First off if i were her i'd get a second opinion and a new dr with a Heart!! In 2008,i had a total knee replacement,3 months later when i went for my final check up with my ortho dr i had found out a few weeks before that i had breast cancer.WTF within 3 mos 2 major surgeries. Anyway when i was at the ortho dr's he said to me,are you ok,you don't seem like your jolly self,at which point i lost it and started crying.When he asked what was wrong i told him of the diagnosis.He said,honey don't worry too much,they've come a long way from where they were 20 years ago,and i'm sure you'll be fine. After his exam and a clean super bill of health from him for my knee,he hugged me and told me he'd keep me in prayer.I thanked him and felt so much better when i left there. A compassionate and caring dr is what your friend needs as well. I also agree with all of what has been said by the op's. For me the first day i found out,i knew before they told me,that i had cancer.I had had many mammos and a few biopsies before,but this one seemed different,like it was taking too long,IMHO,and they were taking too many samples.I started crying while they were still doing the biopsy,and cried all the way home and for over 4 hours after i got home.Poor DH didn't know what to do.He called one of my sisters in N.Y. state and told her and asked her to tell everyone else that needed to know ,other sisters.He told them i didn't want to talk to anyone then ,but would call when i was up to it. Everything progressed sooooo fast that it seemed sureal.DH went out and got me a small tape recorder,that one of my dr's suggested,as they said,you're going to hear so much info in the next few weeks that you'll never be able to retain it.When i went to see the surgeon,my #1 son,DIL,Dh and that recorder went with me.Less than 2 weeks from diagnosis i was in the hospital being prepped for surgery.There were a lot of folks all over the world praying for me,my family and my medical staff.I told the dr's on the way to surgery that they were being prayed for by many people,they thanked me and said they had said their prayers as well.I had a great team from start to finish. Tomorrow i go for blood work,then sometime this week i'm supposed to have a cat scan,(must call about that tomorrow,then after that's done i go see the oncologist. I have been getting check ups every 3 mos,but this one he set for 4 months,so we'll see how it goes,i'm believing all thigs good. I hope your friend gets a 2nd opinion and quicker appointments for whatever she has to do. She may not feel like talking to anyone when she first gets home from the hospital,or from chemo appts if that's the route she has to take.So tell her if she doesn't feel like talking that she can tell you and you won't be offended. These procedures take the winds out of your sails.Best of luck to all of you,will add you all to my prayer list. Take care,God Bless kathi

Gourmet, not, but something for a different sweet. This was popular "way back when" in the full sugar, etc. version. Sugar Free Pumpkin Eclair Cake 1 can pureed pumpkin (not prepared pie filling) 1/2 cup canned fat free evaporated milk 1/2 cup skim milk 2 small packages sugar free, fat free instant vanilla pudding 1 and 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1-8 oz. carton thawed sugar free whipped topping graham crackers Line an 11x7 dish with a layer of graham crackers. Mix pumpkin, milks, pudding mixes, and spices until smooth and slightly thick. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread half this mixture on top of the graham crakers. Top with another layer of graham crackers. Top with the other half of the mixture. Chill over night. When ready to serve, spread with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle lightly with crushed graham cracker crumbs, or pecans, or additional pumpking pie spice. I think some crushed ginger snaps might be a good topping. This could be doubled and do very nicely in a 9x13 dish or pan.

My Aunt Lil was famous for her elegant cooking. She died of cancer when I was a little girl. Here, in her memory, is one of our favorites of her recipes, very 1950s but still delicious. My mom gave me the recipe card in Aunt Lil's handwriting. She had written "EXCELLENT" at the top, and we agree. Good luck with your cookbook! Susan in Columbus (Ohio) Aunt LilÂs Chicken Cantonese 1 fryer-broiler chicken  disjointed, slightly salted 1/3 cup cornstarch 1 ½ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons paprika ¼ cup cooking oil 1 #2 can [20 oz.] pineapple chunks (drained - reserve sirup) 1 cup sliced diagonally celery 1 medium-size green pepper (cleaned & white membrane removed) cut into thin strips 2 Tablespoons brown sugar 2 ½ Tablespoons soy sauce 3 cups hot cooked rice 1. Coat chicken pieces with a mixture of the cornstarch, salt & paprika. Reserve 1 Tablespoon of the cornstarch mixture. 2. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken, skin side down, in skillet. Turn pieces as necessary. When lightly browned remove & place in roaster. Bake, uncovered, at 325° until almost fork Âtender. [40-45 min.] 3. Add pineapple, celery, and green pepper, slipping them under the chicken. Cover and put back in oven for 15 minutes. 4. Mix together the reserved 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch mixture, ¼ cup reserved pineapple sirup, the brown sugar, and soy sauce. Pour over chicken & cover; continue baking another 20 minutes. 5. *Lightly toss the hot cooked rice with 1/3 cup dark seedless raisins & ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts. Serve with rice on bottom of platter, then chicken. *Raisins and nuts optional

Carol: Some doctors mistake phytoestrogen (God-made & natural) with chemical estrogen (man-made). My Swedish mother-in-law grew up drinking tons of cow-milk (zero flax, zero soy), and had a mastectomy at 40 year old. No history of breast-cancer in my family of 9 girls (I'm the youngest girl), nor in my Mom nor Dad's side ... we eat tons of soy-products in Vietnam & zero cow milk. I got curious about phytoestrogen (occur naturally in plants) versus chemical hormones added to cow milk .. found this article from Cornell University: "A diet rich in phytoestrogens has been proposed as a way to decrease breast cancer risk. Some, but not all studies show that women with a diet high in phytoestrogens, including vegans (who eat no animal foods) and women who eat diets high in soy products, have lower rates of breast cancer. Why is this so? Most phytoestrogens are not stored in the body, but are quickly broken down. Phytoestrogens are weak estrogens, and may prevent stronger human estrogens from binding to the estrogen receptor. If the weaker estrogens bind to the receptor instead of the stronger ones, there may be less breast cell division. Women with diets rich in phytoestrogens also excrete more estrogens into their urine, and have lower blood estrogen levels. Some studies have shown that women with a diet rich in phytoestrogens have longer, and hence fewer, menstrual cycles. All of these factors may contribute to reduced breast cancer risk." http://www.envirocancer.cornell.edu/FactSheet/General/fs10.estrogen.cfm Below excerpt is from Oncology nutrition - Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics " Animal studies have shown that both flaxseed oil and lignans can reduce breast tumor growth and spread, even for ER- cancer cells. This result suggests that flaxseeds may have anti-cancer benefits that are unrelated to any type of effect on estrogen or estrogen metabolism." https://www.oncologynutrition.org/erfc/hot-topics/flaxseeds-and-breast-cancer/ Phytoestrogen is DIFFERENT from chemical hormones injected into cow to make them produce milk longer. An excerpt from below link: "new study out of Harvard University showing that pasteurized milk product from factory farms is linked to causing hormone-dependent cancers. It turns out that the concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) model of raising cows on factory farms churns out milk with dangerously high levels of estrone sulfate, an estrogen compound linked to testicular, prostate, and breast cancers. Dr. Ganmaa Davaasambuu, Ph.D., and her colleagues specifically identified "milk from modern dairy farms" as the culprit, referring to large-scale confinement operations where cows are milked 300 days of the year, including while they are pregnant. Compared to raw milk from her native Mongolia, which is extracted only during the first six months after cows have already given birth, pasteurized factory milk was found to contain up to 33 times more estrone sulfate. http://www.naturalnews.com/035081_pasteurized_milk_cancer_dairy.html#ixzz3uj5y7wGc Havard-trained doctor Andrew Weil, M.D. stated "Among women, milk consumption has been associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer in both the Nurses' Health Study and in a 2005 study from Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Organic milk is better in many respects than conventional milk but still may be full of natural hormones. My advice: cut down on dairy products. Substitute soy milk for cow's milk when possible. Andrew Weil, M.D." From Physicians committee for responsible medicine "In international and interregional correlational studies, dairy product consumption has been consistently associated with prostate cancer mortality.3-7 The largest and most recent of these, based on World Health Organization mortality figures for 1985-1989 from 59 countries and United Nations food balance data for 1979-1981, reported a strong correlation between per capita milk consumption and prostate cancer mortality (r = 0.78, P<0.0001).7 A more geographically restricted study, conducted in 20 Italian regions, found a similar correlation between prostate cancer mortality and milk consumption (r = 0.75, P <0.01).6 http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/milk-consumption-and-prostate-cancer *** From Straw: Agree with all the above researches, I gave flax oil to my kid to improve her eczema (skin-rash). I'm taking flax oil & flax seeds to improve my skin-rash. I develop an allergic reaction to the new batch of fish-oil (really stinky) .. and I still need Omega-3 for my dry-hands.