Good Results

Mary Jo is doing well and recovering at home after a brief surgical biopsy procedure.  The procedure performed on her left breast as an outpatient day surgery at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville by plastic surgeon, Dr. Loung this past week.  The good news is that pathology results of the biopsyed tissue tested negative for malignant cells and consistent with scar tissue.  Mary Jo had been recently experiencing some pain and noticed a suspicious lump on her left breast (on the scar line from the reconstruction surgery).  We had consulted with Mary Jo's oncologist, Dr Gall and Mary Jo's reconstruction plastic surgeon, Dr Loung last week.  The doctors had both suspected that the questionable tissue was likely going to be scar tissue but the only conclusive option was to biopsy the tissue.  Dr loung said she wanted to do the procedure herself verses having a radiologist performing a less invasive needle biopsy.  Dr Loung made a small 1 1/2 -2" incision to get a good look inside the suspect area and removed a dime size piece of tissue for the pathology review.   Mary Jo will be going in for a follow up visit to Dr Loung on Tuesday and will have the stitches removed.  Mary Jo and I are very happy to be 100% sure that this was not cancer.

Rock The Pink 2011




Mary Jo, Kevin, Richard Moody





October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Mary Jo and I want to thank Richard Moody and his team (Jodi & Lou) for all their hard work and dedication in producing the 2011 "ROCK THE PINK" party.  The event is a great party with the purpose of raising lots of money by means of a silent action in support of Delta Airlines employees who are battling cancer.  Last year Mary Jo was one of the benefactors and this year we were fortunate to able to attend and contribute.  Mary Jo received good news from her oncologist, Dr Mathew Gall last Friday at her quarterly check up.  All of Mary Jo's blood work labs reported normal.  Dr Gall gave Mary Jo a complete physical examination and he is very pleased with Mary Jo's progress.  Mary Jo is due for one more quarterly examine around December were she will get a full examination, chest x-ray, blood work and a bone density scan (Dexiscan) and a Mugascan.  With the anticipated clear report at that two year post chemo milestone, Mary Jo will graduate to seeing her oncologist on a once every six month schedule.  This is a really big milestone for survivors and feel so blessed to be nearing this milestone date.  Mary Jo is feeling good and doing very well.  She is packing right now getting ready for her trip (working) to Amsterdam this evening.




Jodi Zueger, Mary Jo

 

Twin Cities 3 Day For The Cure



Mary Jo in front of the stated capital at the closing ceremony

 

Mary Jo and I volunteered again this year to be "Crew" members for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day For The Cure.  This years Twin Cities event was held this past weekend, August 19-21.  It involved 2100 walkers and 425 crew, covered 60 miles over three days and together we raised over $5 million to fight breast cancer.  Mary Jo and I along with two close friends, Randy and Nichole were assigned to "Route Hydration".  We as a team were responsible to supply and re-supply water and sports drinks to all the "pit stops" and "grab-n-go's" along the 60 mile, 3 day route to support the walkers.  My crew did a great job.  I am not going to lie, it was a lot of heavy lifting, starting very early in the morning and working late into the day but it was all worth it.  Mary Jo did a great job (so did Randy and Nichole) and was even selected to be among the 20 survivors in the closing ceremony to come down from the main stage to the center ring, a real honor. 

I was honored to be recognized during the Friday evening entertainment show at camp as the "Top Crew Fundraiser" for the second year in a row.  With your help we raised $6445 for the 2011 3 Day thanks to all of you how generously donated.


Kevin accepting award as "Top Crew Fundraiser"

 

Ready for the 3 Day

Mary Jo is doing well days.  The negative side effects from her chemo and radiation treatments such as "chemo brain" (memory loss, difficulty concentrating) aching muscles and joints, constant feeling of exhaustion all the are slowly but surely diminishing.  Mary Jo has been back to work at Delta Airline since June and jumped right back into flying international trips to Amsterdam.  She will continue to take a daily dose for 4 more years of Anastrozole the generic name for Arimidex which is a class of medications called nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitors. It works by decreasing the amount of estrogen Mary Jo's body makes. This drug can slow or stop the growth of many types of breast cancer cells that need estrogen to grow and  Mary Jo's cancer was estrogen receptor positive.  The drug has side some effects but Mary Jo is tolerating it well. 

Mary Jo and I are preparing for this weekends big event, the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure.  We have been doing everything we can to raise money and awareness to this important cause and we have just a few days left to reach our fundraising goal.   Mary Jo and I want to thank everyone who has already contributed.  If you would like to donate, just click here or click on the "Donate" link to the right. 

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days, August 19-21. Mary Jo and I have volunteered to serve as road crew members and our job title is "route hydration". Our four member team will be responsible for supplying and re-supplying water and sports drinks along the route to all the walkers at this year’s event.  The events public opening and closing ceremonies are a very powerful emotionally and I would highly recommend you try to attend one or both this year.  Opening ceremony is held in Edina, Friday morning at 7:00 am in the south east corner of the parking lot at Southdale shopping center and the closing ceremony is held Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm in front of the sate capital in St Paul.

Good Check Up

Mary Jo had her three month check up with Dr. Gall on Wednesday at Dr Gall's Burnsville office of Minnesota Oncology.  Dr Gall did a complete blood lab work along with a case review and follow up questioning with Mary Jo and he gave Mary Jo a through physical examination.  Oncologists are very interested in any possible new changes to the body that Mary Jo could be experiencing such as soreness, tenderness, weight loss or swelling .  Any of these symptoms would suggest much more in depth testing but Mary Jo continues to improve as time goes on without any of the tell tale symptoms.  Dr Gall gave Mary Jo a clean check up and said there are still no signs of cancer in her body.  She will continue to take Aremidex for the next four years and be monitored closely every three months until she gets to her two year mark, a milestone in cancer recovery.  After she reaches her two year anniversary after treatment, she will be monitored every six months.  Mary Jo is doing well these days and were are trying are best to raise money for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day.  We have a very high goal this year so we are urging everyone we know to help if they possibly can.  I know the economy is tough these days so we understand if people can't help financially this year.   If you would like to donate, just click on the link on the "DONATE" link in the right column.

Happy Birthday

It's Mary Jo's birthday today and we are spending the day with a few friends out boating on the St. Croix river.  Mary Jo says she feels great these days, getting stronger and not so tired anymore and I think she looks beautiful.  She has returned to work from her 2 year medical leave of absence and has flown three international (Mpls-Amsterdam-Mpls) trips this month.  Mary Jo is scheduling her "every three month" (June) oncology checkup appointment with her oncologist, Dr Gall and I hope to be updating the blog with the clean results from the check up soon after that appointment.

First Day Back To Work

Mary Jo is back.  She has completed all her cancer treatments and surgeries and all her airline retraining and re-qualification.  Mary Jo has not flown since June 25th 2009 but today she is back.  She departed a short time ago on her first trip, an international trip to Amsterdam and she returns on Sunday afternoon to Minneapolis.  She was excited and feeling pretty good and rested for her trip today.  Mary Jo's oncologist, Dr Gall recommends that Mary Jo wear the special compression sleeve on her right arm when ever Mary Jo is on an airplane (in a pressurized cabin) for any period of time, especially long international trips.  The prescribed sleeve was custom made for Mary Jo a few months ago and wearing the sleeve will help reduce the chances of developing Lymphedema, a non lethal but disfiguring swelling condition that could occur.  Mary Jo had 22 lymph nodes removed from her right arm pit with 9 testing positive for cancer.



Mary Jo's first trip after returning to Delta