Tumor Board...

So it's been almost a week now and the patch is working pretty good...now that I'm actually wearing the patch and not just the cover :)

I emailed Dr. Hui again in regards to surgery and apparently she'd left a message on my voicemail at work. Since I didn't work at all last week, I didn't realize that she'd called. She said that after speaking with Dr. Bodai, they've decided to take my case to the "Tumor Board" to discuss whether or not I will be having surgery to remove the tumor in my breast or not. The Tumor Board meets the 4th week of the month and they've already met for June, so we'll have to wait for the July meeting in order to find out. Sheesh!!

So...here we go, about to start my 9th month of chemotherapy. I've had 24 treatments so far. I'm currently off this week, but will see Dr. Hui on 7/07 for a check-up and start treatment #25 on 7/08. Last night I went to my first Kaiser Breast Cancer Support Group, which is run by the Oncology Social Worker, however, nobody showed up other than myself :( He said that there's usually a regular group of gals (4-5 of them) and that maybe the weather kept them home...it was well over 100 degrees yesterday. Although it was just the two of us, I'm still glad that I went. I was able to find out a little bit about the group and where it's located for the next meeting. He said that he's planning on having some key speakers and key topics for the meetings which sounded very interesting. There's no meeting next week (due to the holiday), but I'm looking forward to the following week.

Today is a new day and I'm HAPPY to be alive!!

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

Duh...

Okay, so I'm 43 years old and experiencing early menopause thanks to chemotherapy....yay. Although I LOVE never having another menstrual cycle, the hot flashes are killing me!! Hang in there boys, I'm done talking about the gross part. So I went to Dr. Hui a couple weeks ago and she prescribed me a patch that would help me through the hot flashes. If you've never experienced these, you're lucky. They're just how they're described....hot and in a flash. It wouldn't be so bad, but the weather lately in Sacramento has been in the mid 90's everyday + hot flashes on top of that brings me to well over 100 degrees :( at any given time throughout the day without warning, and it happens a lot.

Okay, so we go and fill the prescription and last Thursday I applied the first weekly patch. I just reached inside the box and pulled out a little packet and slapped it on my back side. Last night I was complaining to John saying that this STUPID patch wasn't working and that I couldn't stand this any longer. In a calm and soothing voice (as usual) he says for me to relax and let the medication start working, that sometimes things take a little while. I thought for sure an entire week would be enough time for this to start working. So today I pulled out the prescription and took all the contents out of the box and noticed for the first time that there were 8 packets, 4 were colorful and 4 were plain with big bold writing on them. The writing clearly reads...

Contents: 1 ADHESIVE COVER

WARNING

THIS DOES NOT CONTAIN

ACTIVE MEDICATION.

APPLY OVER THE PATCH,

IF NECESSARY.

This was what I applied to my skin and left on for an entire week!!! We got a good chuckle out of this ~ it's no wonder my stupid hot flashes weren't going away :)

I still haven't heard back from Dr. Hui in regards to surgery so I emailed her yesterday. She said that she hasn't had a moment to speak with Dr. Bodai, that either one of them would be in contact with me soon. So....I shall wait to hear back.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

Appointment w/Dr. Bodai...

I feel bad that Luanne drove all the way from San Jose yesterday for a 5 minute visit with Dr. Bodai, but I'm sure glad she did. We got in there and I expected him to set up a date for my surgery, and to say that I would be stopping chemo for awhile prior, to make sure that I would be able to clot the bleeding after surgery, but it didn't go that way. He examined me and couldn't believe the difference in the size of my tumor, it's shrunk a lot!! He said that he liked what he saw and that he honestly didn't see a reason to open me up right now. He said, "why put you through the pain and disfigurement if I don't have to". I explained that I was getting the feeling that Dr. Hui wanted me to have surgery because she was afraid that the chemo would eventually stop working and that the cancer would spread. So he said it would spread everywhere, not just in the tumor, that if that happened, they would consider different chemo drugs to use or a different method of treatment. He still didn't feel comfortable with opening me up, but that since Dr. Hui is on vacation, he would speak with her on Monday and get back with me with the final word. So....this is just his opinion for right now. It's weird because I'd psyched myself out for surgery and was sort of looking forward to some of the cancer being gone, but I'm okay with this decision too, only because what surgeon ever turns down surgery? I emailed him when I got home to see what size it was now and he said that it went from the original size of 5.2 centimeters to 3.7. That's exciting :)

I will keep you all posted when I hear back on Monday.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

Meeting with Dr. Bodai...

Just a couple things tonight. First, I know my blog was super long last time, but I forgot to mention that they put chocolates on our pillows two nights!! Can you believe that place? It was wonderful.

Second, I want to mention (if I haven't already) that I meet with Dr. Bodai tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous. Remember, he is the "God of breast cancer surgery" and even made the Breast Cancer Stamp ~ so I'm in good hands to say the least. I absolutely love and respect this man, so what he says is truly what I'm going to go by. The reason for my meeting is to decide if I will have a mastectomy, a double mastectomy, or no surgery at all. Luanne is driving all the way from San Jose to be there, thank you so much Luanne. She is not only my ears, (in a stressful situation like this) but also a part of my heart. I know that she would be here at every single doctor's visit and all of my chemo appointments if she could, but that's just not possible. However she's always with me in spirit :)

And lastly, if you're looking to watch a Rivercat's game on July 10th, you might see a familiar face out on the mound throwing out the first pitch. Yeah, that would be me :) Kris from Susan G. Komen called and invited me along with a couple other girls from our RAC-PAC group who walked at the Sacramento Race for the Cure, since we raised the most money and because our leader, Sonia Susac ROCKS!! She invited us to the Swing for the Cure night and so now I've got to go out and start practicing....omg!! Maybe I will take you up on that offer Sonia, she offered for her 7 year old son to give me pitching lessons....go Anthony!! As long as I get it over the plate, my family will be proud.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

Camp Challenge (Me-One Foundation)...

Sorry this is so long...

What an exciting weekend! It was us four girls for the weekend (Roberta, Tanya, Jordan, and I). We drove to Petaluma, following mapquest the entire way, hoping and praying it wouldn't get us lost...and it didn't. As we entered the gates, there was a welcoming committee waving and cheering and showing us where to park the car. As we got out they took the keys, unloaded the car, and told us to go and relax. We were introduced to a "temporary" hostess who handed us a couple bags of goodies and t-shirts to go put on as she showed us to our cabin for the weekend. It was more like a dormitory, but whatever. We were in the Eucalyptus dorm. After changing into our shirts, we hurried off to the dining hall to eat dinner and meet some of the families that had just arrived. Friday night's dinner consisted of Salmon, potatoes, salad and asparagus. Afterwards there was vanilla bean ice cream cones :) We mingled around after dinner and listened to the announcements as they went over the agenda for the weekend. It was clear right from the start that you could either have a very busy weekend full of activities (canoeing, rock climbing, archery, face painting, arts & crafts, music, etc.) or you could simply relax and take a nap if you wanted to. Friday night we went over and played music with a large group of people for awhile. It was neat to see all of the different instruments and listen to the beautiful music. We then went and checked out a small improv group, but it ended up not being what we were interested in, so we moved on. At this point I think we went back to the dorms and settled down for the night. The shower situation wasn't the best if you're modest, so we showered whenever nobody was around.

Saturday was a very busy day, starting with a delicious pancake breakfast w/sausage and fresh fruit. Afterwards Jordan went to get her face painted, she chose a cute bumble bee which covered half of her face :) As I went to the spa for my facial and foot treatment, the three girls went to check out the arts & crafts. We met up afterwards and shared what a great time we all had. Since I wanted to do arts & crafts and their spa times weren't until later in the day, we went back to show me their projects that they needed to finish up and I started making things too. We ended up making picture frames, tote bags, bath salts, lavender bags, votive holders, a tie dyed shirt, and decoupage plates!! The motto was that there was no "crappy" crafts :) and they were right! After crafts I was exhausted and needed a nap (since I was coming down from chemo a couple days prior) so I went back to the dorm & Tanya and I both napped while Jordan and Roberta went to Archery. Jordan hit TWO bulls-eyes!! Can you believe that? I wish I would have been there. Apparently it wasn't a baby course either, it was the real thing. Sometime throughout the day we were given a scroll to write down our hopes, dreams, fears, beliefs, whatever we wanted. And then Saturday night after dinner was a "Scroll Ceremony". We sat around (all 35 families) in a huge outside arena and one by one each family came forward and while beautiful music was playing we would tell everyone what we wrote down on our scroll. There weren't rules, you didn't have to read yours, you didn't even have to really tell your story, but it was a nice ceremony to vent and feed off one another. It was a truly beautiful ceremony that really touched our hearts. Every family in one way or another had been affected by cancer and so it was quite moving. When you're done speaking you throw your scroll into the fire. Afterwards (actually on the way out on Sunday) they handed us a tiny vile with ashes inside. It was all the hopes and dreams and thoughts of the 2009 & 2010 scroll ceremony and when you return next year, you dump them back into the fire to be mixed in with next years. It was a very touching ceremony and I wished that John and Johnny had been there to join in. That ceremony alone made me miss my boys like crazy!! After the ceremony we went back to the dorms and as I was cleaning up our room, I accidentally kicked my suitcase which caused my nail to lift up on my big toe. There was blood everywhere! Jordan said that it looked like a crime scene! Roberta went running off to get the doctor and we stood there freaking out, watching it bleed. Dr. Hui warned me not to bleed this weekend because the Avastin that I'm on may not allow it to clot easily and I might be in trouble. Well....I bled. The doctor came and got it under control and it stopped bleeding, but my nail was hardly hanging on. I spent the rest of the weekend in a wheelchair :( It's okay though, I still had a blast. Fast forward to today, my nail is still on, I've just got to be very careful that it doesn't get infected. Apparently "loose" nails are common with Taxol (my other chemo drug).

Lastly, I need to mention our Hostess for the weekend. When we originally drove up on Friday I mentioned to the girls that I recognized one of our greeters, that she looked familiar! And then we were assigned a temporary hostess because ours didn't show up for some reason. Well...the hostess that looked familiar was reassigned to us and it ended up that I knew her from Weight Watchers!! Her name is Marianne Platt and it was great because she spent the entire weekend with us, helping us with whatever we needed. She was wonderful.

Oh, and right before we left they told us to hang on because the volunteers were washing our cars!! How awesome!!

It's good to be home, but I can't wait to go back next year. It was so nice to put aside the cancer for the weekend and truly enjoy myself with good friends and my daughter :)

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

Scan Results...

I met with Dr. Hui on Wednesday and like John has always described her, she was cautiously optimistic. She said that the CT Scan remained the same as last time, but that the Bone Scan showed some slight improvement in and around my spine area. Also, she couldn't find any in my liver this time, which is HUGE. Although we've been doing the chemo awhile now, I believe she knows this journey is far from over, so now is the time for more decisions to be made. She asked me to contact Dr. Bodai and meet with him about the possibility of surgery at this point. I called and left him a message, but we're apparently playing phone tag until I can get an actual appointment with him. She wants me to discuss the pros and cons as to whether or not we should remove the tumor in my breast in the near future. The problem with opening me up is that the Avastin that I'm on has serious side effects of bleeding and clotting. Should they open me up, would they be able to close up the surgery and stop the bleeding? That's the question. We would probably have to stop chemo for awhile prior to surgery and that's where my fears lay. I am very scared to stop chemo right now, for fear that the cancer will spread in the process. This could ultimately be a life or death decision on down the road, and so meeting with Dr. Bodai (whom I have complete faith in) is our next step. Why mess with a good thing? Why can't we just remain on chemo for awhile and since the tumor isn't growing, why can't we just leave it alone? I've asked these questions to Dr. Hui and she just doesn't want the tumor to all of a sudden stop reacting to the chemo and spread. She said that sometimes there aren't warnings and it happens like that. It'll be a hard decision to make, but that's what my faith is for. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and that with the help of my family, friends and the lord, I will ultimately make the right decision and everything will work out. Please continue to pray for me.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

Me-One Foundation...

The other night I got a call from my friend Sonia telling me to hurry up and contact the Me-One Foundation, that there's an opportunity for me and my family/friends to spend a couple days in the wine country (Petaluma to be exact), all expenses paid! Of course I'm learning not to argue with Sonia (she's a lot like Luanne...and if you know Luanne, you don't argue). So I called the Me-One Foundation and left a message telling them that I was interested in some type of program that I'd heard about and that Sonia told me to tell them that Tina referred me. Tina is a mutual friend of ours who has quite the connections within the community. Tina is an inspiration and the person behind me opening up and meeting such wonderful women :) Thank you Tina. So I did as I was told and left the message on their machine. A couple hours later I got a call and was told that all we had to do was fill out an application (which was 11 pages total) and fax it over. However, on the application, it stated that it would be reviewed by a Selection Committee and if we qualified, they would consider us for the opportunity. At this point I wasn't quite sure what this was all about, but I went on-line and read about it. You can too, if you're interested. It actually stands for "Cancer-Zero, Me-One" and it's an absolutely wonderful program. Just like they said, it's an all expense paid weekend (from June 11-13) of pampering and relaxation for the entire family. Again, cancer doesn't affect just the patient, but the entire family. From facials, massages, hand & feet treatments, to sitting around at a campfire toasting marshmallows, it's going to be a blast. They even go as far as taking your luggage and putting it in your little cabin while you enjoy the festivities. Then, when the weekend is coming to an end, they'll load up the car again. I was thrilled that we had a last minute opportunity to get in on this, but it still had to go to the Selection Committee, so I was worried that we wouldn't go after all. So, I went to work the next day and faxed off my application hoping that somehow we'd make it. In the meantime, I emailed the founder of Me-One and she said not to worry, that we're "special guests" and that the committee doesn't even need to look over our application, that we qualify!! Yippee!! So the final approval had to come from Dr. Hui and yesterday I found out that she approved the weekend...thank you Dr. Hui!! There will be Oncology Nurses and an ER Doctor staying at the resort along with us, just in case. I'm so excited :) I was hoping that I'd have my family with me, but unfortunately John has to work and it's just not Johnny's "thing", so he declined. It's ending up being me, Jordan, my friend Roberta and her daughter Tanya. It's going to be lots of fun :) Maybe next year with more planning, I can have the entire family come, I know that John could use some relaxation, that's for sure.

Here's to some peace and quiet!! Yay for a relaxing weekend with the girls :)

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

Bone Scan...

Yippee...it's done!! I tried to not freak myself out too much, but knowing that I've had two of these before, I was not very excited about going in for the Bone Scan this morning. I knew what to expect and so trying to put it out of my mind was the biggest challenge. I got there at 7:30 for my injection and the Technician was extremely patient, going over the entire procedure with me to refresh my memory. He wasn't sure if he would be doing my scan or not, but he wished me well afterwards. When I got home I was instructed by Dr. Hui to take 2 Valium + 2 Hydrocodone (for the pain) to prepare for the scan. Other than that, all I had to do was drink 2-3 glasses of water and return at 10:30. Well, 10:30 came sooner than I expected and we were already back at Kaiser. I was excited to see that the same Technician was going to be doing my scan and that already put me at ease a little bit. He was so thorough in going over everything that it truly got rid of a lot of my anxiety. He even put a total of 5 pillows underneath my knees, head and back to make it more comfortable. Between the medication and saying a few prayers, I managed to get through it without any problem at all :) I am so happy that it's done. I should know the results from both scans when I see Dr. Hui on Wednesday.

I have said from the start that I believe in the power of positive thinking. Well, I've also started to really believe in the power of prayer too. I know that there are many people out there praying for me and I want to thank you all SO very much, it helped me this morning and I continue to gain strength from it...please don't stop.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

CT Scan...

This morning was my CT Scan and I'm so glad it's over with! I go on Friday for a Bone Scan, which is probably worse overall (since the scan is very long and I'm extremely claustrophobic), but there's absolutely no prep ahead of time like there was this morning. I've had allergic reactions from the contrast dye, so this time there was a lot more prep. I thought I would share with you what I had to do to prepare for this dang scan this morning...

Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. - took 1 Prednisone
Wednesday, 2:30 a.m. (yes, in the middle of the night) - took 1 Prednisone
*Mix Cat Dry Mix w/30 oz. water and place in refrigerator
Wednesday, 7:30 - drink (but really CHOKE DOWN 10 oz. of the Cat Dry mix)
Wednesday, 8:30 - drink 10 oz. of Cat Dry mix + 1 Prednisone + 1 Bendadryl + 1.5 Tagamet
Wednesday, 9:00 - drink last 10 oz. of Cat Dry mix + 2 Valium + 2 Hydrocodone for pain
Wednesday 9:00 - Drive to Kaiser, have contrast dye injection + scan

Thank goodness it's all over. There's no real way for me to describe the Cat Dry Mix other than it's so disgusting that I literally had to choke every ounce down and hope that I got enough in me for a successful scan. I spit up about 1/2 ounce all over the kitchen :( I sure hope this scan shows good results and that Dr. Hui is pleased with all of the treatment we've been going through for the past 7 months. Now it's time to focus on the Bone Scan. Let's just think positive thoughts and lots of prayers. This coming scan is very hard for me because I have to lay very still on my back (which is where a lot of the cancer is located). It's painful. Hopefully I can calm down and know that everyone is praying for me.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

My John...

I'm a lucky girl to have the family that I do. I especially want to show my gratitude towards my husband today. If it weren't for John, I honestly don't know how I would manage. Ever since we started dating, everyone called me spoiled, said that John did all the work around the house and that I should be grateful for what I had. I really had NO idea how true that statement was until now. On a regular basis, John does our laundry and most of the cooking. How lucky am I?! Of course I do the cooking when he's working late (which is about 2-3 nights a week) and I finish up the other cleaning around the house, so we work together as a team. However...I can't imagine if he didn't do the things that he does....it would be awful. First of all, the laundry might get done when I awoke from my sleep induced coma, and as for dinner, poor kids would probably have fast-food most of the time. I've been grateful that John came along from the start and I've always appreciated the work that he's put in, but now that I'm sick, gosh how much more that has multiplied. I don't know how others can manage when they're going through what I am. I'm truly blessed to have John. I want to thank Pauline (my mother-in-law) for doing such a wonderful job of raising John, he's one in a million.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie