An update...

First let me thank all you who are my clients and have been very patient with me over the past couple of weeks. I have gotten numerous amazingly kind emails from friends, photographers, and clients, and it is so much appreciated.

I'm not sure there are any scarier words you can hear than 'brain cancer'. My mom went to see her doctor for blurry vision, and he recommended a CAT scan. With the results showing numerous lesions in her brain, she had a biopsy that confirmed cancer. I really couldn't have been more shocked, and got the first flight I could back home to Pennsylvania.

After spending a week at home with my family I have many more answers. It turns out my mom has aednocarcinoma, which is a cancer that is usually found in the lungs that would then metastasize to the brain. After multiple full body CAT and PET scans, there is no sign of cancer anywhere else in her body including the lungs (thank God), but makes for a very unusual case.

Of course the control freak that I am :) I stayed to visit with the oncologist to make sure he got my seal of approval, and researched her other doctors to make sure they were the best in their field.

Her oncologist believes this may have started as long ago as 4 years, which means the cancer is slow growing (a good thing!!) and not very aggressive (another good thing). Because of the way the cancer formed, she is stage 4 (not such a good thing). She will begin radiation as soon as possible, and after seeing how the cancer reacts to this the doctors will make further decisions. Chemotherapy is not an option for her type of cancer because of a barrier between the brain and the rest of the blood system.

I will be starting a separate blog with information on her story and how everything is going. Once it is up and running I will let you all know :)

Here is a quick snapshot from her series of cat scan images showing the largest lesion (2.8cm), also the one that was biopsied. There are several other very small lesions as well.



Thanks again to everyone who has taken a moment to check up on me or send an encouraging email. I cannot put into words how much appreciate it is!!