It's 1:53 a.m. as I start this post, can't sleep. Dang Decadron (steroid) that they gave me today has got me so wired I've been tossing and turning for hours. I've got to be quiet not to wake the rest of the household for then Sammy will start barking and all hell will break loose. Don't want that.
Today Johnny went to chemo with me. I always feel bad that it's so boring, but he knew what he was getting himself into and I think it makes him feel good to spend that time with me. He brought a movie and we sat and watched it together. I dosed off a little bit as he finished it up, but he didn't seem to mind.
When we first got to chemo there was a cute little card and necklace waiting for me from Sonia who couldn't make it today. She had a dog-tag made for me with a pink ribbon on the front and it says "Faith", along with beads and some engraving on the back. The back reads..."Genie - Believe in Him...and remember your strength. Love, ♥ Sonia" I was so excited, it's the perfect gift, very personal. What a great friend she is. Thank you Sonia.
Well, I think I'm going to try and do some very quiet housework, that should definitely make me want to go to sleep! haha :)
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Schedule...
My finger is looking much better, I'm still on the antibiotic, but the nurse assessed it and Dr. Hui gave me the okay to have chemo today.
I've had people wonder what my schedule is like and since it's so crazy, I thought I'd post it:
Today, Friday, 5/14 * 9:00 - 2:00 (5 hours) - start of cycle # 7, 19th chemo
Friday, 5/21 * 2:00 - 4:00/4:30 (2+ hours)
Friday, 5/28 * 2:30 - 5:00/5:30 (2.5+ hours)
~~~~
Wednesday, 6/02 * 9:30 (CT Scan)
Friday, 6/04 * 10:30 (Bone Scan) - NO Chemo this week
~~~~
Thursday, 6/10 * 9:00 (visit with Dr. Hui)
Friday, 6/11 * 9:00 - 2:00/2:30 (5+ hours) - start of cycle # 8, 22nd chemo
At this point they will give me the next schedule.
The other day at the walk, somebody approached me and handed me a "Pink Prayer Book" and said that I could probably use it. I've read from it a couple of times and would like to share a prayer from a survivor:
No reason to worry, I keep telling myself. Cancer is something that happens to other people. But within twenty-four hours of a simple biopsy, my life lies shattered before me as I struggle with the positive results. With every fiber of my being, I am fearful, desperate. I try to remember everything I have ever heard about chemotherapy and radiation, and I question whether I am strong enough to keep fighting. To keep fighting when my hair falls out. To keep fighting when I am nauseated from the drugs. In my heart, O God, I know I can do this only with your help, that cancer will be just a steppingstone along my journey's path and not a boulder blocking my way. That with the help of family, friends, and faith, I will continue to put my trust in God's plan and take one day at a time.
Hear my plea, O God, I pray.
Guide my steps along the way.
My faith in you will calm my fear
Yours is the voice I long to hear.
Lift the darkness and shine your light
Give me strength to finish the fight. - Therese Swarts Iverson, Survivor
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
I've had people wonder what my schedule is like and since it's so crazy, I thought I'd post it:
Today, Friday, 5/14 * 9:00 - 2:00 (5 hours) - start of cycle # 7, 19th chemo
Friday, 5/21 * 2:00 - 4:00/4:30 (2+ hours)
Friday, 5/28 * 2:30 - 5:00/5:30 (2.5+ hours)
~~~~
Wednesday, 6/02 * 9:30 (CT Scan)
Friday, 6/04 * 10:30 (Bone Scan) - NO Chemo this week
~~~~
Thursday, 6/10 * 9:00 (visit with Dr. Hui)
Friday, 6/11 * 9:00 - 2:00/2:30 (5+ hours) - start of cycle # 8, 22nd chemo
At this point they will give me the next schedule.
The other day at the walk, somebody approached me and handed me a "Pink Prayer Book" and said that I could probably use it. I've read from it a couple of times and would like to share a prayer from a survivor:
No reason to worry, I keep telling myself. Cancer is something that happens to other people. But within twenty-four hours of a simple biopsy, my life lies shattered before me as I struggle with the positive results. With every fiber of my being, I am fearful, desperate. I try to remember everything I have ever heard about chemotherapy and radiation, and I question whether I am strong enough to keep fighting. To keep fighting when my hair falls out. To keep fighting when I am nauseated from the drugs. In my heart, O God, I know I can do this only with your help, that cancer will be just a steppingstone along my journey's path and not a boulder blocking my way. That with the help of family, friends, and faith, I will continue to put my trust in God's plan and take one day at a time.
Hear my plea, O God, I pray.
Guide my steps along the way.
My faith in you will calm my fear
Yours is the voice I long to hear.
Lift the darkness and shine your light
Give me strength to finish the fight. - Therese Swarts Iverson, Survivor
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Catching Up...
Boy, a lot has been going on lately and I need to catch you up to speed. First of all, my antibiotics have been working and my finger is doing much better. My chemo is back on track for this Friday after having to postpone it last week because of the infection.
I mentioned that Jordan and I worked the door at the fundraiser the other day @ Ettore's, well, I didn't know at the time how much money was brought in that night for our team. Drum role please....$9,500.00!! Can you believe that? With all the donations and fundraisers put together, we're closing in on $30,000.00 earned for Susan G. Komen and the fight against breast cancer!! And that's just our team alone! Thank you to everyone who donated, it really does make a difference and now more than ever before, I TRULY appreciate it. Sonia Susac ~ thank you for being such a great team leader and friend, you alone make a world of difference.
We walked this past weekend at the "14th Annual Komen Sacramento Race for the Cure" at Cal Expo, along with I think it was 22,000 people (give or take a few). John, Monica, Jordan and I all took the shorter approach and walked 1 mile. We didn't exactly follow the crowd, so I'm assuming it was approximately a mile that we walked. At any rate, it was overwhelming to say the least. Just the feeling you get when you look into a sea of pink shirts & hats, and know that they're there for you, is just incredible. I only saw a few women who looked as though they were undergoing treatment (like myself), it was mainly women who had already won this battle, or so it seemed. That alone was inspiring to me. Whenever I feel down, I just think of all the women (and men) who have fought like hell and beat this demon called cancer. I am looking forward to coming out a winner.
And the last thing I want to mention is that tonight there was a final fundraiser for our group and it was at The Old Spaghetti Factory in my honor. My awesome team leader, Sonia, arranged it with OSF, made some flyers, passed them out to many people and whomever came in with the flyer between certain business hours donated 15% of their total bill to our team (in my name). Jordan and I went and had dinner, while we mingled with the guests who came to support our cause. John was already working, so he stopped by occasionally. Johnny decided to stay at home and do homework, but he was with us in spirit. I hope it ends up being worth everyone's time and energy. I appreciate all the work that was involved :)
Today I want to mention the power of PRAYER. Thank you to everyone who keeps me in their thoughts and PRAYERS. It is all of you who keep me strong and focused. Without you, I wouldn't be as strong. There is no I in "team" and together I think we make a pretty powerful one. Thank you for all of your support over the past 8 months.
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
I mentioned that Jordan and I worked the door at the fundraiser the other day @ Ettore's, well, I didn't know at the time how much money was brought in that night for our team. Drum role please....$9,500.00!! Can you believe that? With all the donations and fundraisers put together, we're closing in on $30,000.00 earned for Susan G. Komen and the fight against breast cancer!! And that's just our team alone! Thank you to everyone who donated, it really does make a difference and now more than ever before, I TRULY appreciate it. Sonia Susac ~ thank you for being such a great team leader and friend, you alone make a world of difference.
We walked this past weekend at the "14th Annual Komen Sacramento Race for the Cure" at Cal Expo, along with I think it was 22,000 people (give or take a few). John, Monica, Jordan and I all took the shorter approach and walked 1 mile. We didn't exactly follow the crowd, so I'm assuming it was approximately a mile that we walked. At any rate, it was overwhelming to say the least. Just the feeling you get when you look into a sea of pink shirts & hats, and know that they're there for you, is just incredible. I only saw a few women who looked as though they were undergoing treatment (like myself), it was mainly women who had already won this battle, or so it seemed. That alone was inspiring to me. Whenever I feel down, I just think of all the women (and men) who have fought like hell and beat this demon called cancer. I am looking forward to coming out a winner.
And the last thing I want to mention is that tonight there was a final fundraiser for our group and it was at The Old Spaghetti Factory in my honor. My awesome team leader, Sonia, arranged it with OSF, made some flyers, passed them out to many people and whomever came in with the flyer between certain business hours donated 15% of their total bill to our team (in my name). Jordan and I went and had dinner, while we mingled with the guests who came to support our cause. John was already working, so he stopped by occasionally. Johnny decided to stay at home and do homework, but he was with us in spirit. I hope it ends up being worth everyone's time and energy. I appreciate all the work that was involved :)
Today I want to mention the power of PRAYER. Thank you to everyone who keeps me in their thoughts and PRAYERS. It is all of you who keep me strong and focused. Without you, I wouldn't be as strong. There is no I in "team" and together I think we make a pretty powerful one. Thank you for all of your support over the past 8 months.
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Update to Side Effects...
Well, Dr. Hui says my finger is badly infected and it's not a side effect from chemo. How did it get infected? I'm thinking it was the manicure and that somehow one of her tools that she used must have caused the infection. That, or she filed my nails and perhaps that's how the bacteria spread. Who knows. All I know is that it's very difficult to type right now and so this blog will be short. Dr. Hui put me on some heavy duty antibiotic (Clindamycin) and also prescribed Culturelle so that the medication won't destroy my intestines while killing the infection. Yahoo. This has caused my chemotherapy to be postponed until next week, which is a bummer because I don't like to delay anything that is killing my cancer. However, due to the fact that the race is on Saturday, it might be a blessing in disguise. I will actually get a good night's sleep and I know I'll feel good this weekend.
Let's think HEALING THOUGHTS together in hopes that not only will my finger get better, but at the same time...heck, let's heal me from cancer!!
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Let's think HEALING THOUGHTS together in hopes that not only will my finger get better, but at the same time...heck, let's heal me from cancer!!
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Side Effects...
They've warned me of many side effects from the chemo, but this one is weird. A couple weeks ago I treated myself to a manicure. No clipping, no filing, just a basic polish. I noticed a couple days ago that the ring finger on my left hand was sore, tingly, and looking weird so I removed all the polish on Tuesday. What I found underneath was small black dots on my other fingers (which I was warned about) and on my ring finger, it was almost purple. Now (a couple days later) it's very swollen and it's purple and white. Very strange looking, as if I've had some type of trauma to my finger. Unless somebody took a hammer to it in my sleep, I don't recall anything happening to it. However, I go to see Dr. Hui at 9:30 this morning and hopefully she'll be able to help me with this one. I hope I don't get a shot :(
Today is about PERSEVERANCE. I will fight this cancer head on without looking back. Maybe there are side effects, so what! We'll deal with them as they come. Bring 'em on!
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Today is about PERSEVERANCE. I will fight this cancer head on without looking back. Maybe there are side effects, so what! We'll deal with them as they come. Bring 'em on!
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Love...♥
Sure enough, Saturday came and Jordan & I worked the door at Ettore's for the fundraiser. It was SO much fun to get out of the house and actually work. If you recall, I met John when we were working in the restaurant together, so it's in my blood. Of all the jobs that I've ever had, I've got to say working in a restaurant has got to be my all time favorite. There's something about working with the public and truly making that personal connection with somebody, that I miss the most. Jordan and I worked from 3:00 - 7:00 and had a blast. It wasn't until the next day did my body start to ache. My feet hurt so bad that I was walking like an old woman, barely able to put pressure on them :( I've got to remember that although my mind is feeling good, my body can hardly keep up these days. I'm kind of nervous about the walk this coming Saturday, but I know that adrenaline will keep me going. All I have to walk is 1 mile (unlike most people who are walking the 5K). I'll just have to stay in bed on Mother's Day to recuperate.
Thank you for all who voted for me for the Honorary Bat Girl Contest through Major League Baseball. They announced the winners today and my name was not among those who won. However, there's always next year :) We'll start working on our story and have it top-notch by the time we need to submit it.
Today I want to think about LOVE. Ever since being diagnosed, people have come out of the woodwork to show their support to me. It's amazing. I truly never thought I was LOVED that much, nor did I believe I could LOVE as much as I do now. I not only LOVE my family today, but I've grown to LOVE more and more friends, doctors, nurses, people I've come in contact, etc. It's a LOVE-fest :)
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
Thank you for all who voted for me for the Honorary Bat Girl Contest through Major League Baseball. They announced the winners today and my name was not among those who won. However, there's always next year :) We'll start working on our story and have it top-notch by the time we need to submit it.
Today I want to think about LOVE. Ever since being diagnosed, people have come out of the woodwork to show their support to me. It's amazing. I truly never thought I was LOVED that much, nor did I believe I could LOVE as much as I do now. I not only LOVE my family today, but I've grown to LOVE more and more friends, doctors, nurses, people I've come in contact, etc. It's a LOVE-fest :)
Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie
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