her old one, but she is so driven that she tries to apply the same go-getter methods she used at work to being a mom. It doesn't always work. Worse, Tom seems to have no idea how harried she is. He's oblivious to her plight, and his cluelessness only fuels her frustration. Lynette is fearless and able to say it like it is. When the world's scariest stay-at-home mother, Maisy Gibbons, insists on a politically correct version of Little Red Riding Hood the impressionable Lynette gives Maisy a talking to, even offering to throw down outside. But Lynette, although a toughie, is also an intense overachiever, and in her frenzied attempt to get the costumes made on time, she winds up getting hooked on her sons' ADHD medication. The career woman who once had it all begins to unravel, realizing she's not cut out for the life she leads.Strung out and exhausted, she hallucinates that Mary Alice is offering her a revolver. When she finally calms down, she admits to Bree and Susan that she thinks she's a terrible mother. This admission itself only becomes more painful to Lynette when her friends confess that they, too, found motherhood challenging. For the first time Lynette realizes that no one has an easy time of motherhood, and she sobs to the girls, We should tell each other this stuff. Seeking a solution to their problems, Tom and Lynette hire a nanny, but she turns out to be a little bit too attractive to keep around. Then, when Tom is offered a lucrative promotion that entails him traveling for work even more, Lynette finds a way to ensure that the offer is retracted. Nostalgic for her old days on the career path, she is ambivalent and frustrated with the challenges of what is supposed to be a placid, ideal life.As she begins to see what's right for her family might not be right for her, Lynette displays mettle we haven't seen before. When Tom quits his job and decides to be a stay-at-home dad, Lynette is torn by her desire to return to work, and anxiety about leaving her kids. In the ending of season two, Lynette thinks that Tom is having an affair with a woman living far away. She follows Tom and sees them hug and kiss. Lynette then leaves Tom and takes the kids with her. Tom finds her after their son broke his arm from jumping off a balcony, and proves that he did not cheat, but instead has a daughter that he never knew about. Her name is Kayla and she is 11. He had a one night stand before he was with Lynette, with a woman named Nora Huntington, and Nora got pregnant.Not long after Lynette learned about Kayla, Nora moved with Kayla to Fairview to be closer to Tom. Nora's constant interfering in the Scavo's life pretty soon had Lynette desperately trying to find a way to get rid of her. Lynette forbade Nora from talking to Tom after catching her trying to move in on him. In response, Nora stopped by their house to tell them that she was moving to Mexico and was taking Kayla with her. Lynette and Tom then decided on taking Nora to court to get legal custody over Kayla. Later in the day, however, plans changed when both Nora and Lynette found themselves on the wrong end of a hostage situation in a supermarket. During this situation, the two got into an argument that caught the attention of Carolyn, the woman who was holding them hostage after trying to kill her own husband for having an affair. This resulted in Nora telling Carolyn that Lynette was trying to steal her child and Lynette countering in response telling her that Nora tried to steal her husband. This remark sent Carolyn over the edge, and she shot Nora. Whilst Nora was drawing her last few breaths, she asks Lynette to take good care of her daughter, Kayla. Nora's death sent Lynette into a rage, leading her to tell Carolyn that maybe she deserved to be cheated on. Carolyn drew her gun, aiming at Lynette to shoot her. Lynette's new neighbor Art Shephard threw a can at Carolyn's head while she was shooting, causing her to shoot Lynette in the arm instead of the chest. Carolyn was shot by another one of the hostages. In all, two are left dead (Carolyn and Nora) and two injured (Lynette and a supermarket employee). Afterwards, Lynette was hospitalized for her injuries.She is now struggling to get her stepdaughter to feel at home, though she overheard Kayla saying she would never love her. She was also upset when Kayla destroyed a doll given to Lynette by her mother, as a peace offering. Recently, Lynette decided to quit her job and work with Tom at their pizzeria and help celebrate with everyone when Ian and Susan announce they're getting married on the Pizzeria launch night. In My Husband, the Pig it's Lynette and Tom's ninth anniversary and Tom has planned to do something special and a big surprise. Lynette says she doesn't want a surprise and just wants to have an early night and a bath. Tom is quite upset by this but agrees with his wife's decision; he cancels the limo and carriage ride he had planned but the limo driver doesn't receive the message and picks Lynette up and calls Tom, who is now at a poker game with Ian, Orson, Mike and Carlos. The Limo driver tells him he dropped Lynette off two hours ago at the original destination. Tom rushes there and finds Lynette freezing cold in her dress. She gets into his car, & they celebrate their anniversary in a diner and drink to nine years, and Lynette tells Tom she's loved every minute. Afterwards she has a disagreement with Tom over the color of the uniform at their pizza place because orange means something bad is gonna happen . Indeed, Tom hurts his back and Lynette has to take care of the whole pizza place for at least 4 months. Meanwhile, Tom and Lynette's relationship continues to regress with the new manager, Rick, on the scene. He attempts to bring in new types of food and to change the menu at the pizza parlour. He cooks for Lynette's family at her home, and everyone seems to enjoy it, including the children (even though it contains spinach!) Despite Rick's cooking skills, Tom doesn't feel the need to change the menu. Lynette and Tom argue about this and despite Tom's decision, Lynette goes over his head and changes the menu. Kayla then finds a review of the pizzeria in the paper and reads to Tom the report on how they've become a much better place now they've changed the menu. Tom feels threatened and inferior by this. Lynette begins to have growing feelings for Rick and stays late at the restaurant every night. Tom and the kids come to the pizzeria to surprise her, where Kayla sees chemistry between Lynette and Rick. Kayla tells Tom she thinks Lynette likes Rick, and Tom suggests to Lynette he should come back to work and fire Rick, only to receive objections from Lynette. Tom becomes aware of the dangers of Lynette cheating. Scavo Pizzeria is robbed while Lynette's there. Lynette and Rick are stuck in the walk-in freezer, where they grow closer to each other. Later, while Tom, Lynette, Rick, and a security guard are looking through security tapes, Tom is unpleasantly shocked to find Lynette having dinner with Rick. Tom confronts Rick and tells him to quit working at the pizzeria because Tom and Lynette's marriage will survive. Lynette realizes that she's falling in love with Rick, so she has to fire him & and tells Tom that Rick quit his job to work somewhere else where they're offering him a better salary. Tom tells Lynette that he's coming back to work, as the doctor gave him permission. In her bathroom, Lynette quietly cries to herself because she misses Rick.Lynette and Tom's marriage continues to decline and Lynette doesn't speak to Tom for five days. In an attempt to rebuild their marriage, Tom gets his old college friend and marriage counselor to try and speak to them without Lynette knowing, but she clocks on to Tom's actions and becomes even more frustrated with him. With Tom's doctor informing him on his back recovery, Tom suggests to Lynette they have sex as it's the only way they can communicate unless they talk instead. Lynette agrees to sex and refuses to talk but becomes violent with Tom, straddling him, tearing off his shirt and kissing him roughly. She says I said I'd have sex, I didn't say I'd make love, as Tom gasps in pain. Then she begins to unbutton Tom's jeans, when he seizes her wrists, and asks why she's mad at him, and she reveals it's because he had lunch with Rick and because she had to fire him. Lynette then shoves Tom back onto the bed, hurting his back. Tom's back spasms and he moves suddenly causing Lynette to fall off the bed, banging her head on the side table. She goes to hospital for her injury and Tom finds out Lynette fell for Rick and misses him. The doctor performs a CAT scan on Lynette and finds swollen lymph nodes and suggests they do a biopsy, as it could be Lymphoma.In the season finale Getting Married Today, Lynette informs her sister Lucy during a telephone conversation that she has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and also informs her that they are having money troubles. Lucy, however, is unable to help as her husband Dave just lost his job and doesn't have the $10,000 to lend. To get the money they need, Tom arranges for Lynette's mother, Stella Wingfield, to lend them the money---much to Lynette's chagrin. It was explained that Stella is a breast cancer survivor and that they are not on the best of terms with one another because of Stella's actions and implies that they were mistreated as children (as well as that Lynette essentially raised her own two sisters because of Stella's ways). Lynette also blames her mother for driving away her beloved stepfather, Glen. At the end of the episode, after her mother learns about Rick from Kayla, Lynette realizes that she and Stella are going to have to learn to live with one another as she will need help to manage her family while undergoing chemotherapy treatments for the cancer.In the fourth season, Lynette is now bald due to her cancer and has resorted to wearing wigs. Lynette has opted not to tell her children, friends nor anyone except Tom and her mother that she has cancer. A woman from Parker's school pesters Lynette about getting decorations done for the Gala/Ball, which is Lynette's responsibility. After finally realizing that Lynette cannot handle the same responsibilities as a cancer-free parent and after being bothered about the gala enough, Lynette takes off her wig and explains that she has cancer and the woman says she'll ask someone else and walks away shocked. Bree, Susan and Gabrielle notice her bald head, so Lynette tells them about her cancer and all four of them decide to no longer keep secrets from each other. Katherine Mayfair, Bree, Susan, and Gabrielle run Lynette a lunch and Lynette tells them she kicked Tom out of her chemo sessions for being too emotional, and she asks if anyone would like to join her. Everyone but Gabrielle offers to do it, and Lynette confronts her about it later on. Gabrielle tells her that she doesen't like hospitals, but gives in and decides to go with Lynette. During the sessions, however, Gabrielle feels awkward and uncomfortable and is always trying to leave the room with excuses, however, Lynette asks her about it and Gabrielle tells her about her father dying from cancer and how she's scared of losing Lynette as well. Lynette promises her she won't.