Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll leaves the Capitol Building with an aide Tuesday after reconvening the Senate following a two-month break. Baker Knoll is fighting neuroendocrine cancer.

HARRISBURG — The state Senate's return to Harrisburg after a two-month break was an emotional one, with the state's cancer-stricken lieutenant governor presiding and Sen. Vincent Fumo, who is facing a federal corruption trial, making an unexpected appearance.

Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll received a brief ovation from senators during the hour-long session, the chamber's first since she revealed in August that she is undergoing treatment for neuroendocrine cancer.

"One tough cookie," said Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria. "I'm proud of her. Most other people wouldn't even think of coming to work."

Knoll, who moved slowly and appeared to have lost weight after receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatment, spoke only briefly to reporters as she left the chamber at the end of the one-hour session.

"It's a long ordeal, (but) we're here," said Knoll, 77.

Her family and aides are saying little about her condition or prognosis. Her daughter Mina Baker Knoll attended the Senate session, and said her mother has responded to treatment very well. She felt it was important to attend every Senate session, as she has done since being elected in 2002, her daughter said.

"If it was at all physically possible for her to be here, she was going to be here," she said.

Fumo also returned after announcing in July that his corruption trial in Philadelphia would prevent him from showing up at any more voting sessions. However, the start of the trial this week was postponed because of the presiding judge's illness. Fumo, 65, is not running for re-election after 30 years in the Senate.

The Senate's fall schedule is a short one, with just eight more voting days before the Nov. 4 election.