Chris, my supervisor, buried his brother yesterday after a battle with cancer that lasted over a year. Chris was the medical decision maker, I think, so he's been coping with things with more immediacy than you'd expect for an adult sibling's care.
Mike, who I've worked with both at USGS and earlier at the Georgia Geologic Survey (so, approaching 30 years, off and on), is dealing with his father's liver cancer--hospice care at this point, and he's no longer conscious so it won't be long. Mike and I particularly traded details, like local subacute care facilities, ICU delirium (his mother recovered from it after several weeks), and stuff like that.
So, we trade details, comment on the difficulty of making medical decisions, and (hopefully) share the load a little. Worthwhile use of that office time...
