Isaac Bonewits Diagnosed with Cancer

[icymist]

Isaac Bonewits Diagnosed with Cancer
Monday October 26, 2009
Isaac Bonewits recently announced on his Facebook fan page that he has been diagnosed with colon cancer. Apparently, it's a fairly rare form of the disease which responds well to chemo and radiation, which means he may not have to face surgery.

Isaac is the founder of Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), a Druidic tradition, and is the author of a number of books on contemporary Pagan practice. He and wife Phaedra are also well-known on the Pagan lecture circuit. Please join me in sending well-wishes and prayers to both of them, and hopefully we'll soon see Isaac in full recovery!
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Prayers for Isaac Bonewits:
From me, icymist, smoke rising for your healing.

[icymist]

1. Update on Isaac from his better half......

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.

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