Eric,

Sorry to hear about your sister. If I had one wish this Christmas, it would be: that you infect readers and posters needing the same attitude you have towards life, considering the situations you've faced.

You, as well as others, certainly exemplify Commandment #'s 6 to 8, of "The Ten Commandments for Cancer Survival":

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6. Thou shalt be a comfort to thy fellow-cancerites, providing knowledge, encouragement, understanding and love. You shalt give them hope where there may be none, for only in hope lies their salvation. And by doing so, thou providest comfort for thyself, as well.

7. Thou shalt never relinquish hope, no matter how thou may feelest at that moment, for thou knowest, in the deep recesses of thy heart, that thy discouragement is but fleeting and that a better day awaits thee, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after tomorrow - but certainly it shall come.

8. Thou shalt not regard thy ailment as the sum total of thy life but as merely a part of it. Fill your life with other diversions, be they mundane, daring, altruistic, or merely amusing. To fill your life with your ailment is to surrender to it.
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Jojo