Feeling Good

Mary Jo is recovering at home and improving more everyday from her most recent surgery last Tuesday.  She is feeling pretty good today and she claims to be almost pain free just six days since she underwent two simultaneous surgeries for the removal of her Purple Power Port and for the second and final stage of breast reconstruction after last year’s radical mastectomy which her surgeons remove both of her breasts.   Mary Jo had discovered on July 4th of 2009 what turned out to be a 2.2 cm Invasive Lobular Carcinoma ILC tumor on her right breast and a 9mm Invasive Ductal Carcinoma or IDC (which is a different type of invasive breast cancer) in Mary Jo's left breast.  Here we are a little more than a year later and we are thankfully looking at a beautiful bright light at the end of what was a long dark tunnel.  Today is undeniably a time to celebrate but we will continue to be vigilant with oncology doctor follow up visits for years to come because Mary Jo was a stage IIIb cancer patient.  She cancer had a number of elements that continue to make her a high risk patient,  such as MJ is  HER2+, carries the BRCA2 mutation, had a 2.2 cm ILC tumor that had spread to 9 lymph nodes and she unclear surgical margins on the 9 mm IDC tumor.  The next doctor visit will be a routine follow up visit with Dr Luong (Mary Jo's plastic surgeon) next week to see how Mary Jo is doing post op.  Mary Jo and I feel very blessed to have so many friends and family praying for the wonderful outcome that god has blessed us with throughout this most challenging year and a half of our lives so far.


Kevin and Mary Jo today



All Done, All Good

Mary Jo is doing well and resting at home this afternoon.  Mary Jo went into the Burnsville Fairview Ridges Hospital O.R. today at precisely 9:20am.  Her plastic surgeon, Dr. Jacquline Luong performed the last stage of the two stage breast reconstruction surgery after the mastectomy by removing the temporary tissue expander's and replacing them with the permanent Mentor memory gel silicone implants.  Dr Luong also surgically removed the Power Port, which was vital throughout Mary Jo's 52 weeks of I.V. chemo therapy and Herceptin treatments.  Dr. Luong called me into the briefing room at 10:15am to explain that everything went well during the surgery and that Mary Jo will be in the post op recovery for an additional hour and a half before being moved into a stage II recovery room.  Once she is moved to a stage II recovery room, myself, Diane, my mother Del and Jamie would be able to see Mary Jo prior to her being released to go home.  Mary Jo is such a trooper.  She is not complaining of any significant pain.  She said the only thing that was bugging her was the incisions from the removal of the power port, which is a few inches below her left clavicle.  We want to thank everyone for all the prayers sent our way.  Everything went better than expected during the procedure today and we know all the prayers were answered.

Mary Jo and Jamie in recovery

Surgery Day

Mary Jo is in the operating room at the Burnsville Fairview Ridges Hospital right now.  She was in very good spirits, laughing and telling jokes with her mom and her sister Michelle in the pre-op.  Our plastic surgeon, Dr. Luong is running about 30 minutes behind schedule from her previous surgery so the actual surgery started at 9:20am.  Dr. Luong explained to Mary Jo and I in pre-op that the surgical procedure is expected to take about an hour and a half and then Mary Jo will be in post-op recovery for about an hour.  Dr. Luong will brief me in the O.R. consultation room after she completes the surgery. 


MJ in the hospital lobby





MJ going into surgery at 9:20am



MJ joking around in pre-op

Last Pre Op Physical

Mary Jo had a pre op physical today at 3pm at the Farmington Fairview Clinic.  We were fortunate that the clinic staff was able to squeeze us in at the last moment.  Mary Jo woke up this morning and told me that she had completely forgot to schedule an  appointment for the physical, which is required prior to her scheduled surgery tomorrow morning.  The attending physician at the clinic said everything "looked good" and Mary Jo is cleared for the reconstruction surgery.  The reconstruction surgery will be performed Mary Jo's plastic surgeon, Dr. Jacquline Luong from Midwest Plastic Surgery tomorrow morning at the Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.  The surgery is expected to take less than two hours and we are anticipating that Mary Jo will spend an hour or so in post op before being released from the hospital.  Mary Jo is resting this evening and excited to be entering this final phase of surgical procedures. 

Delta's Pink 767 and the Survivors in 2010

The Big Pink Plane

Mary Jo, along with about one hundred ten fellow Delta employees, all of whom are breast cancer survivors, were honored by Delta Airlines with a very special and emotional event held yesterday (September 30th).  The multi city event honored these special ladies and also helped mark the kick off October, which is officially breast cancer awareness month.  Delta is a huge supporter of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and has a lofty goal of raising one million dollars for this cause in the month of October through donations, sales of special merchandise and on board sales of special items.  The breast cancer survivors were all hand selected and flown to Atlanta from around the system on Wednesday.  Thursday morning the ladies started the day with a special ceremony held in Atlanta.  The ladies along with CEO Richard Anderson and many of the top brass then boarded a specially painted pink Boeing 767 and were flown to Detroit for a second ceremony.  The ladies were treated like royalty and wined & dinned on board the aircraft.  After the Detroit ceremony, they all boarded the same pink plane and flew on to MSP.  Mary Jo's friend, Jamie Page used her Delta connections to get me into the secure hanger so I could see Mary Jo's pink plane pull into the huge hanger and cheer for all the ladies as they deplaned the big "pink plane".   



Delta breast cancer survivors



It was a very emotional experience seeing all the survivors in pink standing on the airstairs of the pink 767.  A special final reception was held in the hanger before the ladies boarded buses and were shuttled downtown to the Raddisson for a cocktail reception happy hour and hotel rooms for every survivor.  To top off the special day, the ladies were all given Twins tickets to Target Field to attend a Twin-Blue Jays game.  Mary Jo and I had an incredible evening experiencing Target Field on a beautiful fall evening. 




MJ and Kevin at Target Field