[sarah]

It's so hard.
Listening, doing something with the kids or with her if she's up to it.
helping with meals, errands.
if she's going to be in hospital, audio books are nice.
just being there. I agree with others, you can't pretend everything is going to be ok because you don't that but you can listen and do distracting things - going to the movies or whatever.
It all makes you so angry and at our last support group meeting a couple of people asked us "oldies" if big pharma was really interested in a cure or like heroin addicts, just want to keep us hooked. I used to answer that they wanted a cure but lately I'm not so confident and didn't know what to say so just said I hope there were some good scientists out there who wanted to find one.
Sometimes a cure seems close but then it evaporates. We just have to keep trying to find what will keep us alive. as a Norweigan friend said to me today (she's HER2+ with a recurrence), "being alive is just too much fun".
Stay strong and as our psychologist always says to us, put your oxygen mask on and then help your child or whomever, so make sure you are strong enough. You are obviously a caring person.
Hoping the very best for your friend and for you.
big hug
love sarah