Hello, my name is Evelyn and I am the caregiver to my sister "Pretty Barbara" who is mentally retarded. She was diagnosed with esophageal cancer on December 1, 2006. Since that time she has lost 15 pounds. We have no way of really knowing how much pain she is in. Due to her mental capacity, along with other health problems, our family opted to not put her through surgery. Due to the fact that she really can't tell us how much pain she is in we really don't know how to medicate her. We grind her food up very fine, some days she eats, and some she doesn't. Can anyone share with me anything about this situation.