UPDATE

So Friday I went to the oncologist with my mom and dad for my mom's first appointment. First of all...her doctor was hilarious! Certainly not what I expected from an oncologist...and I've met several. He was caring, comforting and put my mom, especially, very much at ease.

Now...her diagnosis. She has Follicular Lymphoma. It is incurable but slow moving. This type of cancer is not treated until it is necessary to treat it. For some people treatment doesn't come for several years. When the time does come to treat it with chemotherapy it will calm down the disease and then after a period of time the disease will most likely flare up again and chemo treatments will again be given. It is a manageable type of cancer. It is not a death sentence.

However, there are a couple of tests that will be done on Tuesday to determine if the disease is systemic (throughout her body) or localized (which is under her left arm). If the cancer is localized and is not throughout her body, then the cancer can be treated right away with radiation treatments. She will be having two tests done on Tuesday to make this determination. The first test is a PET scan where dye is run through her body and MRI-type imaging is done to scan her body. The results are 3-D images that show the doctors what the tissues and lymph nodes in her body look like. The second test is a bone marrow test and she's not looking forward to this one as it is painful. She will find out the results of these tests hopefully on Friday when she is scheduled to see the oncologist again.

Mom was so much more at ease when we left the doctor's office. Not knowing was almost worse than anything and she had waited almost two weeks from diagnosis to visiting with the oncologist. So much was explained to her and it was explained well. Now it's just one step at a time with these tests on Tuesday being the next step.

Thank you for your prayers and support for my mom and my family. One day at a time...one day at a time.

Peace and blessings.
Jeanine