dear all,

thank you so much for your replies. so much of this battle is fought in the dark, it seems, and it is very helpful to hear from others who know the territory.

my sister is currently getting her second round of chemo at the same hospital and we're still waiting to get her into "city of hope." it turned out that her oncologist was wrong in saying that she had not responded to chemo! we insisted and pushed for scans as the tumour had visibly gotten smaller, so between tuesday and friday, he changed his assessment 180 degrees.

i've ranted in another post about how frustrating and psychologically taxing this was, specifically so because it made us realize that what we do in advocating for my sister and how much we know about processes and protocols can make huge differences in how she's treated. i admit that i find this to be quite a heavy burden added on top of the sadness and pain we experience at seeing someone we love going through this ordeal. but enough venting.

ed, thank you for the info about the drugs. i've communicated that to my family in los angeles, and will follow up when i go there myself tomorrow.

be well.

gita