A Loving Ceremony

Hi Everyone, This is Sibyl,

Today was very special for Stephi. Her friends
Joe and Carol Anway, who are lay ministers, came to
the house to have a healing ceremony for Stephi.
It was very moving and hopeful. It reminded me
of the the same ceremony we had for Dad, that gave
him such comfort. Thank you Joe and Carol.

My daughter Phaedra is here from Los Angeles and
brought with her all her wonderful stories. Stephi,
she and I have been laughing all Friday evening
while we had a TV marathon of "Bones", a forensics
mystery series, which Phaedra had never seen but is
now a total fan.

Stephi wants to get out of the house one last time
before the long anticipated meeting with the Bone
Marrow surgeons on Monday, so tonight Stephi,
Ken, Phaedra and I are all going to a play. I am
going to the surgical supply store to get Stephi a
more comfortable mask for the outing. It sounds
like a fun evening.

Stephi has been ahead of the pain these last
few days but her anxiety level remains high.
Ken is sensing the gravity of the impending week
and has also been edgy, still refers to Stephi's
cancer as "the disease" and is overly busy about
the house.

Stephi's college roommate has indicated to us
that she would like to help out once Stephi comes
home from her bone marrow transplant. It will be
wonderful to have Linda here. She and Stephi
always laugh so much when they are together.
Her coming would allow me to take a relief
weekend or two which I would greatly appreciate
by that time. Thank you, Linda.

I also want to thank cousin Mary and my
dear friend Mike Burns for the Guided Imagery
website links. Healing involves not only the
physical but also mental and spiritual worlds
of the patient. I gave Stephi a book put out
by one of my clients, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips,
an inspirational 'kick the cancer back' piece
which has proven physically hard for her to
read (see my entry about her botched Lasik
surgery) so I am going to tape the readings
for her Ipod. Yesterday, I also got her CDs
of Erkart Tolle's A New Earth. We had a
new HDTV installed in her bedroom, the
laptop connected to the house wireless router
and set up her Ipod so the electronics for the
isolation periods are pretty well in order.
There is so much to do but we will get it done.

Lots of calls and emails of support from my
friends and family and a couple of wonderful
lunches with my friend, Dena Klein in
Mission, Kansas, are helping me help my
sister. Thank you all.

Love,
Sib