Well, 24 hrs later and it feels like days have passed.  Wincheng slept 4 hrs straight last night, which she really needed.   Her skin is peeling from her hands in huge chunks as a result of the radiation.  Mom and I have been giving her daily hand and feet massages with lots of lotion, so no dishpan hands for Wincheng.  Today she had less confusion, was more alert and had several bursts of conversation, so better on this front.   But her body just isn’t cooperating.  Her WBC is still very low and has not changed (0.2); her kidneys are removing more fluid (aided by the diuretic), but they need to do more tests and continue monitoring to ensure her kidneys are doing their other very important job of pulling out toxins.  Now they are monitoring her liver and hoping that the elevated bilirubin goes back down to normal levels.  Again, more tests, monitoring and waiting.  I can’t stand the waiting.  I know the monitoring is important to determine the next course of action, but all this waiting is torture!!!  Where’s the magic eight ball when you need it?  Wincheng did give me some wonderful smiles today, so I know my beautiful sister is still fighting and positive.  But of course she’s scared.  Who wouldn’t be?  This is so F’d up!!!  She looked at me with her big brown eyes and said through her oxygen mask, “this wasn’t supposed to be this hard”…broke my heart all over again…been broken since she was first diagnosed two years ago.  None of this was supposed to happen.   I see people in their 80’s chain smoking without a care in the world.  Why does Wincheng have to go through this?  Why does she have to suffer? Why, why why?!!!