thanks, gary, for anticipating this post in your reply to my update about my sister!

she's experiencing a lot of anxiety. as her physical energy has gone up a little, her emotional state has gotten way worse. a large part of this has to do with the fact that the pain has increased in the surgery bed, and her doctor is not sure that chemo's been having the results he'd hoped for. we did a ct scan on friday and going for second opinion to usc/norris on wednesday. because of the long weekend, we don't have the scan reading yet, so things are in limbo and the uncertainty is quite taxing.

but even before this, she was swinging between depression and anxiety. i've talked to her oncologist and he'll arrange for a psychiatrist to visit my sister when she goes back to hospital this week for chemo. she's reluctant about the idea because she has previously had a difficult experience with psychothropic medications. so i'm not sure how open she might be to taking medication. add to this that she can't talk much to express herself and things get way more complex.

she's lost her motivation to do any of the stuff that kept her busy and up before. we're trying anything we can think of these days, but she doesn't even want her friends to visit her or take part in family activities she loved before. i've been trying to get her to view this board and read people's posts about their experiences and pulling through these times, but have had no success yet. she's generally withdrawn, and this is so out of character for her.

i'm really interested to know what other people's experiences have been with depression and anxiety while in treattment, and what strategies they might have adopted. i'm also wondering about any counter effects of chemo and psychothropic drugs.

good thougts, healing and peace.

gita