The stages have to do with how the cancer has spread. In general, Stage 1 is at the beginning, when the cancer area is still well defined, and the cancer has not broken into the rest of the organ affected or into the outside body. If found at Stage 1, or even a bit later, cancer can often be treated by surgery and other treatments. Stage 4 is usually the most serious stage, when the cancer is not well defined and has spread outside the original organ affected. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.

Potato soup, chicken and dumplings, PA Dutch Chicken Corn Soup, Barley Vegetable Soup, a chicken and dressing casserole, rice pudding, tapioca pudding, corn pudding, apple crisp, baked custard, and any favorite creamy casserole, potato, or rice dish. I think I would stay away from tomato sauces, citrus fruits, and anything acidic like marinated vegetable salads until you can ask her opinion on those. Barley Vegetable Soup 3/4 cup pearl barley 3 cups chicken stock Put in a pot, bring to a boil and simmer 1 hr. until liquid is absorbed. 3 TB butter 1 cup fine diced onion 1 cup fine diced carrot 1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery 8 cups chicken broth or stock Cook vegetables gently in butter 5 minutes or until soft. Add the chicken broth and simmer 30 min. Add the barley and simmer 5 more min. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls - garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped parsley if desired. I sometimes add 1 can of cr. mushroom or cr. celery soup to this recipe to make it a cream version. Honey Custard - from Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine 3 eggs 1/2 cup honey dash salt 2 3/4 cup milk 1/2 t. lemon extract 1/2 t. grated orange or lemon rind nutmeg Beat eggs well in a large bowl. Add honey and salt, beating well. Add milk and mix well. Add extract and rind. Pour into 5 or 6 greased custard cups or a 1 1/2 qt. casserole. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. Bake in a water bath for 45 minutes at 350 F. Basic Cup Custard serves 4 2 cups milk 4 TB honey or 1/4 cup sugar 2 eggs or 4 egg yolks 1/2 t. vanilla nutmeg grated on top Blend all except nutmeg. Pour into 4 greased custard cups. Set cups in a pan of water and bake at 350 F for 30 min. Chicken Corn Soup Submitted By: Teresa Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes Ready In: 2 Hours Servings: 12 "Rivals (a crumb-sized egg noodle) and hard boiled eggs complete this Pennsylvania Dutch recipe for chicken soup with celery and corn fresh off the cob." Ingredients: 1 (4 pound) chicken 1 onion, chopped 4 quarts water 1 (10 ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn or fresh corn cut from the cob 1/2 cup chopped celery salt and pepper to taste Rivels 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 pinch salt 1 egg 1/4 cup milk 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped Directions: 1. In a large stock pot cover chicken and onion with water. Cook slowly until tender, approximately 1 hour. Remove chicken, let cool and remove meat from bones. Cut meat into 1 inch pieces, discard skin and bones. 2. Cut corn from cobs if using fresh corn. 3. Add corn, cut up chicken, celery to stock pot and season with salt and pepper. Simmer soup for 10 minutes. 4. In a separate bowl make rivels by mixing together flour, salt, egg, and enough milk to form small crumbs. 5. Drop rivels into soup and add hard boiled eggs. Simmer for 15 minutes and serve hot. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/16/2009

It's amazing how reliant so many of us get on these things! Yes I have a new one and getting it organized a bit. I haven't buried my old friend yet. I'm going to see if a heart transplant can bring life back. Been wanting a second one anyway. I have plenty of machines around I could get a desktop put together but the notebook is so much more convenient. The worst part is how it happened two days before I needed to head out of town for a picnic. And of course all planning, checklists, etc, were in there! So my memory got tested. But I survived it and had a good time. Used some of the time at the motel to download some of the huge files too. 135mb just for Windows updates. Then of course antivirus, spyware programs, etc. Thanks all for the kind words. But the reminder for building a "naughty chair" is in the old computer so it'll be a while before that'll happen! ;) I'm getting some thunder here so I suppose I'd better log off. Don't need the new one to get zapped.

My husband passed and I immediately called my friends and asked for help. They picked me up the next day and went with me to make all arrangements having done the same themselves a few months before. I don't know how close you are. Does she have friends & family around who can help her get through the next week, going to the funeral home with her, making arrangements? Did she call you or did somebody else tell you about it? A friend lost an adult child last year. She called me so I knew that it was OK to step up to the plate. I immediately went to her house and made all the phone calls, checking prices and talking with her about it. She couldn't handle it alone. Is there somebody to do that for your friend? If she has somebody helping her with those things you can either ask that person, or just wait until after the service and visit and talk to her and her children. Next thing, buy her some healthy frozen dishes, preferably home made, for her freezer. Some Shepherd's pies or quiches for example. No matter what you do, I think the worst time is the months afterwards. When you offer to help make a suggestion -- drive the kids to their grandmother? Bring a dinner? I'm really tired myself tonight. I'll think about it.