ed,

you didn't say anything insensitive, truely. i think this is the time for us to be facing things as they are, and it's the reality of the disease which is harsh beyond anything. in her case, it's all happened so fast and the cancer and consequent treatments have been so drastic and gotten out of control so quickly that we haven't managed to catch our breath yet and work through things. it's been 8 months of non-stop crisis which seems to keep getting worse by the day in spite of our best efforts. all of this to say that i've benefited immensely from the support, information and feedback you and others have consistently provided. this has been my space for learning and thinking through stuff. so thank you sincerely for being there.

and yes, my sister is an american citizen. she's getting some form of disability pension because she had to stop working, but i'm not closely familiar with this end of things. i will communicate any suggestions to her and her family.

update: we had to postpone our meeting with the oncologist today cuz we haven't gotten all the info from USC yet. it seems like we're in for a waiting game in more than one way.

be well.

gita