Isaac’s Illness

I’ve been letting Isaac take care of neopagan.net for so long, I almost forgot about our own blog. But he’s not available to update y’all, so it’s my turn.

If you haven’t already heard from our Facebook page or other sources, Isaac’s been in the hospital since last Wednesday. He’s been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with tumors in his rectum.

This is a little different than the more common type of colon cancer. In fact, he had a colonoscopy last year and had no polyps or anything like that. What he has is called squamous cell carcinoma—more like a skin cancer—which accounts for less than 5% of colon cancers.  Yes, my darling really is a rare pain in the butt.

On the upside, it’s very treatable with chemo and radiation, so surgery may not be necessary. This is a good thing, as surgery in that location is not easy to repair.

Right now they are treating him with heavy antibiotics. Cysts, which had formed around the tumors, were causing him a great deal of pain, which is what got him to the doctor to begin with. The cysts may need to be drained, but they need to get his infections reduced before doing anything invasive like that. However, they are shrinking now and his pain is much, much reduced. He’s having more tests on Tuesday and Wednesday to make sure the docs aren’t overlooking anything. Also, his lung function is down, and they want to determine if he has COPD, which would be a permanent problem. I’m hoping he’ll be home Thursday, but we just don’t know.

Many people have asked how they can help.

Absolutely send your good wishes and healing energies. Concentrate on shrinking the tumors, increasing his stamina, and increasing his lung function. While you’re at it, send me some strength. Along with this stress, I’m getting over the flu, and until I do, I can’t even visit him in the hospital. Needless to say, I miss him terribly.

Yes, we have health insurance from my employer, although, of course, it won’t cover everything, and won’t cover lost income. Since I work on commission, and haven’t been working, my November income will be abysmal. Thus, if you feel moved to hit that “donate” button, we’d be very grateful, as will our landlady.

We’re trying to keep people up-to-date on our Facebook page, but if FB isn’t your thing (I’ve only been on it for a few months myself) I will also post updates here. Yeah, right here, the sensible place to put it!