Dear All,

One of our members--Marieka--has her surgery tomorrow for a widely-spread ameloblastoma on her maxilla, her palate, and in her sinus cavity. She has written to the forum several times, but I am beginning a new thread, so that I can keep you posted on her progress until she can write again for herself.

Please keep her in your prayers tomorrow, from morning to afternoon. I imagine that it will be a long surgery.

Thanks, friends. I have not met Marieka, but I feel that I know here, like I feel so close to the rest of you. I know that we all wish that we could keep anyone else from suffering from this terrible disease, but we can't. All we can do for those who already have it is to pray and to support them with our caring.

For those who don't yet have OC, we CAN do something: We can be sure that they know all about this disease, about how to prevent it and how to check for it, how to recognize it when it shows its ugly face, and what to do then. Maybe we CAN keep some others from suffering from these difficult surgeries and treatments.

I'll write an update on Marieka when her family contacts me.

XOXO--Colleen

Hi colleen.Glad to see you have found a good use from your own experiences.give my best wishes to marieka.

love liz

hi Colleen, its really nice to see such posts .
Marieka will be there in our prayers.
if you get to talk to her family let them know that we at OCF do pray for them and wish her all the luck !

I knew you were a caring person from the get go colleen. I will be thinking and praying for her while I get my PetScan at 11 this morning. THat will make good use of that TUBE .

Jim, ..so today is the make-up time from your cancellation last week? I will add you to my prayerlist. I hopehopehope that you get good news.

Yes, praying for each other is a good thing to do for each other.....there is strength in that....and it's a great use for the "time in the tube"!

For an MRI I had recently for an unrelated problem, I made music out of the bangs and pings and thumps of that machine. When the girl got me out and asked me how it was, I said that I thoroughly enjoyed it. She looked startled.

I guess I'm just an odd duck.....Who cares??? I think we've all earned the right to be whatever and however we want to be. I've learned through this ordeal with OC that even in the midst of this terrible diseaase, there are blessings galore. I think we all have discovered this to be true. Would we want these particular blessings enough to choose to have OC? mmmmmmmmmmm...... probably not, but at least in the midst of this misfortune, there can be glimmers of light.

The best blessings: you guys! ...and caring people here at home that I didn't know even knew me. and people praying for me who didn't even know me but believed strongly in the power of prayer, so that helped to strengthen my own faith in their prayers and to feel their strength. Yeah..blessings all around!!

(oops, I guess I got off-topic.....but that's what I felt like talking about right now.

I haven't heard anything yet from Marieka's family.

XO

Hi, All,

I heard from Marieka's mother a while ago, and she said that she is very, very pleased with the outcome of M's surgery. She has lost a bit over half of her upper jaw and accompanying palate, from the incisors around to the other side, leaving one or two molars on that side. Those will help tremendously in securing an oburator later. In this type of maxillary/palatal surgery, an opening is left in the palate, and it has to be filled. THey place a flat plate over the opening at first, and replace it with something more intricate later. She was talking already, and they are considering letting her go home tomorrow. I think that the doctor's philosophy is that you can be miserable at the hospital, or you can be miserable at home. I personally feel that nearly everybody is sent home too soon, but each case is different. I hope that they make sure that she can swallow well before they send her home.

She was also expecting the removal of some of the bony tissue supporting her nose, with the placment of a permanent artificial support. Her mother reports that she doesn't know if they did that or not, but that her nose looks perfectly normal to her. Marieka will be happy to hear that!

So....all in all, a good report. and now she is on her way to getting over it. One step at a time, one day at a time.....

XOXO--Colleen

So.....so far so

Thanks for the update Colleen. Sounds like she is really doing great. I'll keep her in my prayers that things continue on this path.

Those teeth will be a blessing when dealing with the obturator. I'm glad the surgery wasn't more involved than it was.

Hopefully she will be back out here posting in no time.

Joy

Colleen:

Thanks for the update. Ive been reading along about Marieka's progress. Sounds like she is a real trooper. Pretty amazing that she is talking already and going to be sent home this quickly. Hopefully she will have a speedy and easy recovery.

Christine

Colleen, Great news! Thanks for sharing it. It is amazing to me too that they would be thinking of sending her home so soon but really a hospital is not the best place to get well these days with all the medical errors that ocur and infections that make the rounds.....

Nelie

Thanks for the update. Now I can quit wondering so much.