Hey, Robin, I'm in Colorado too. I don't know where your sister is being treated at, but I do know when I started with the cancer center I received treatment at, the doctor mentioned that they often take on cases where people have no insurance.

It doesn't make sense to me that the doctors haven't convinced her to give up smoking. I don't even know how anyone can get through radiation or chemo and continue to smoke. From personal experience, I was so ill from the treatments that it was the furthest thing from my mind.

As for heavy lifting. In my own case, since they put the PEG tube in six months ago, I can't lift much at all.

Depending on what your sister is going to need for treatment, she might experience fatigue, weight loss and all the other things many of us have gone through. Everybody tolerates these individually. I was amazed when my radiation doctor told me about a patient of his that never had a lack of appetite and was still eating hamburgers all the way through it. Totally blew me away when I was at the point that I couldn't seem to keep anything down.

Jen