Follow Up Visits

Mary Jo had a brief appointment yesterday at her surgeon, Dr Cathy Casey’s Woodbury office. Dr Casey’s nurse practitioner removed Mary Jo’s sutures from the DaVinci Hysterectomy performed on April 16th. The “running sutures” left almost no noticeable scars behind. It is amazing to think Mary Jo had a complete hysterectomy only 11 days ago and there are almost no noticeable signs that Mary Jo ever even had a major surgery. Dr Casey’s written report from the surgery confirms that there was no evidence or cancer in the tissues removed during the surgery. We questioned Dr Casey’s nurse regarding several findings on the pathology report but it appears we will have to wait until our follow up visit with Dr Casey to get detailed responses to our GYN infertility questions related to the surgery pathology report. The good news is, no cancer was detected.

Today Mary Jo met with her oncologist, Dr Gall at Minnesota Oncology and Hematology P.A. in Burnsville for a consultation and examination. Mary Jo was also given her biologic chemo (Herceptin) treatment. Dr Gall will continue to examine Mary Jo every third week, just before these treatments which will continue for a full 52 weeks from the initial chemo session to monitor her progress. Mary Jo’s blood count numbers have improved this week and Mary Jo appears to be well on the road to recovery after the most recent surgery. She is a little tired but has a great attitude and looking forward to a nice summer.

Improving Today

MJ resting on the porch today

Mary Jo is recovering at home and doing very well after her most recent surgery performed on Friday at Abbott Virginia Piper Cancer Center. The prophylactic surgical procedure that Dr Casey performed on Mary Jo is called a “robotically assisted total laparoscopic hysterectomy bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy” or the DaVinci Hysterectomy. Dr Casey briefed me after the procedure. I was amazed to hear that with this high tech new procedure, the actual blood loss as a result of the surgical procedure was only one tablespoon in volume. Mary Jo has six, not five, rather small one inch long incisions on her abdomen, much like the drawing below.

Mary Jo was able to be released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon and was even able to take a short walk around the block on Saturday evening. She was instructed to try to take short walks to help her body remove and process the carbon dioxide gas that is used in the surgical procedure to inflate the abdominal cavity.

MJ checking out on Saturday afternoon

Many patients complain of severe abdominal, joint and shoulder pains after this procedure which are usually associated with or the direct result of these trapped gasses built up in the body. With each day that goes by, Mary Jo is feeling better and stronger. She has not experienced the expected shoulder pain and the bloating and gas pains are starting to subside today. She is instructed not to lift anything over 20lbs. for a least two weeks for obvious reasons. Good news, Mary Jo received the final pathology report today that the “sections” of the removed tissues all tested negative for cancer cells. Mary Jo has an appointment to see Dr Casey’s nurse practitioner on Monday to have the stitches removed and another follow up visit with her surgeon, Dr Casey in eight weeks.

Teresa (Mary Jo's sister) Kuehne

We had a bit of a scare with Mary Jo’s sister Teresa today. She had a prophylactic double mastectomy performed last Wednesday at Abbott Virginia Piper Cancer Center and had been doing well recovering at home. Her husband John sent me a message today around noon today that Teresa appears to have a broken blood vessel in her right breast. He said that it had been bothering her for a couple of days and the fluid that was draining in one of the two JP valves was darker (like old blood) than the other one. “Last night it was really bothering her and her breast was really swollen and was draining a lot”. They called the on call Doctor at 2:30am this morning and he told them to just watch it. John said they didn’t sleep much after that. He called Teresa’s plastic surgeon that performed the initial reconstruction at 8:30 morning and the doctor said to come in. After an examination, her doctor said he needed to go back in and “evacuate” the blood and see if he could find the broken blood vessel. The doctor explained that it’s a very simple procedure that should only take about and hour. The Doctor said this should not cause a significant setback in Teresa’s healing however he wanted to get rid of any old blood to reduce the possibility of internal scarring. Teresa’s surgery was scheduled for 1:30 central time and concluded at 2:40pm. Teresa is now recovering in a private room and is expected to be released tomorrow. Her doctor wants to keep her overnight just to be sure the bleeding has completely stopped.

John Kuehne

Surgery Day

Mary Jo pre op

Mary Jo is recovering in room E3162 at the Abbott's Virginia Piper Hospital after a robotically assisted DaVinci hysterectomy. The actual surgery started at 7:49am this morning. Jon and Laura (and baby Campbell) Holmes came to the hospital this morning to offer their support during the procedure. Campbell kept the surgery waiting room entertained until she told her parents that she had had enough and it was time to go. I was briefed by Mary Jo's surgeon, Dr Catherine Casey just after the procedure concluded at 10:04am, Dr Casey explained that “everything went as expected and that no cancer was detected" by the initial lab work (sections) on the removed tissues.

I would like to thank all of our many guests that came to the hospital to offer their support to Mary Jo and I both during and after the surgery. Jon, Laura and Campbel Holmes, Diane Noldin, Del Burns, Michelle Doyle, John and Teresa Kuehne and Jamie Page.

Jon, Laura and Campbell Holmes

Jamie Page and MJ

Mary Jo is doing very well this evening and the hospital staff appears to have her pain management well under control. We are hopeful that Mary Jo will get a good night’s sleep and be able to go home tomorrow.

Sisters (MJ and Teresa) sporting their hospital fashions

Mary Jo's sister Teresa was released today from the same Virginia Piper Hospital after her double n.s. mastectomy surgery performed on Tuesday. Teresa looks great today. She says that she is in some pain but otherwise doing well. Teresa and her husband John were able to see Mary Jo just prior to Teresa being released to go home this afternoon. The sisters were actually in the same hospital, same floor for a brief time today. The youngest sister Michelle will be back next week for her prophylactic hysterectomy and prophylactic double mastectomy. Michelle’s surgeries will be performed at Abbott by the same surgeons that performed both of Teresa’s procedures.

Mary Jo taking a walk hours after her surgery.

Watch the new "Mary Jo Beating Cancer 2010" You Tube video here.

Happy Easter

Today is a good day and Mary Jo is so pleased to have completed the third important phase of her treatment. Radiation oncology therapy was prescribed after being diagnosed with breast cancer last July although I am told the next several weeks are equally important post treatment.


When doctors talk about radiation oncology, on the biological level. What they are trying to do is kill a cancer cell and radiation is effective only in microscopic disease for the most part, and it’s not effective during the entire time period that the radiation is being given. The reason is, if you look at the biology of cancer, and you think about the dividing cell, the majority of a cancer mass does not divide at any one time, only about 10% of the cancer.

The clinical implication of this is that one sees the maximum effect of radiation, not during the time of radiation but within three to four weeks after a patient completed radiation therapy. The reason doctors give a small dose initially of 180 to 200 rads is that lower doses, the cell has the ability to repair the damage of the radiation and that is called the sublethal effect.

Mary Jo and I would like to wish all of you, our friends and family a very blessed and Happy Easter

A Very Good Friday

The last radiation treatment today

Mary Jo and I celebrated her last radiation session appointment today. We are very excited to have this phase of the treatment behind us now. The good doctors and nurses at the Ridges Radiation Therapy Center opened the clinic today so that all the patience could get caught up after missing a session after a technical failure with the equipment a few days ago. The clinic was scheduled to be closed today in observance of Good Friday and the Easter holiday. Mary Jo has told me numerous times that the days have just flown by and the 35 radiation sessions were really not that bad. She experienced all the typical radiation related side effects but rarely ever complained. What a trooper. I am so proud of her.

MJ saying good bye to the wonderful staff at RRTC

Crosswalk 2010

Mary Jo is feeling well today and we attended the annual Good Friday Crosswalk sponsored by Easter Lutheran church. Mary Jo even helped carry the cross on one leg of the 3 mile journey.

More Shaved Heads

I followed up on my promise today and shaved my head so that MJ and I could grow our hair out at the same time and see whose fills in first. Mary Jo has a little head start but I now know who she has felt for the past 9 months sporting the “bald is beautiful” look.

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