Service for Genie

For any of you that would like to attend, if you haven't heard, Genie's service will be on Saturday, March 3rd @ 11:00. It is going to held at The Arcade Church located at 3927 Marconi Avenue here in Sacramento.

Also, by the end of the day today I should had the account information for the account I am having opened for the kids. Thanks to all of you for your support.

Love you Genie!

Gone Home To Be With Her Mom

Genie passed away Monday morning at 6:10. She was with her son and myself. Her battle with breast cancer is over.

For the past couple of years plus, she had filled this space with her challenges and successes. At time, they were happy and sometimes sad and angry. But that was the life she led. She was amazed by how many people followed her blog on a daily basis. Like she mentioned in her very first blog, this started because she wanted to do this for Johnny and Jordan. Little did she know what she had started. She used to get emails when she didn't blog in a while. People would ask if she were okay. Most of the time she was just too busy to take the time to write. As of now, there are 41 "followers" of her blog, but I know that number is so much higher. She was an inspiration to so many. I have heard from two teenagers about the impact she made on their lives. She talked to them like adults and about the real life concerns, even at such young ages, that breast cancer is.

She never stopped caring till the very end. I am convinced that she did not pass on Sunday for one reason. She knew it was her time, but Sunday was Jordan's 15th birthday. She knew that that was not the right way for Jordan to remember her passing. She never stopped giving, she never stopped caring. That was Genie!!!

I know there are many people that want to reach out and support us. I say thanks to all of you. We will be having a service/memorial for her and I will probably post one more time with that information. As for support, I know one of her sister-in-laws Sheryl, is setting up an account for the kids. If you would like that information, send an email to me @ sacgiantsfan1@comcast.net and I will get information for you.

Thanks to all of you for your support of my wife and soul mate!!! Genie, until we meet again, I love you with all of my heart!!!

Peace be with you all~John

Hey I'm back, For Now......

I haven't blogged in forever because I just haven't had the energy to do so, sorry everyone. I don't know if it's the chemo that I'm on, or the cancer is just starting to wear on me, but my body is definitely tired. I've been fighting this struggle for 2 1/3 years now and it's starting to really wear on me. I have a constant cough because of the nodules in my lungs, which makes life really difficult to breath. When I'm not coughing, I'm trying to catch my breath, and if you can imagine how fun that is...well, it's not. Each day I wake up and I'm surprised to still be here. I'm not trying to say that I'm giving up, but I am getting pretty tired of this fight, it's hard, very hard now. I decided to tell Dr. Rohatgi that I didn't want the bone & ct scans that he had ordered for this week, that it was just too much for me. I told him that maybe next month after my chemo we could do it. Maybe. I don't know what to do at this point but pray, hopefully God will tell me whether or not it's almost my time. Either way, I will be with those who love me. I just want to feel comfortable again and able to breath without struggling. Please pray for me to find peace.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palm Ave,Sacramento,United States

What's up With That?...

Okay, according to doctor's orders, the First Round of my First Cycle was unusual and that it went accordingly:

Day 1-3 went to spend a few days with Luanne and Janice in San Jose, came home Day 3 (Wednesday night), feeling just a bit tired, from long trip.
Day 4 starting to feel lethargic and not too well (Thursday).
Day 5 started to feel run down and stayed in bed most of day, then nausea and vomiting started in evening and spent the entire evening sick (Friday).
Day 6 spent entire day vomiting (Saturday - Christmas Eve).
Day 7 finally came out of the bedroom and spent time with family, still didn't eat for fear of bringing it back up (Sunday). Family came from San Jose to exchange gifts and thank goodness things were a bit better.
Day 8 back to semi-normal (Monday).

Fast Forward to this 2nd Round of my First Cycle:

Day 1 went fine (Monday).
Day 2 went back in for Blood Transfusion (Tuesday) and proceeded to feel nauseated. Half way through Blood Transfusion I started vomiting and did so throughout my entire treatment and on to home. It wasn't until about midnight did I wake up feeling great!
Day 3 was going to cancel my appointment with my arm surgeon post-op, but felt great this morning and didn't need to (Wednesday).

Now, come day 5 and 6, I'd BETTER not be back in bed with vomiting, I'll scream!! Let's hope this is how my new cycle is going to go, that would be great!

By the way, the arm surgeon loved the progress that arm had taken and that he said it was healing properly! He said that it was starting to show white on my x-ray (which is new bone growth) and that he can't wait to see the progress in another 6 weeks). He says that it looks like the chemo is starting to work with it :) YEAY!!!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Okay...Okay...I'm Back...

So I didn't post for multiple reasons. First, my arm is still recovering (and looking good if I say so myself! I put my earrings on for the first time in weeks, maybe months all by myself)! Next, it was the holidays and well, even for those who don't have shopping lists up to their knees, christmas cards to send out, holiday cookies to make, and cancer to fight off, it's a tough time of year! After 5 days from my treatment, I had HORRIBLE nausea and vomitting. Horrible. Today I went for my 1st cycle, 2nd treatment and Dr. Rohatgi said that it was way too late for that to have been from the chemo. He said I must have caught the flu because I should have been sick 1-2 days from chemo, not 5 days out. My tumor marker was high again, but he assured me that the chemo would bring it down. I also talked with him about my rapid weight loss and he prescribed me something for my appetite. I SURE HOPE IT works!! I've lost 80.8 lbs down from the start, and honestly, I don't have a whole lot more I want to lose!! Okay....it can stop anytime now.

I will let you all know in a day or two how my nausea and voitting are going :) Last time, there wasn't a problem at all. And on day 5, hopefully I won't mysteriously come down with the "flu" again!

Peace to you all <3 Love, Genie

Ixempra - Cycle 1, day 1...

I met with Dr. Rohatgi yesterday and he agreed that since my scans were SO high, he was putting me back on IV Chemo starting immediately. Sonia and Jordan both accompanied me to my appointment, and since Sonia was afraid we'd forget everything once we left the room, she was kind enough to record it. She actually wanted to send a copy via the internet to Luanne, but I'm not sure how to do that, so since I'm going to be spending a couple days with her this week, I'm just going to bring the recorder for her to listen to. This new IV Chemo will definitely make me lose my hair again, but that's okay because it's getting too long anyway. Sonia says that she couldn't believe I was that cheap if that's what I'm looking forward to :) ...lol. I will have chemotherapy once a week for one week on, then two weeks off. I'm still not sure how long the treatment is, but it's sometime between two and four hours. Usually it depends upon whether or not you've had blood work done ahead of time or not, but we went down to Sutter today to prepare ourselves for the treatment on Monday, but they said that the blood work I had done the other day with my blood transfusion was good enough and that I didn't need to have it done again. However, for my next cycles, I may have to come a day or two early and prepare my blood work for them. Apparently it's a big deal because if we don't have it done ahead of time, they're hours behind on my treatment. Whatever works. I just hate to have my ride (since I'm always at the mercy of somebody driving me - and it's usually Monica) have to wait a long time for nothing. I know how busy Monica is with the kids and the restaurant and all, so I hate to make her wait any longer than she has to. This Monday Monica is going to be bringing her teenage son Frankie with her to spend some quality time together :) I love Frankie, he's a good boy who sometimes helps out at Strings when they need him, but one of his greatest strengths besides his strikingly good looks, is the fact that he can play some serious baseball! Unfortunately we cheer for two opposite teams (Giants vs. A's), but it's all good. We'd just love to see Frankie successful in wherever his dreams take him. Good luck to you Frankie, just keep up those grades and you'll make it.

So...Cycle 1, day 1 starts Monday, December 19, 2011 @ 8:30. It's been about 9 months since my last IV chemo, so I'm a bit nervous. So again, I ask that you pray for me during this difficult time transitioning over to IV, it's not that easy, so I'll need your positive help with this. Also, when at the breast surgeon's office the other day, he said that the tumor in my breast had grown back to be the size that it was originally. It's a bit sore, but hopefully it will shrink with treatment and the pain will subside a bit.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Tim, I look to you for strength and guidance...

As you know my younger brother is Tim and he's going through a pretty difficult time in his life right now. However, a little over two years ago he gave me some words of wisdom that I truly grasp at from time to time with all of my heart and soul. I sometimes grasp so hard at those words of encouragement, that I'm literally white-knuckling my fingers, they are so clenched in prayer. What Tim told me was to never under estimate the power of prayer, and that I should never forget about the power of positive thinking. And with negative thinking, it wouldn't get me anywhere, but would rather do me more harm than good.

Well, Tim, I sure love you and I've been thinking about you and your encouraging words all day. Remember my Tumor Marker that my Oncologist measures every month and keeps an eye on? Well, when I left Kaiser it was barely creeping up on 100, and I believe that was back in May. The standard range on the chart shows that it should be approximately < 38. Last month on 11/09 my count was at 415.2, but when I checked today which was drawn on 12/07 my count was 645.7! It has taken everything in me to stay positive today and have faith in what the doctors are doing, but those numbers sure do scare me...a lot.

And without "airing his dirty laundry" as my Dad would always say, I pray that you get through this difficult time in your life with dignity and respect. And remember to "never under estimate the power of prayer & definitely don't forget the power of positive thinking".

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States