Monday, September 1, 2008

Posted on behalf of Oberon by Julie Epona

Dear Friends and Family:

This is Morning Glory giving you all a quickie update on Oberon’s progress. His surgery was on Friday and it went well; they removed a large section of his descending colon and adjacent mesentery, his doctor is confident that he took out all the cancer and any pre cancerous lymph nodes. He said that he did not see any swollen or discolored nodes. The tissue was all sent to Pathology and we should have the results later this week since the Lab is shut down for the holiday. We will know that the surgeon successfully removed all the cancer when we receive that report. Until then folks the coin is, magickally speaking, still in the air. We can still do some probability enhancement. We will let everyone know as soon as we find out.

In the meantime, Oberon is slowly and painfully recovering from this very harsh procedure. Some other good news is that he did not have to have a colostomy for which we are all grateful. But even so at this point he is in some serious agony; both meditation as well as medication can barely take the edge off his suffering. He is really not in any condition to have visitors or even phone calls. I do try to see him every day and rub his back and read to him but even my visits are short because that’s all he can handle. It will take time for the wounded tissues to knit and the healing process to go forward. He is barely drinking a little water now and he said to me last nite: “At least I will lose some weight out of all this misery.” At least he hasn’t lost his sense of humor altogether.

So what I want to ask is for people to continue working toward Oberon’s healing by shifting the probabilities toward 100% of all cancer removed; let all the demon be sitting in that bottle on the shelf in the Path Lab. But also changing from waning and banishing spells to soothing and nurturing spells directed at Oz’s wounded belly, also strength to bear the pain. Though he can’t really see or talk to anyone just yet I’m sending you his hospital address and room number so you can send him cards. I know that when I was diagnosed with cancer 2 years ago and spent a week in the hospital my spirits were magnificently uplifted by all the wonderful cards and letters that people sent me. I will be forever grateful for that outpouring of Blessings. I firmly believe that I am alive because of it.

By the way here is a quick update on me as well. My IG protein levels are around 30 points the last time I was tested and that means that I am much better. Originally they were over 1000 which was very bad. I am still not in remission but I am close and the process of going for full remission is pretty invasive so it is a trade off between pushing the cancer back while maintaining a reasonable quality of life. My Thalidomide chemo is working and when it stops there are several other drugs to try as well as other therapies. I am regaining my mobility but I still have a lot of pain; I had to go off most of my pain meds because they were making me lose my memory and my ability to focus. I am confident that I will live to see my 2 year old granddaughter grow up and somewhere along that journey they will find a cure for my cancer.

Fortunately, Oberon’s cancer is curable. We will know whether he will need any radiation or chemotherapy when we get his pathology reports back. Until then beloved friends, please keep up the good working and send him some nifty cards to take his mind off the misery to:

Oberon Zell c/o: Petaluma Valley Hospital
400 N. McDowell blvd.
Petaluma, CA 94954

Many Bright Blessings to you all,
Morning Glory Zell