My sister was diagnosed with Stage 2 Invasive Ductile Breast Cancer approximately two weeks ago (it seems like a blur so I cannot remember the exact date she called up and she she had just found out). She just found out she has Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which means a long course of chemotherapy with treatments of radiation.

What I need to know is how do I help (or organize/resolve) the practical day to day and monthly issues that a homeowner and head of household has to deal with? I know she's already thinking about this and I am too but what do we need...supply wise to wage war.

My sister is a worrier/planner (I'm the problem-solver/organizer). She's someone who wakes up in the middle of the night to check on how much laundry detergent she has left or how much toilet paper is stockpiled in the closet. She wakes up to make grocery lists and lists of things that need to be done around the house. What I want to do is get a jump on these things so that at least those concerns can be off her mind and she can just recover and beat this thing.

I'm already looking for resources to help her make her mortgage payments while she is off work. We're looking at breast cancer support groups close to her home. Everyone in my family who is in California is gearing up to assist with getting my sister to and from medical appointments and taking her out to run errands. But we're trying to prepare for the expected year long chemotherapy and radiation therapy she's supposed to have.

So I'm trying to think of everything that we can stockpile so that financially I can assist in keeping her household up and running and take the financial burden/worry off her. I've got my nephews (her kids) going through they're home and taking inventory of what's there now - how much toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, soap, deodorant, menstrual supplies for her, dog and cat food, cat litter and things of that nature. Then their going to make lists along with their mom of food staples that can be stocked up so that if money gets super tight they can all still eat nutritious meals, take showers and have clean clothes etc. We're going to purchase an upright freezer for the garage to replace the horizontal freezer she has. She cannot pick up anything out of the old freezer because it causes her too much pain, so were going to sell the old freezer and buy one where things can be easily reached. She uses the extra freezer to store frozen vegetables, milk, juice, meat etc. I am also going to add a pantry in her garage for other food staples that shouldn't be jammed in her pantry - canned goods, dried beans, kitchen staples.

I am obliviously going to support her emotionally, she really my closet relative and friend. And I will continue to support my nephews emotionally. But their are practical, financial things that have to be taken care of too so that their quality of life doesn't suffer while she fights - but I'm not sure I'm thinking of all of them.

She lives in Southern California while I live nearly 500 miles away in Northern California. I'm considering moving back to Southern California to be closer but since I don't have a BA I will take a serious pay cut by moving down there now without the degree. Plus she'd be a little pissed off if I dropped out of school to attend to her.

We've been through this sort of situation before; the first and second time my mom had to have brain surgery but my mom prepped things while my dad instituted her plans. Over and over again my family has gone through these serious medical issues with the most able person taking the lead in planning and resolving household issues while or before or even during the time that the person is recovering from whatever malady. Well, now my mom is dead, my dad is dead, my sister's husband is dead, my brothers are all emotionally detached because of our parents deaths and my mother and father's sisters and brothers are for the most party either very elderly and retired or distant. So all that said it's my turn to make sure my sister and her kids are taken care of during this battle.

Uggh, my brain is running a million lists of things to do at one time but I want to get started and devy the tasks among various family members before anything happens so that we can all focus on giving her the support and love she needs and the peace of mind she needs.

Today, for the first time since she was diagnosed she actually laughed. She and my 78 year old aunt had gone to the surgeon who will be removing the tumor and doing the mastectomy. The doctor said that she may want to postpone the breast reconstruction until after the radiation therapy because the radiation will adversely affect her skin and her ability to heal post-op. Then he asked if she was aware that her breast reconstruction was going to automatically include the unaffected breast too (their going to reduce and lift the other breast when they reconstruct the infected breast). She knew that already because we figured that the surgeon wouldn't want to leave her extremely loop-sided with one small normal human sized breast (a B or C cup) and one E cup breast. My aunt who was with her said to the doctor "Of course you cannot leaving her loop-sided and leaning. That's all we need is a leaning tower of Lisa." My sister (Lisa) told me this and I cracked up - that's my 78 year old aunt for you.

I told my sister that this was the goofiest way to go about getting the breast lift that she has always wanted. I said, "All this for smaller perky breasts. You'll be 50 and have the perky breasts you longed for at 20." My sister laughed so much so choked on her own spit. Then she said the only pisser was that she had just bought 4 or 5 new fancy bras in her 38 E size and there's no way she be able to wear them down to the wire with just one boobs. I told her we'd buy her a falsy til she's ready for the reconstruction surgery. She actually got off the phone in a good mood rather than the down in the dumps mood she'd been in for the past few weeks.

Oh yes - what preparations should we make for the long course of Chemotherapy she going to have? Some of the other survivors that my sister has met said she needs to buy loads of different air fresheners and keep them handy for when she starts to vomit. They've said that the smell of her vomit will sicken her worse than the smell of the air freshener. I know that cause she was a major vomiter during both of her pregnancies - anything that she smelled and didn't like made her vomit, then the smell of her own vomit made her vomit. Imagine the fun I had cleaning that up over and over again. My brother-in-law thought it was hilarious, she couldn't even watch food commercials while pregnant caused she heave.

But I know that chemo may cause her to develop mouth sores and other things so I'm trying to think of what to get for her so that she is somewhat comfortable. What can help her through chemo?