Helping Out and Having Fun

Mary Jo is flying to Orlando this morning to help out the Holmes family on Jon's "wish trip".  Jon expressed his wish to Laura last week while lying in a hospital bed.  He said "I am ready to go, I want to take my little girl to Disney World".  Friends of Jon and Laura pulled together last week to make it possible for Jon to take his family on a very special trip to Disney World.  A special Jon B Holmes Wish Fund was established to handle cash donations.  The biggest challenge was getting Jon to and from Florida so US Bank and Sprint (Jon's business partners) stepped up and donated the corporate plane and crew while neighbors, Brian and Lisa Tonn donated their Villa time share.  Jon would likely not be aloud to travel commercially in his health so the private plane solved the travel issue and Laura's brother Barney, who is a medical doctor was happy to accompany the family and help with Jon's needs.  Campbell is your typical two year old with more energy than all the adults combined so Mary Jo felt very blessed to be able to assist Laura with little Campbell.  Mary Jo has not flown in almost a year and a half and to being a "little uncomfortable" when she first saw the relatively small (for a flight attendant) size of the King Air twin engine aircraft.  She called me from the mid trip fuel stop in Indiana to say she felt much better now about the plane but it is a far cry from a Boeing 747-400.  The just landed in Orlando at 2:10pm and on their way to the theme park now.  Mission accomplished.

Good Check Up

Mary Jo meet with her oncologist, Dr Mathew Gall on Friday for her latest "every three month" check up.  Dr Gall reviewed the results of the blood work (labs), the baseline chest x-ray and the bone density scan.  Mary Jo is doing very well.  The chest x-ray was negative for any visible signs of cancer and the baseline bone density scan was in the normal range, meaning there has been no osteoporosis type side effects from the Arimidex.  All the blood lab work came back in the normal range as well.  Dr. Gall also gave  Mary Jo a complete examination and answered a ton of questions that Mary Jo had been meaning to clarify for some time now. 

Mary Jo will be helping out and escorting her dear friends, Jon and Laura Holmes on a "wish trip" to Disney World tomorrow morning and returning on Wednesday.  Jon is fighting advanced stage 4 colon cancer.  With the help of some very generous friends pulling some strings, Laura put together a last minute trip so Jon and his family (and Mary Jo) can see little baby girl Campbell enjoying Disney World for her first time with her daddy.  Friends donations included a private plane, a villa in Orlando and tickets to the theme park.  Simply amazing.  You can following Jon's blog at jonbholmes.blogspot.com

A Few Tests Before Friday



Mary Jo's oncologist, Dr. Mathew Gall ordered a few scans for Mary Jo prior to her second 3 month check up and review on Friday.  The first scan procedure was a bone density scan at Minnesota Radiology in Burnsville on Tuesday morning.  This was the first bone density scan for Mary Jo and Dr. Gall will use the results of the scan as a baseline to monitor over time the side effects of the powerful anti cancer drug Arimidex.  The drug is perscribed for adjuvant treatment (treatment following surgery with or without radiation) of postmenopausal women like Mary Jo, with hormone receptor-positive or HER2+  breast cancer.   If Arimidex causes a detrimental effect on Mary Jo's bone density over time, the effects can be reversed by prescribing the drug Boniva.  BONIVA is a prescription medicine used to treat or prevent osteoporosis in women after menopause.  The second procedure prescribed was for Mary Jo to get a baseline chest x-ray.  We were able to get a walk in appointment on Tuesday at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville for the quick procedure and the results will be available on Friday.  Mary Jo is feeling fine today with the exception of a nagging chest cold.  Her immune system is still weakened from the cumulative effects of a year and a half of chemo and radiation treatments but she is in good spirits and looking forward to spring.


Mary Jo at radiology