Cammie Shaddock

Many of you have heard by now that Cammie is in MD Anderson suffering from brain tumor. 

The love and support we have received is humbling and overwhelming to both of us.  Thank you.  However, due to her condition, reading and responding to texts and emails is stressful to Cammie.  She loves hearing from everyone, but I ask that you correspond through this website.

For background, she had a mild headache on Friday, September 30, and maybe a little one Saturday.  On Monday, she was speaking and realized the words she was trying to say were not the words she was actually speaking.  That night while texting, she had trouble spelling.  We called Billy and he urged us to go to the hospital for a CT scan.  We did, and the results were not what we expected.  She has a mass in the left parietal region of the brain.  With much help and after the consultation of some super physicians in Lake Charles, we decided to go to MD Anderson in Houston.  Cammie had her initial consult with Dr. Sherise D. Ferguson, a terrific neurosurgeon specializing in brain tumors and particularly those in the speech region of the brain.   Her plan was to operate on Friday, October 14 using an interactive surgery where Cammie would be awake and speaking during surgery.  Unfortunately, Cammie had complications on Sunday morning, October 9th.  Sunday was spent in the emergency area of MD Anderson where she was stabilized and detailed MRI's were taken.  She went into surgery Monday morning.  She was in surgery for about 10 hours and it was not the interactive surgery.  

It was late in the evening before we spoke with Dr Ferguson.  She was able to remove 95+% of the tumor and Cammie made it through surgery fine.

Today is Saturday, October 15th.  Cammie's recovery is nothing short of amazing.  We were warned of possible paralysis, confusion, and inability to communicate.  Fortunately, these fears failed to materialize.  She is coherent, has an excellent memory, and her speech was unaffected.  Initially, she did have paralysis of her right arm and leg, but as of today, she is able to raise her right arm  halfway up, wrote her name, and has taken a few steps.  This is amazing progress. 

She was released from ICU on Thursday and was moved to a stage called Recovery.  Yesterday, she was released from Recovery and is now in a stage called "Rehab".   On Monday, Cammie will begin rehabilitation in full force.  She will have physical therapy twice a day, occupational therapy twice a day, and possibly speech therapy if they deem it necessary.  She appears to have very mild aphasia when she is tired.

She has an appointment on 10/25 to visit with the oncology team to discuss the type of tumor and begin treatment.

Your prayers and support have been overwhelming.  Thank you.