[CTC-L] Cancer Update from Oberon ~

Fri Sep 12 00:58:35 EDT 2008

Looks like we spoke too soon on it not spreading, and he's going to be  doing 
some serious chemo. 

Remember to check here for updates: _http://www.oberonzell.com/OZ-blog.html_ 
(http://www.oberonzell.com/OZ-blog.html) 

Not happy... and I never want to see a pizza again, but I  love the X-men 
idea, 

Moon

From: Oberon  Zell-Ravenheart _Oberon at mcn.org_ (mailto:Oberon at mcn.org) 
Subject:  [morninggloryhealingupdate] OZ's cancer report 9/10
Date: Thursday,  September 11, 2008, 3:05 PM

9/10/08 report

To all my dear  Friends,

First, I am going to have to presume that you've been reading  the reports by
Julie and Morning Glory during the time I was in the  hospital for colon
cancer surgery, so I won't have to go back over that  territory. I do want to
say, however, THANK YOU! For all the love, magick,  prayers, and healing
energies that so many of you have been sending my way.  It has really made a
difference-I have felt not only upbeat, but positively  elated throughout
this entire experience. Even the sometimes rather severe  pain never
detracted from my general good spirits. I also want to thank  those of you
who sent them for all the cards and flowers-my hospital room  was filled with
them, and now they are arrayed all over the healing altar  in our temple
room.

On Wednesday, 9/3, I finally got to see the  pathology lab report on the
enormous section of my insides that had been  removed. Imagine, if you will,
a triangular quarter-slice of a family-size  thick crust pizza, about 12
inches on a side. That's what the piece they  took out of me looked like. The
outer crust (with a meatball-sized tumor in  the middle of it) would be the
foot-long section of my descending colon,  with the rest of the wedge being
the mesenteries, containing the connective  tissue, blood vessels, fat
modules, and nine lymph nodes. Think of the  latter like olives. One of the
nine had pimento (cancer) in it. This was  very bad news. It meant that the
cancer had indeed metastasized outside of  the original tumor.though not
much, yet.

I didn't want to hit y'all  with this at the time, but it really did take the
wind outta my sails. I  needed a few days to assimilate the news, and the
implications. No way  around it.if the cancer has gotten into my lymphatic
system, I'll be  needing chemotherapy for the next couple of years. Of
course, the immediate  thing that leapt to mind was the thought of losing all
my hair and beard.  Amusingly enough, this was the thing I found hardest to
deal with. Ah,  vanities!

And then, Thursday night, I woke up chuckling over the irony:  I have been
identifying very strongly in recent years with the Headmaster  of Hogwarts
(I've even been called "the real Albus Dumbledore") , whose  long grey hair
and beard are iconic. But long before J.K. Rowling invented  Hogwarts, there
was another "School for Gifted Youngsters," run by another  fine Wizard named
Charles Xavier. And he was completely bald and beardless  due to the
chemotherapy for his cancer, which had him confined to a  wheelchair. So I
started envisioning how I might do some cosmetic  modifications on Morning
Glory's mother's wheelchair, with a big "X"  covering the wheels.

And this is how I managed to pass my time in the  hospital, in between
reading chapters of Diane Duane's "Young Wizards"  series (I'm up to the 5th
book, "A Wizard's Dilemma"-great stuff!).  

I was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, 9/6. They  unplugged all
the needles and tubes, and Morning Glory and Arek picked me  up and took me
home. It was great to be in my own home, and I just flopped  into my favorite
comfy chair as we watched "on demand" the first four  premier episodes of the
really cool new BBC America series:  "Primeval."

That night I slept in our own bed better than I had in  nearly two weeks.
Each day I have been feeling better and better, and able  to sit up a bit
longer at my console, catching up on email-sending brief  notes to many of
you who'd written me personally.

And finally,  yesterday afternoon (9/9), MG took me into her oncologist, Dr.
Marek  Bozdech, for a full exam and evaluation. Dr. Bozdech is one of the  top
doctors in cancer therapy (especially multiple myeloma, which is what  MG
has). He's fabulous-and also a sci-fi buff, like us. He confirmed that  I
have Class III cancer, for which the "adjuvant therapy"  is
chemotherapy- specifically, avastin, oxoplatin, and cystoplatin. He said  that
these platinum-based treatments affect cancer cells at the DNA level  by
retarding mitosis and preventing their reproduction. But another good  thing
about them is that they won't cause me to lose my hair!

After  a month to recover from the surgery, I'll be getting 48-hour
treatments  every two weeks for a year. Then it'll be every 3 months for
three years,  eventually tapering off after five years to every 6
months.continuing  indefinitely. In a few weeks they'll do a PET scan
(positron emission  tomography) to try and determine the extend of the
spread. Then they'll  install a special IV catheter port just above my
collarbone into which  they'll be able to inject the chemos directly.

Once the cancer spreads  outside the colon, present medical knowledge offers
no hope for a cure.  There is, however, possibility of remission, and that's
what I'm holding  out for. 

I cancelled all my speaking engagements for September, but I  should be fine
to go back on the road in October, depending of course on my  reactions to
the chemo. Some people sail through it and others have a  really rough time.
I'm betting on being a smooth sailor, but I will cross  that ocean when I get
there.

And that's pretty much all the news  from RavenHaven.

Brightest  Blessings,

Oberon

www.OberonZell. com <http://www.oberonze  ll.com/> 

<http://GreySchool. com> 

Vivere bene est  vindicata optima

Oberon Zell-Ravenheart 

Grey School of  Wizardry

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