Happy New Year

Mary Jo and I want to wish all of you Happy New.

The lab results from the biopsy procedure are still not available so it appears that we will have to wait until Monday before we know what the “lump” consists of. Be safe and enjoy the New Year’s holiday weekend.

More Waiting

Dr Thiel, radiologist at the Women’s Imaging Center in Burnsville performed an image guided needle aspiration on Mary Jo’s right breast axilli region (armpit) this morning. Mary Jo was a bit nervous before this procedure. It is very similar to the original fine needle aspiration procedure she had performed on the axilliary lymph node which concluded that her breast cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Your armpit is a tender area to begin with and then to have what looks like a knitting needle stuck into you is all a bit unnerving.

The procedure went well however the doctor was not able to reasonably drain what had been assumed to be a “fluid filled void”. The doctor made several image guided attempts to aspirate but lump and its contents appear to be more consistent with a solid than a fluid. The medical staff has no explanation at this time and we will all have to await the pathology report on the small quantity of fluid that Dr Thiel was able to aspirate from the lump before we know conclusively what the lump contains.

Dr Thiel cautioned Mary Jo that the pathology lab results would not likely be available until Monday but he also tried to calm our obvious anxiety by adding that he doesn’t think this is cancer. Dr Thiel said cancer typically appears a whitish shadowy image on an ultrasound and Mary Jo’s lump appears as a dark spot, which is typically consistent with fluid.

We continue pray that this is not more cancer and just anxiously wait for the pathology report. The waiting is the hard part.

No Word Yet

Dr Maurer, Mary Jo’s surgeon examined Mary Jo today at 11:45am in his Burnsville office. We assumed he was going to perform a needle aspiration of the one centimeter size lump in Mary Jo’s right armpit area per the recommendation of Dr Thacker from the Ridges Hospital ER staff. Dr Maurer said he could perform the procedure in his office but recommended that the best method would be to have a radiologist from the Women’s Imaging Center perform the procedure with the aid of ultrasound guided imaging.

Dr Maurer made the arrangements for Mary Jo. Tomorrow she will have an image guided fine needle biopsy and path report along with the image guided needle aspiration to attempt to drain what is suspected to be a fluid filled void. Dr Maurer assumes the lump is most consistent with an inflamed fat deposit or a inflamed but broken away dead cancer tissue lymph node because of the quick onset and the associated pain without redness at the site. We hope to be able to see a path report from the biopsy before we go into the holiday weekend to confirm what Dr Maurer suspects. 

Mary Jo is continuing to improve from the last cycle of chemo. Each day she feels a little less tired and has a very positive outlook. We pray that Dr Maurer’s assumptions are correct and this new lump turns out to be nothing serious.

We are both looking forward to a New Year and want to be the first to wish all of you Peace, Health and Happiness in 2010. 

ER Visit

Mary Jo discovered a new lump (a hard and painful mass about a centimeter in diameter) in her right arm pit area on Christmas Day. After consulting on the phone with Minnesota Oncology to determine a possible diagnosis and treatment of the suspect new lump, we were told to put a warm compress over the area, rest the arm and go to the ER if things did not improve within 24 hours. The immediate medical concern would be a possible blood clot. The most likely causes of a lump in this area for “most people” range from enlarged lymph nodes from a bacterial or viral infection or something as benign as an ingrown hair follicle but as a post surgery cancer patient, the stakes are higher because Mary Jo had a double mastectomy with a axillary node dissection in which seven of the twenty two of those nodes removed had tested positive for cancer. The more serious possible causes for Mary Jo could be a blood clot or the further spread of cancer to more lymph nodes.

Mary Jo did as instructed but after 24 hours there was no change so on Sunday morning so we followed the recommendation to get to the hospital ER to be further evaluated. ER Dr Jenny Thacker order blood work to be done as well as ultrasound imaging. The imaging confirmed that painful lump is not a blood clot and no blood clots were present in the veins in her neck to her hand. Dr Thacker recommended that Mary Jo see her surgeon, Dr Maurer as soon as possible to have a needle aspiration performed on the lump. She said the lump appears, based on the imaging to be a fluid filled void. Dr Thacker suggested that he lump could be a complication from the previous surgeries.

We have an appointment scheduled with Dr Maurer of Surgery Consultants for Tuesday afternoon. Mary Jo is very tired today. She feels fortunate to have been feeling well over the Christmas holiday to have been able to celebrate with family and is likely tuckered out from all the extra activity. She will be taking it easy today in anticipation of her appointment tomorrow.

Strange Lump on Christmas

Mary Jo deals with so many side effects such as nausea and aches and pains all over her body as she battles an aggressive form of breast cancer, sometimes its hard to tell when there is something different or alarming. For the past few days she thought she might have a bruise on her upper right arm because it has been aching but there is no visible sign of a bruise.

Today, Christmas day we discovered a lump in the lymph node area of her right armpit. It is unfortunate that we are not able to just call her doctor to ease our minds as to the diagnosis of the alarming new lump. We will have to wait until tomorrow before we will get an answer. It could be a simple bacterial infection but it defiantly gets your attention.

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody. What a great Christmas blessing, Mary Jo was feeling pretty good yesterday and I anticipate she will be felling well again today and enjoy a Christmas get together with the Burns family tonight at Kevin's moms house and then celebrate again tomorrow on Christmas day at Diane's (MJ's mom) house with all of Mary Jo's family.

Jamie and Michelle stopped by on Tuesday for a little gift exchange and really brightened Mary Jo's day. The "big pink wig" modeled by the girls was actually won by another friend recently in a Delta fund raiser for breast cancer awareness.

Mary Jo and I would like to thank all of you for your support and prayers and we pray that you have a very Merry Christmas.

First Post Chemo Herceptin Treatment

Mary Jo is still struggling to recover from her last and final cycle of chemo therapy last week. Mary Jo has been feeling extra tired and has been in bed most of the time, but this last cycle has had her struggling with nausea as well. She is such a strong person though and is still in pretty good Christmas spirits.

MJ had her first post chemo Herceptin Treatment today. The main difference is the dosage as it is being increased from 129mg to 380mg on a 30 minute drip IV from her chemo level to the post chemo level dosage. Her "Christmas present" from her nurse was an extra dose of Dexameth (steroid) and two separate doses of anti nausea meds to help her kick these extra tough side effects from last week’s final cycle. She will continue with this same Herceptin treatment/dosage every third week now for the next 34 weeks. There will be some noticeable physical side effects but we are slight compared to the debilitating effects of her chemo regiment of T-C-H.

We are still praying that Mary Jo will be feeling well enough to enjoy Christmas at her Moms house with all her brothers and sisters (and the nieces and nephews of course).

Last Chemo Treatment

Today was a landmark day because it was Mary Jo’s very last chemo treatment, halleluiah! Mary Jo is in very good spirits and excited to have this phase of the treatment behind us. We were pleasantly surprised to have such a large group of supporters at the “Spa” today. Jamie Page, Mary Jo’s mom Diane, Karen Ruth and her husband John and Marian Mazur all came in to celebrate the last “Big One”.

There were no surprises at the consultation with Dr Gall to review MJ’s blood work numbers just prior to the chemo session. Her hemoglobin count was a bit lower than last time at 10.8 but still above the 10.0 threshold. Dr Gall said this is just a result of the cumulative chemo therapy treatments. “we are putting poison in you” and this is what happens after weeks and weeks of doses, it’s very normal for the body to respond this way. All her other numbers were pretty good for a chemo patient.

We left Dr Galls office with a new prescription for Tomoxifin. Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor in breast tissue. It has been the standard endocrine (anti-estrogen) therapy for hormone-positive early breast cancer. Mary Jo's breast cancer cells require estrogen to grow. Estrogen binds to and activates the estrogen receptor in these cells. Tamoxifen is metabolized into compounds that also bind to the estrogen receptor but do not activate it. Furthermore tamoxifen prevents estrogen from binding to its receptor. Hence breast cancer cell growth is blocked. Tomoxifin is taken in pill form, daily for two years.

I am hoping that MJ will be feeling well on Christmas. Although she feels pretty good today, it always takes a few days for the full effects of the chemo to get into her system. Typical is for MJ to get chemo on Monday, feel ok Tuesday and then be in bed from about Wednesday until the following Saturday or sometimes until the following Tuesday or Wednesday.

Spa Day #17

Mary Jo enjoyed the company of Jamie Page and Karen Ruth at "Spa Day" number 17. MJ was feeling pretty good that day. Well enough to even invite Jamie over to our house afterwards and the girls stayed up and talked all night long. MJ is still feeling good today, but the usual tired feeling is back. This is typical for a few days after a Herceptin treatments and not the result of a rock star night. Next week Monday will be Mary Jo's last cycle of chemo followed by two more consecutive weeks of Hercoptin treatments before she takes three weeks (no more chemo) off before the start of radiation therapy. We look forward to meeting with Mary Jo's oncologist, Dr Gall next week to find out more details about her exact radiation therapy regiment.


If you have never seen anybody get chemo, the video below shows how the oncology nurse utilizes Mary Jo's "Purple Power Port" (the tiny devise implanted under the skin) to hook up a IV line through which she will be administered the chemo therapy drugs.

Treatment Number 16

Mary Jo is feeling pretty good today. She was feeling well enough to go out and run a few errands which is a nice change. Today is a good day but Mary Jo needs to be careful not to overdo it. She knows she will pay for it the next day and for a few days afterwards. She has endured 16 weeks of treatment every Monday with a Newlasta shot (a white blood cell booster) 24 hours after each of the five chemo cycles given to date. Yesterday’s treatment was Herceptin only, "the little one". Herceptin is administered by I.V. through Mary Jo's power port at a dose of 129mg over a 30 minute drip. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are counting down every day and minute. It was very nice of Mary Jo's friend Jamie to stop by MOPA and keep MJ and me company during the treatment. Jamie always has great stories to tell and always makes Mary Jo laugh. We usually are the biggest and LOUDEST little group around our "patient" in the chair, but I think the laughter beats the reality of the oncology office and the chair. I also think the nurses and some of the other cancer patients get a kick out of the rare commotion.