At first I was told I had a kidney stone, but after several days of no relief from that I started having more elaborate tests done. In less than three weeks I had one x-ray, 2 CT scans, something like 8 or 9 blood tests, one surgery on my neck, a heart scan, a PET scan and a bone marrow biopsy and learned that I have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or cancer of my lymph system. Technically, I am at stage III-AS, on a scale of 1-4. Fortunately this is a very treatable form of cancer, and I’m entirely optimistic that I’m going to be good as new in a few months. In fact, I already consider myself to be recovering, and I'm determined to LIVE with this as I get over it rather than simply suffering from it. Until mid-December I’m going to be undergoing chemotherapy, doing one all-day session every three weeks for a total of six sessions. And I’ve got a whole new bunch of prescription bottles in my medicine cabinet. I had the first chemotherapy session just a few days after being diagnosed, and though it took a lot out of me I didn't have any violent reactions to it and I seem to be bouncing back so far. It was sort of like being trampled by several elephants. This has forced quite the pause in my life, and unfortunately I had to cancel all the weddings and other work that I was going to shoot for the remainder of this year. Frankly, that was a very hard thing for me because I have often formed very good friendships with my clients, and I hated to have to turn them away. And it has made the existing work that I do go at a snail’s pace. Tasks that used to take an hour now take me a week. On the upside, I’ve become a pro at taking naps. I’m planning on updating this from time to time, adding new and gory pictures [in a change of roles, photos by Edna] of the various procedures that I’ve endured and basically keeping everyone posted on how I’m doing. I invite you to contact me through the email link here, and if you come by the house you might just get your picture “on the INTERNET!” Wow. Thanks to all of you who already sent in your thoughts and well-wishes. They mean a lot to me, as do you. -Thomas-