Hi Allison, I love gift baskets. On my webpage there are some I've made up for friends and family - I try to add a poem to make them more personal. Feel free to use any of the ideas you find there. For my son's birthday I'm making up a "Bottomless Pit basket" and filling it with his favorite junk foods, soft drinks and a toothbrush for after the pigout, and maybe a voucher for the video store. I also want to sew up on of his favorite shirts that he's outgrown (an idea I saw somewhere & can't remember where) & make it into a cushion for his bed - you turn shirt inside out and sew up bottom and arm holes, turn the right way in and stuff with toy filler using the neck opening. Then sew up neck and it's done. Sue :) Here is a link that might be useful: Sue's webpage

There is a shopping list for chemo on the breast cancer forum. I've put the link below. There are a lot of OTC pharmacy items on it. Maybe a gift card for a pharmacy would be nice. The chemo infusions can take a few hours. I pack snacks or lunch and my preferred drink. Carbonated drinks can be nice on an uncomfortable stomach. My treat is a Martinelli's sparkling cider. A little ice chest or insulated bag to take food to chemo might be nice for the gift basket - I use one of the soft sided ones. On days when my stomach feels uncomfortable and my sense of taste is off, chicken or beef soup is one of the few things that tastes good and goes down easily. But I don't know if the colon being involved puts any additional restrictions on what she can eat. The American Cancer Society has a class called Look Good Feel Better that teaches how to put on make-up including drawing on eyebrows. It is free and they provide a bag of make-up for your skin tone - cosmetic manufacturers donate the make-up and it is nice stuff. I'm not much of a make-up person but I took the class to have it in case I need to dress up for something during chemo. Someone could offer to drive her to and from that class. Only the chemo patients are to stay for the class so whoever drives should expect to bring a book or something to keep them busy for the two hours. American Cancer Society often also provides free wigs. Sometimes they have the wigs at the office. Around here, they provide a voucher and send you to a wig place. I haven't used that service because I prefer hats and scarves and also if I wanted a wig I don't need help to get it. They also often have hats or scarves. Here is a link that might be useful: Shopping list for chemo from breast cancer forum

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions. After all my hunting, I messaged my sister yesterday to get some input regarding how much 'goodies' she could withstand (she's recently lost some weight). She messaged me back that she thought we were sending each other gift cards which would be used to buy special celebration food items. Okay, I can go with that -much easier! But thank you -I've filed all of these away, and will most definitely be making use of them in the future.

Please excuse the hijack anitamo. Those who have been through this know. You "handle" it until something pushes a button, which anitamo's post evidently did for me, especially Pal's link to the soft caps as I was talking about that with my sister the other day. I so appreciate the support, ladies. I'm super private as I believe it's impolite really to burden others. Everyone has problems, tragedies and crises in the course of a lifetime -- no one needs anyone else's. I believe in sharing the happy stuff -- I put up 2 favorite recipes on a new thread mtn started. Both really delicious. I've always had a very high stress tolerance and have an ability to thread my way through chaos. But losing younger siblings is a killer even when you're not close. My next younger brother passed suddenly 4 years ago. Now my sister is sliding away. It's like standing on a large island that's your life/family history and watch huge chunks fall off. I don't mind it changing me. I always have been lucky and I'm blessed in so many ways in this life. But my sister has had much to overcome and not a great deal of happiness. The idea that she must go so early and with so much pain and disability seems really cruel. Enough. Thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers. Big hugs to you. I so appreciate the empathy and support. It really helps.