Mayor's Wife Leaves Hospital Smiling

Biopsy of bone lesion won't be known until next week

The First Lady of Chicago's cancer battle continues.

Mayor Richard Daley's wife, Maggie, had outpatient surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital today as part of her ongoing treatment for metastatic breast cancer. 

With a wave and a smile, Maggie Daley left Northwestern around 11 a.m., her husband at her side.  The mayor said everything went well.

"I feel great," she told NBC Chicago.

Dr. Steve Rosen, a leading cancer specialist at the hospital who oversees Maggie Daley's care, performed a biopsy of a bone lesion on her spine under local anesthesia, meaning Mrs. Daley was conscious.

“She’s doing wonderfully well. This is just another stage in the process of determining the next steps in her treatment,” said Rosen, who has been Maggie Daley's physician since her diagnosis in 2002.

In July of 2006, the mayor's wife had surgery to remove a tumor in her right breast. Since then, her cancer has been stable and well-controlled using modern therapies.

"It's a wonderful example of how modern therapy can control this disease and make it a chronic illness," Rosen said at an afternoon news conference.  "She's had the most active life, traveling all over the world and feeling fine.  We've been able to use the therapeutic approach to allow her to have a very normal life."

Rosen said if you'd asked him seven years ago how he thought Mrs. Daley would be doing today, he wouldn't have thought it would be this well.

The results of Wednesday's biopsy won't be known until next week.

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