I can relate so much to your comment. The waiting game... just awful. Toward the end of the ordeal, when my wife had taken her last turn for the worse, a friend called and asked how I was doing.

My response: "I feel like a prisoner who's staring at the guillotine while the executioner is on the phone ordering lunch."

I thought I'd share it not for a laugh, but you might be able to relate to the feeling.