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

Surgery...

We made our way upstairs to the waiting area and who was waiting with a HUGE smile on her face? Yolanda Turner from the DMV!! OMG I was so excited to see her waiting to be sure I made it into surgery okay. What a sweetheart she is. At one point in our lives we didn't see eye to eye and I sure am glad that the good Lord has shown me the unnecessary way in which I was acting, because that was plain foolish. I am blessed to have such a dear, kind-hearted friend in my life. Thank you Yolanda for your forgiveness, God bless you. I must also mention that my loving Father-in-law also drove up early from San Jose to make it in time, arriving at approximately 9:00 to save his place in line :)

After we registered I began to have butterflies that didn't want to ease up. SERIOUS butterflies. If I'd been there alone, I think I would have backed out, but unfortunately I had WAY too many witnesses to walk out on something like this...damn it!!

Dr. Tamariun walked in and went over everything again before the surgery and wondered who had requested the top anesthesiologist in the hospital and none of us had any clue, but that definitely put some of those butterflies to rest, that's for sure :0) and within about twenty seconds after answering my questions, I was out cold after meeting him. Don't ask me what he even looks like, I have no clue...sorry Dr. Brown!

Within what I swear felt like less than a minute, I was awake and talking my head off! With a room FULL of people, I managed to get some food in me and some serious narcotics to take the edge off. Between trial and error, we eventually landed on the usual cocktail of Morphine every 2 hours (just like when I landed in the ER a couple months ago) and it definitely helped with easing the pain. Thank goodness.

I do want to take this moment to apologize for perhaps being a bit grumpy straight after surgery, but it SERIOUSLY hurt like hell...so please understand when I say how truly sorry I am for anything said that might have hurt your feelings in any way, shape, or form. I found out later on, that during the final stages of the surgery, the surgeon erroneously broke a bone and had to repair that with wires before
I stayed overnight and decided that since sleep was almost impossible, we choose to go home after the first night. Watching the fish channel the entire night just wasn't kicking it :) although with the sound, it was quite therapeutic.

I'm home now and hanging out in the recliner with the cat (Siren) and starting to really heal. I believe that's what happens when you start to itch like crazy, right? I'm in a sling so I can't just stick a wire down it, but i manage with our back-scratcher. Remember it boys? It was mom's old brown one, that hit the spot every time.

Okay, I'm outta here. Not bad for one finger typing. I'll keep in touch <3

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Stay Tuned...

Hello ~ I promise to blog at some point either today or tomorrow, whenever I can withstand the pain long enough to press the keys with one hand. Just know that I am alive, back on Morphine every 2 hours, and thinking about positive (pain free days ahead). Prayers are still and always will be welcomed. That is all for now, but I'll be back soon.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Pre-op Went Well...

Dr. Tamurian met with us this morning and went over everything having to do with the surgery scheduled for Tuesday, 11/29. We discussed how he's going to be making one incision at the top of my Humerus and they'll be running the titanium rod (which they kept referring to as a nail) down through the bone to basically the elbow area. Apparently they do this operation all the time, which is really unfortunate and made me sad when he told me. I also got to meet "Mike" his assistant who will be joining him during the operation. I already told John, but geeze, they've got some good looking surgeons at Sutter!

I'm still supposed to show up at 10:00, although we'll get started at 12:00 and the entire operation will take about two hours. He said that he would expect that my recovery time will take a couple weeks.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Getting Ready for Surgery...

Well apparently it's custom to have an EKG before going in for surgery to ensure that your heart is doing good. Since they already ran an EKG a couple weeks ago while I was in the ER, they only had to transfer over the information from my files, which was nice. They also got all of my necessary lab work done when I went in for my Zometa treatment last week. Which was actually funny, because I came in a week early for the treatment, thinking that it was supposed to be one day for sure, but apparently I was wrong. Thank goodness they didn't seem to mind and went ahead and gave me my treatment instead of sending me on home. John wasn't too thrilled, but at least that part is over with now. So, the only thing left is for me to go to my pre-op appointment tomorrow morning with Dr. Tamurian @ 8:30. He'll go over all the necessary arrangements with me and inform me of all that is going to take place on the 29th. I think I've asked everything except how long the surgery is going to take. And also, if they're going to put one of those long tubes down my throat, cuz that would not be fun. I think they need to know how freaked out I can get, and beware. However, I'm going to try my best to go in with a good attitude and know that I'll be in really good hands. I know that God would never just take me this far and then end my life so suddenly, but whatever is meant to be, is meant to be. I'll be okay. I'm actually looking forward to using my right arm again! Yay, I'll be able to dress without assistance, drive without fear, and write without looking like a kindergartener wrote it!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

I'm Back....

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in what seems like forever! I do apologize for that, it wasn't intentional. Let me catch you up a little bit on what's been going on and maybe you'll understand. Okay, first of all, remember that arm that's been in a sling since September 14th?! Yeah, that's right...the friggin middle of September!! Well, first of all, that stupid obstacle keeps getting in the way with typing...a lot. Then, just as I'm starting to recuperate from the black-eye (from the crazy fall) and all of my other wounds, I promptly came down with the flu...in a big way. I didn't even see it coming. Wammo, one minute I didn't have it, the next, I did and was losing it from both ends. Sorry guys...gross. However, that was exactly what was going on and I lost communication with everyone on the planet. I didn't check emails, texts, voicemails, or even looked at my iPad and that's a miracle for me. So there, I had the flu and now I'm over it.

FINALLY, this past Friday we met with the Oncology Orthopedic Surgeon (like we should have a couple months ago) and went over a plan of attack. He discussed that there were two different options that we had, but ultimately we would be making the final decision. The fist one was to take a titanium rod and run it down the Humerus, avoiding the "bad" cancer and if everything goes well, the recuperation time will be about two weeks and I should be using my arm again...yay! Btw, of course all cancer is "bad" cancer, but some is more aggressive than others and is constantly eating away at your bones. The other cancer isn't as bad and can help work towards healing the problem (sort of). Okay, back to the other surgery option. The second option is that he goes in from behind my arm and goes straight to the "bad" cancer and cuts out a block of it, inserting a titanium block in it's place. However, this surgery has a lot more risks involved and also the recuperation time is twice as long. After thinking about the options, we ultimately chose option number one and he said that if it doesn't work for some reason, we can always go to the backup plan. Now, get your pencils ready because my surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, November 29th @ 12:05 p.m. I have to check in at 10:00 a.m. to get all prepped and ready to go, but that's the schedule. Naturally if the hospital has an emergency of some sort that bumps my surgery out a bit, then that will be the case. Otherwise, that's the plan. I've already done my labs, my EKG looks good, and we're headed in the right direction. Finally, I have another last minute appointment with him next week since he can't see me the week of Thanksgiving (otherwise he would), then we're ready to go. All I need from all of you is.....plenty of positive thoughts and prayers, as usual :)

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Changes From Yesterday's Blog...

Oops, John informed me that our wonderful newlywed couple's last name is indeed Pantoja and not what I had previously written in yesterday's blog entry.

Also, I meant to describe the beautiful shiner that has taken over my left eye area :) I definitely look to have either been in a serious car accident or possibly beaten up. However, I can't come up with a good enough story so far.

Other than that, I'm hanging in there and now I have another opportunity to quote a message from my new book...

MAKE TIME FOR SOLITUDE --
to quiet your soul and ask
whether you are pursuing
your life's purpose.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Broken? Not broken. Broken? Not broken...WTF?...

Monday I had an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon to look over my arm that has been in a sling for approximately 6-8 weeks. I wish I could pinpoint the exact date but I guess that doesn't matter, it's been a LONG time. The doctor pulled up the image of my recent MRI on the monitor and magnified it. As he turns the monitor for us to see, he says, "Wow, that's clearly broken. What do you think?" We were looking at my humerus broken in half, clear as day. John and I almost screamed, we couldn't believe somebody was actually confirming what we already knew to be true. I knew I heard a POP in the middle of the night, I knew I felt a cold chill the moment it happened, I know my body. Unfortunately, this wonderful doctor has to inform us that they set up this appointment with the wrong type of specialist. WHAT?! Now I have to wait for an Oncology Orthopedic Surgeon to take a look and see what he can do with it. This doctor didn't work on cancer patients. I almost begged him to do it anyway, he was so kind and understanding. However, he did write me a prescription for a clam-shell brace that fits my arm from my elbow to my shoulder and keeps it secure in the meantime. Let's just say...thank GOD! When you read the next paragraph, you'll understand why.

Last night, after wearing the new brace for two days and barely having to take any Morphine because it hasn't been as necessary, I took a BAD fall. I walked to Jordan's bedroom to ask her a question and after turning around and leaving her room, my legs started to buckle and I got VERY dizzy. It was almost like I was a pinball bouncing from wall to wall, I just couldn't catch my balance. It happened so fast that I couldn't react in time to yell for Jordan. I must have smacked my head during one of my attempts to brace myself because my glasses were tweaked and my face was bleeding from my eyebrow area. After bouncing around for what seemed to be forever, I finally (instinctively) braced my fall with both arms! YIKES! I ultimately landed on my rear end in excruciating pain, crying out for Jordan. I swear, if it wasn't for my sweetheart, I don't know what I'd do. She's come to my rescue several times now! Anyway, she called John and after calming her down, he suggested that the neighbor come help me or if I needed to, to call 911. We opted for the neighbor and she was at my knees helping me in less than a minute. We somehow got me into the recliner and although she didn't want to, I promised her that I would be okay and that she could go on home. I talked with John several times within the next half hour and he instructed me to take Morphine for the pain and Ativan for the anxiety that I was experiencing. Next I called Monica & Frank to let them know what was going on. They insisted that since I was home with only Jordan, they were coming over to evaluate whether I should go down to the ER or not. I had already started to calm down a bit by the time they got here and since the large lump on my forehead was protruding out and not concave, they knew that I was on the right track. Their main concern was whether or not I had a concussion. Next, was whether or not I had done more damage to my arm or not. That is yet to be determined. I emailed my doctor today and I'm still waiting for that Oncology Orthopedic Surgeon to look at it. Crazy times, huh?! But like I said, "thank GOD", I had this new brace on. I don't even want to think of what could have or would have happened without it. Again, thank you GOD!

Now for a quote from a new book I received today from our good friends (newlyweds) Tamara & Joe Pantajo...

Never underestimate the power
of your own thinking,
Here's a simple life truth:
you become what you think about.

If you choose to think positive thoughts,
YOU'LL GET POSITIVE RESULTS.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

stella & dot Trunk Show/Fundraiser ...

A couple weeks ago my good friends Janice Kane (and Luanne Smith) approached with an idea that I couldn't resist. Janice is an Independent Stylist with stella & dot, which is a reputable jewelry company. Janice offered to have a "Trunk Show/Fundraiser" on behalf of my family. All the proceeds (100% of the sales) would go towards my family. And on top of that, since I would be the hostess, I would reap the benefits of earning hostess money in which I would use towards free jewelry :) So it's a win, win situation for me. The reason Janice wanted to do this for me (because remember, she gets absolutely nothing out of it) was to help me out in any way that she could. Janice and Luanne came for a visit a few weeks ago and immediately wrote to me with this offer, saying that they had somebody else throughout the company doing a fundraiser through stella & dot and she thought this would be a great idea to help out the Marks. She almost felt helpless in the fact that she couldn't take me to doctor appointments, couldn't come visit me more often, etc., so after wracking her brain she came up with this. Believe me, it was hard for me to accept this very generous offer, but I knew how much it meant to Janice and I also knew how much we could use the help! SDI cut us off last month, and now it's a waiting game as to when we'll get our Social Security and Disability Retirement money. It's a shame that when you're at your worst, things don't always get better, but sometimes even more challenging. I try and keep my chin up because it doesn't do any good to wallow in self pity, right? Besides, I know that God will come through for us and he must think I have mighty strong shoulders if he keeps on giving me things that he knows I can handle. On that note, please visit the stella & dot website and see if there's anything you like. Remember that Christmas is right around the corner! So if you don't shop for yourself, think of all of those people on your christmas list who would love a nice piece of jewelry, and you'd be helping out a family in need at the same time. The website is:

http://new.evite.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fb_share_widget&utm_content=fb_link&utm_campaign=invite#view_invite:eid=026FAAQZXGK5ZYRIMEPA7BIL3ZDEAE&gid=fb

If you have trouble with this link, try http://www.stelladot.com/janicekane

*It's important for me to inform you that when you get to the website, scroll down and read the MESSAGE FROM HOST - Janice Kane. She will step you through everything, especially when you get to the checkout. You will need to click on "Where you invited to a Trunk Show" and here you will see "Genie Mark" and click on that. This way the party will go directly to me.

Thank you, thank you everyone out there who is participating in this. I do understand that times are tough, believe me, I do. So for you to reach down in your wallet during these times, means the world to me. And Janice, I sure hope that you get repeat customers from this trunk show and that when I get better, we're going to have one doozy of a show for you! I love you lots! And I can't forget Luanne, I love you too!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Want to Comment But Can't?...

The biggest complaint about this blog is that I'm finding my family and friends want to comment, but have difficulty in doing so. Here are two suggestions for you. One is that you can email me your comments and that way nobody will see them, only me and I don't mind giving out my email address because I have two of them. One is for things like this, the other is for our family. Here's mine:

geniemrk@yahoo.com

The second way I think you can comment is when you share with others by commenting on the blog itself. You'll have to set up a FREE google account (or one of the others that they offer) which only takes a few minutes to do so. I find that I only use my google account for this sort of thing. Once you're set up with your google account, you can simply press "comment" whenever you want to do so and if you're not already logged in, they'll prompt you to do so at this time. Then presto, you're in and you can comment all you want. Please let me know if you're STILL having difficulty and I'll try and walk you through it. It really shouldn't be this confusing.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

ASD Picnic...

Well, I warned you that I had more to say and since some people keep whining that I haven't been blogging enough (Kim), this should settle you down for a bit :) It's actually not that easy to blog with one arm in a sling, but now that Jeff has given me this handy dandy attachable keyboard, it's awesome and makes things somewhat manageable.

Anyway, today was the Administrative Services Division (ASD) picnic for work. Last week we had the Financial Services Branch (FSB) picnic which I really wish I could have attended, but I was in Scott's Valley, so I tried my best to make it to this one. I truly didn't believe I was going to be able to make it, but thanks to my good friend Roberta who doesn't even work at DMV anymore, she arranged for our buddy Shelly from Budgets to come all the way to my house and pick me up! What great friends I have :) Thank you Shelly, you're incredible. And Roberta, you too, you're just the best.

At the picnic, although I didn't do much more than sit and eat, I got to say hello to a whole lot of people that I've been missing...a lot! Jordan came along with me, so that was awesome to see the looks on everyone's faces as they got to see how tall and beautiful my daughter has become :) I'm quite proud of her, she's turned out to be such a wonderful girl and I love hanging out with her. It sure was good to see my boss, Jeff Mansur, whom didn't even recognize me the last time I saw him, so it was nice to see that he wasn't so distracted this time with work that he knew who I was! I know that sounds silly, but I know how busy Jeff gets with stuff. He even made me promise to call him from time to time and that I had an invitation to the Christmas party for sure :) that made me feel great. You just don't understand when the highlight of my day is to go out to the mailbox to see if we got any mail, so actually venturing outside the house for a change was quite a nice ordeal. Although everyone kept telling me how great I looked today, they don't realize that this visit will probably do me in for a couple days. I am thoroughly exhausted right now and ready to go to bed for the night, although I hope to last until John gets home from work so that I can see him (which will be around 9:00ish).

Well, here's a shout out to my lovely co-workers whom I miss a lot and if I forget any of you please don't be offended, I'm still experiencing chemo-brain so cut me some slack...it was good to see you all:

Shelly, Kim, Yolanda, Lukeithia, Kristine, Jenelle, Gisela, Vikki, Dale, Angela H., Angela P., Selena, Robby, Laura, Jeff W., Jeff M., Marianne, Ollie, Marilyn, Evelyn, Jeannie, Lien, Todd, Michael, Theresa, Genea, Jason, Filomena, Sandee, Wes, Charlene, Linda, Allison, Jim, Linda, Esper, etc. That's all that I can remember seeing.

P.S. It sure would be nice to win something from that raffle cuz I heard that I didn't need to be present to win :) hint, hint. (LOL)

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Camp Challenge 2011

We were blessed enough to be invited back this year to Camp Challenge, as you know. We arrived at approximately 3:20 p.m. Friday afternoon at this beautiful place called Mission Springs Conference Center located in the heart of Scott's Valley, way up in the hills. It was absolutely gorgeous between the redwood trees, the pine trees, the beautiful weather, the woodsy little cabins that were all over, it was just amazing. As soon as we drove up they took our car keys, told us where our room was located and handed us the room key. Then they said for us to go have fun and that our luggage would be brought up to our room shortly and that they would park our car. So we headed up to the room to check it out and boy it was cute :) They had a welcome little basket full of snacks, a teddy bear, frisbie, warm blanket, toiletries, a couple gift cards to chili's & itunes, a couple t-shirts for each of us, a whole set of body wash, lotions, etc. Our room in itself was really cute and resembled a hotel room (which was totally different than last year because it was more like a dorm room). After changing into our "yellow" shirts which all the campers wear, we ran downstairs to check out the festivities going on. The volunteers were all wearing "red" shirts, so you could easily identify who was who. We also put on our lanyards which had our itineraries attached to them for the weekend. We always had lots of choices as to what we wanted to do at any given time, we were never trapped into doing something that we weren't interested in doing. So, after running downstairs we decided to meet up with our host family (Jeanette, Cassie, and Rick). Rick was working most of the weekend, he was apparently in charge of the music. However, Jeanette was really our host and her 14 year old daughter came along to help as well. Jordan and Cassie had a little in common so they talked a little bit before we realized that it was almost dinner time, so we ran up to grab our jackets because we were told that dinner was up a large hill and we'd have to be shuttled there, and that it was going to be getting cold later on. We got to the dinner hall and it was so much fun. First, they wanted everyone to wear cowboy attire (which we TOTALLY forgot about (sad face)) and they gave a prize to the family who dressed the best that night. Then, there was an awesome BBQ dinner, followed by some square dancing that even I wish I could have participated in and I don't usually square dance! This man was an awesome "caller"? Is that what they're called? No pun intended, but I'm not sure what the title is. Let's just say, he knew what he was doing and there was some serious dosi-do-ing going on! "Swing your partner round and round..." Directly afterwards, they had set up card tables for everyone (children included) for a casino night! The staff was dressed in cute little outfits like they ran the casino and we were all invited. They passed out baggies of chips and at the end, you saved your chips because during the closing ceremonies on Sunday afternoon, they would trade in your chips for raffle tickets and you could win prizes. After playing a few rounds of "21", I called it a night and was shuttled back to my room and left John and Jordan to continue on without me. During my time at the tables, Robyn (who was also a returning guest) told me that there was a new guest that shared the same diagnosis as myself, that she had Metastatic Breast Cancer (aka METS) and that her name was Julie, that I should try and meet up with her sometime this weekend. Sure enough, I was on a mission and found her the next morning at Arts & Crafts. I was sitting at the same table and realized that she was probably the lady that Robyn was speaking of because she mentioned that she walked with a limp because of her METS and this lady did. Sure enough, Julie and I became instant buddies and exchanged information right away. Luckily enough (or you can call it a miracle), Julie happens to live in Folsom, which is fairly close to Sacramento and there's no reason why we can't keep in touch. Julie brought her cute little daughter along with her who is 9 years old and unfortunately it was during her pregnancy with her, that she was diagnosed with METS. Jessica is her daughter's name and again, just another tidbit of information is that I always wanted to name my daughter Jessica, but ended up with Jordan instead. Mind you, I love Jordan's name, but it wasn't my first choice. In this case, John won :) So, when things are meant to be, you just know it! It's funny how I was supposed to meet Julie this weekend, it was meant to be. I know that my cousin Linda will know exactly what I'm talking about :)

Next, I went to my spa treatments (I had a facial, hand treatment, and then makeup applied). I was doing this while John and Jordan were off doing the zip-line and archery. Although some people say I could have probably done the zip-lining with my arm in a sling, I still didn't feel comfortable with the thought of even going there. Besides, I don't think the medics would have allowed me to participate. Afterwards, I continued at the Arts & Crafts, then on to tie-dying t-shirts and other stuff. We walked away with 2 pillowcases, a t-shirt and a nightshirt. They came out SOO cool! Then, John had a pumpkin painted on the back of his head, while I had a cute little pumpkin painted on my hand. Jordan wanted a face painting, but chose not to because of the situation. There was a professional face painter on hand and her work was incredible. However, our host's daughter asked the face painter if she could help her and just to be nice, the face painter said (apprehensibly) yes, and so she was doing some of the children's faces who would walk up and not really care who painted them. When she saw that Jordan was in line for face painting, she wanted to paint Jordan's face and although Jordan really wanted the professional to paint her face, she didn't want to hurt Cassie's feelings by saying no thank you. Ultimately, she decided to say that she changed her mind and didn't want one after all. I think it made Cassie feel a little bad, but at least she didn't see Jordan have her face painted by the professional, I think that would have hurt her more. I'm proud of Jordan for doing the right thing and not hurting Cassie more than she could have.

Saturday night was our special night of sharing around the campfire where all the families came down and shared their stories. It was difficult, but necessary to hear about what we were all going through. It was hard to get through all the tears, but they were definitely cleansing tears.

Finally, Sunday came and it was time for the closing ceremonies. We had the raffle, shared some pictures and video of the weekend, thanked everyone for all their hard work and while this was all going on...they were washing our cars and bringing our luggage back down to our cars. It was a wonderful weekend to say the least :)

NOW DON'T FALL OVER...BUT I MAY JUST BLOG AGAIN TONIGHT ABOUT ONE MORE THING...

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Cancer Camp...

Tomorrow afternoon we're heading out to Santa Cruz (Scott's Valley to be exact) for a nice couple days of rest and relaxation. If you recall, last year I went away to Petaluma with Jordan, Roberta, and her daughter Tanya for Camp Challenge 2010. The company that puts this together each year is called Me-One Foundation and the idea behind the name is for you to relate it to a score of Me-One, Cancer-Zero. This cancer camp is not only for the cancer patient, but for their care givers as well. Since I was invited, I got to bring up to five of my family and friends to join me. Unfortunately, Roberta and Tanya couldn't make it this year, however, I was happy that John could. It would be complete if Johnny were joining us, but he has to work, and I promised him that I wouldn't make a HUGE deal about it, making him feel guilty. Apparently, I do that from time to time :( and I don't mean to. I wasn't sure if we were going to be invited this year or not because apparently they wanted to get "new" people to come, but at the last minute they called and said that we were in as one of the returning families. Yeah! This camp is completely paid for, has many fun activities (including face painting, zip-lining, rock climbing, archery, arts & crafts, tie dying, etc.), along with a fun spa day (which includes facials, massages, pedicures, manicures, etc.). Besides all of that, the food is incredible. What I'm looking forward to most, is the night where we all take our flashlights and join around the camp fire to tell our "stories" about how and why we got there. It gets to be a bit teary eyed, but it's a wonderful experience to say the least. I'm so happy that this year I get to spend this time with John and Jordan, it means so much to me. Although I'm not supposed to make him feel bad, I still wish Johnny would be joining us :( Since it's uncertain as to whether or not this will be our last year, I hope to make the best of it and thoroughly enjoy ourselves. I'm also happy that John is technically on vacation for a few days and can actually relax...YAHOO!!

Oh, and another thing I need to share is that Jordan is officially going to a new school called Choices and she is doing Independent Study. She just started this past Tuesday, so she's still getting used to it, but so far so good. She goes Monday through Wednesday for a couple hours to get her work and turn in the previous week's homework. She can obviously contact her teachers at anytime via email or phone call, and likes the fact that she'll be working at her own pace. The counselor was a bit perplexed when she saw that Jordan had straight A's and was being transferred to Choices because usually that's not the case. We explained Jordan's situation being that she wasn't comfortable where she was at and that since they wouldn't allow us to do an inter-district transfer to the school of our choice, we felt that this was our only alternative. They also took into consideration that my diagnosis made things a bit more difficult with transportation and all. Being that she'll be going M-W, John and Johnny can take and pick her up without a problem at all. I think things are going to work out just fine.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Panic Attack...

Monday morning John was in Redwood City helping interview for the opening of a new Old Spaghetti Factory, Jordan was at school, and Johnny was getting ready to head out to school. All of a sudden I started to feel really weird, my breathing was shallow, and I began to freak out. I guess I was experiencing a Panic Attack. Johnny got in touch with Frank and Monica and they rushed me down to the Emergency Room. I figure if I'm not there at least once every two or three weeks, there's something the matter...JUST KIDDING!! As soon as I checked in, they registered me and got me right in. They wanted to check my heart and lungs to see if in fact it was just a Panic Attack, or if there was something else going on. So, they started with an EKG and that was fine. Then, they x-rayed my lungs to find no abnormalities there either. Next, they scanned my lungs in case there was a blood clot, but there wasn't. Then, they did a blood draw and saw that my labs were about the same as last week and determined that they wanted to do a blood transfusion because my counts seemed to be a bit low. After giving me the blood transfusion, there was a huge difference in the way I felt, and apparently all the color returned to my cheeks. I was out of the woods. The ER doctor prescribed me some Ativan for anxiety and although I've had it before and decided to stop taking it because it was highly addictive, I decided to return to the prescription because I know it will help me with anxiety. The ER doctor assured me that although it's addictive, I didn't need to worry about becoming dependent on something like this, that it wasn't a street drug and I didn't need to be concerned. So I agreed and took the prescription home with me.

Today I was scheduled for an MRI for my right humerus and I was petrified because of the obvious claustrophobia that I suffer from. Monica and Jordan took me down there and although I should start to trust Sutter and RAS by now, I still hadn't had an MRI since Kaiser and those are absolutely the worst scans! However, they did an open-MRI and it wasn't even bad at all. My other concern was that they would have to position my arm in a way that would really hurt, but again, they didn't, and everything was okay. I also prayed that my mom and Lucy (Luanne's mom) would be there and support me throughout this difficult time and I know they were. I was completely at peace and knew that it was with their love and support that I made it through :) Thanks Mom and Lucy, I love you both.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

This Past Week...

So I've been taking Morphine every 2 hours for the past week, dealing with what I think is a broken arm. I've been sleeping in the recliner out in the living room, and tripping out thanks to the Morphine. What I mean is that I've been saying random things and nodding off mid-sentence sometimes, which is quite amusing to Johnny & Jordan. I finally heard back from Dr. Rohatgi and he said that there didn't seem to be a fracture, however, they're still going to have a specialist look over my x-ray and make the final decision. I personally know what I heard and felt, and know that there's something serious going on in my arm. I found it unusual that I had to wait so long to hear back and that it was very unlike Sutter, however, I came to the conclusion that they obviously didn't want to contact me until they knew what was going on.

Yesterday, after sticking my tongue out at Johnny for some unknown reason, he almost freaked out and asked me what the heck was wrong with my tongue! After checking in the mirror and emailing Luanne a picture, she thought it was probably Thrush and told me to go to the doctor. I looked up Thrush and although it's mostly found in infants and seniors, it is also found in people with compromised immune systems (and that would be me). Sure enough, after dropping in to see Dr. Rohatgi today, he confirmed that it was indeed Thrush and gave me a prescription. So yay, just another "thing" to deal with. While I was in seeing him, he checked on my arm again and was curious as to why it was hurting more now than when we first started radiation, and since he didn't think it was broken, ordered an MRI to finally figure out what was going on. I made sure to reiterate how extremely claustrophobic I am and that I wanted an open MRI, which didn't seem to be an issue at all. Unlike Kaiser who made me try the regular scan 3 times and completely flip out before finally ordering an open scan. Just another "I love Sutter" moment.

I also want to mention that last weekend Luanne and Janice (a special high school friend) came to visit me and we had a nice long talk, then went to lunch. I hated to see them leave, it's never a long enough visit :( Then, a couple hours later, Tim, Melynda, and their kids came and took Jordan and I to see Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey's Circus which was in town. This was on my "Bucket List" and they'd been wanting to do something special for me off of that list. I remember going many years as a child and couldn't wait to recapture those memories. It was awesome! Johnny was working and John chose to spend time alone watching sports :) so we were all happy in our own little way.

And finally, I want to thank Monica, Melynda, Roberta, Kim, Sonia, and John for stepping up and helping me to all of my radiation appointments over the past couple weeks. It hasn't been easy asking for help with everything from getting dressed to driving and I really appreciate everyone's assistance. I also thank you all for dropping everything you've had going on in your own busy lives to help me, that was very sweet.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Pop!...

Everything was going along as usual when all of a sudden Thursday morning at 4:30 I rolled over in bed and heard a loud pop! I sat straight up in bed in a cold sweat, yelling out to John, "Oh my God, I think I just broke my arm!" It took us a few minutes to get our wits together and we were headed out the door to the Emergency Room...again. Naturally I had the Fentanyl patch on, plus just took some Morphine, then they gave me Dilaudid, and I still winced in pain at the thought of moving my arm. They had to obviously take some x-rays, and I was scared to death at the thought, but we somehow managed to get through it. After a couple hours we got the x-ray back and sure enough there was a hairline fracture. However, because there's so much going on in my humerus, it was really hard to read and the ER doctor still wanted to get an orthopedic surgeon's opinion as to whether or not I needed surgery to put it back together. They discharged me knowing that I had to be back for radiation within a couple hours. I still wasn't sure at this point if I would actually be having treatment or not. I arrived back at my scheduled time and Dr. Pu was apparently seeking more advice as to how to proceed with my situation, and ultimately (after an hour of waiting), decided to give me the day off. I got a phone call in the afternoon saying that after speaking with some specialist, they decided to continue with my radiation treatment the following day since I only had one left for my arm. I still have three more treatments scheduled for my hip. Anyway, after sleeping upright in the recliner all night long, I somehow got through the night. The ER doctor had suggested staying on top of the pain meds and said that I should take it every 2 hours, so that added to the lack of sleep since I was constantly being woken up by my alarm. Fun stuff :) The radiation treatment wasn't too difficult, they only had to maneuver my arm a little bit in order to line up the markers. When I got home I emailed Dr. Rohatgi because it dawned on me that I didn't know what the plan was from here on out. Were they going to do surgery after all? Are they going to cast it? Or am I just going to walk around with a broken arm in a sling until it heals? Well, apparently he had already left for the day because I didn't hear back and now it's the weekend. So as long as nobody comes within ten feet of my arm and I have plenty of Morphine, I'll be hanging out waiting to hear back on Monday. Yippee!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Not Such a Bad Day...

Today I had an okay day. Although I had radiation in the morning and a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, it still wasn't that bad. The afternoon appointment was with Dr. Owens who is a surgeon and was following up on the progress of my tumor. The last time I saw him (about three months ago), all he saw was scar tissue where my tumor used to be and today was the same. The only difference was that one of my lymph nodes was enlarged in my armpit. We're going to keep an eye on that because that could take off and cause more problems. However, he really didn't seem that concerned and told me not to worry. Overall I've felt better today than the past several days. My arm was so bad that I really couldn't type and that is why I haven't blogged. So to those who say I don't blog enough, Kimmy, back off...LOL! I know you mean well, but my arm was really bad. Today I haven't even had any Morphine and that's how I always gauge whether or not I'm having a good day, as to how much pain meds I've needed. Tomorrow I go see my Radiation Oncologist after my treatment and I sure hope I haven't lost more weight this week or I'm in trouble. I've been trying really hard to eat more (especially protein), but sometimes it's hard to get anything down. I did have one of those Ensure drinks, but unless you get used to the taste, it's kinda yucky. I'm going to have to try harder and maybe mix in some fruit or something to get it down. I know, I know, it's good for me so I'm going to have to work something out.

Today I have HOPE in my doctors and nurses, and in the science behind finding a cure for this nasty disease. I have HOPE every time I wake up in the morning and realize that God has allowed me one more day with my loved ones. I will never give up my HOPES and dreams. May God bless you all.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

I Knew It...

Once a week after radiation I have to meet with my Radiation Oncologist (Dr. Pu) and go over my treatment plan and see how everything is going. Well, right before doing so, I check in with the nurse and she weighs me and asks a few questions. This time she was amazed at how quickly I was back after just having had radiation at the end of June for my left shoulder, and I explained that I may be back again for my right hip soon. Of course she made a note of that and started to weigh me, where she stopped for a moment and asked me why I was experiencing such rapid weight loss, and looking at the scale I realized that I was down another 3 lbs this past week, equalling 8 lbs in just a little over a week and a half. I've lost a total of 59 lbs since I was diagnosed, so it's just been recently that it's starting to get concerning. She then went on to tell me that I need to eat more and that I'm not getting enough protein in my diet, that if I kept losing weight, that I would start to lose muscle instead of fat and that was scary. I barely have energy and strength to get up out of a sitting position, so I can't lose any more muscle! She left the room at that point and returned with a huge bag of Ensure nutritional supplements and other stuff for me to drink, I hope it helps. After that, Dr. Pu came in to see how I was doing and said that he heard from the nurse about my hip and so he ordered me an x-ray immediately to see what was happening, and although I just had a bone scan just a couple weeks ago, things change that fast when it has to do with cancer growing or "flaring up".

When I came in today they already had the x-ray results and wanted me to undergo radiation in my hip as well, starting tomorrow. I'm thrilled. One reason is because they're doing the treatments back-to-back each day instead of waiting for my entire schedule to be done on 9/15 and starting on my hip for another two weeks. That would be awful because the entire time I'm in radiation I have to hold off on my chemotherapy, which scares the he'll out of me because of how fast it grows. The other reason I'm happy that we're starting tomorrow, is because the faster we start, the faster I'll be out of pain (or at least some of the pain) and that thrills me!

Oh, and Teresa my Weight Watcher Leader (but mostly my great friend), do you have any suggestions for me to stop losing weight or help me to incorporate more protein in my diet? Maybe you could speak w/John if he happens to come to one of your meetings soon. Anyway, any help would be appreciated, thank you Teresa <3

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Happy Anniversary John...

On this date 19 years ago I married the love of my life, and became Mrs. John Charles Mark. It started off the night before when I slept over at Luanne's house and we were playing jacks on the floor of her kitchen. I'm sure alcoholic beverages were involved at some point :) We finally managed to get some sleep (after the talking & giggling of course), but it wasn't a real good night's sleep, if you could imagine. The next morning I awoke to the smell of Egg's Benedict which Lucy (Luanne's mom) was making for us in the kitchen along with mimosas! Yummy! Shortly afterwards I ran around town looking for just the right sexy undergarments to wear. There's nothing like waiting until the very last minute! I ended up having to borrow a beautiful bustier from Jennifer (Luanne's sister-in-law) for under my dress. Believe me, it was definitely sexy and did the job. After that, I was off to the salon for makeup. I hired a professional makeup artist who apparently worked on several celebrities over the years, so I knew I was in good hands. As soon as she finished we raced home for Chris Bradley to do my hair for the big day. Chris had always cut my hair at that point, but didn't feel comfortable doing it for my wedding for some reason. I begged him and he finally said that he would. It was the afternoon at this point and the wedding started at 5:00, so I was starting to panic. Once my hair was done, the photographer showed up to get some pre-wedding shots, but he didn't look anything like who John had described. He then goes on to explain that he wasn't the photographer that John had hired because apparently our guy had to have an emergency root canal and couldn't make it. Had we known at this point that he would have ruined half of our pictures, been rude to the children, and skipped town before we could purchase our video and get our order complete, we would have somehow had somebody else step in for our big day. The limo showed up and drove us to The Hikoni Japanese Gardens in Saratoga where we had my cousin Harold marry us outdoors in front of all of our family and friends. What a wonderful day. It was beautiful outside and I was marrying the sweetest, most loving man in the world. How could I possibly ask for more? Well I am. I'm hoping for one more year with this amazing man, for then we will have made it to the 20 year mark. I know our love story is unfortunately going to be cut short, but what's one more year I ask? It's everything.

I ask that you please pray for me to hang in there at least one more year, if anything, to be with my sweetheart. Thank you.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

2011 Cather's Family Reunion...

To continue from my last entry, I did start radiation on my right arm, and now I've completed 2 of 10 treatments so far. When I first met with Dr. Pu for my consultation he showed me the x-ray of my arm and said that he'd just gotten off the phone with the surgeon to see if they should put a titanium rod in my arm prior to the radiation or not! The surgeon didn't think surgery was necessary (yet) and we continued on with my treatment plan. Unfortunately, I just started experiencing a lot of pain in my right hip again, and so (mark my words) I will probably be back for more radiation on that pretty soon as well :( As for the Morphine, I don't think it's doing much more than the Percocet ever did, but since it's so nasty tasting, I take less and put up with the pain for as long as I can tolerate it. I can hear Luanne scolding me right now!

Yesterday was our 2011 Family Reunion at my brother Tim and sister-in-law Melynda's house. What an awesome day! First of all, I only slept two hours the night before, so I was pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to make it through the day, but I was willing to give it a try. Not only was family there, but also some friends that we've known ever since we were kids. One set of friends (Lex & Ann) came from the bay area, and the other set of friends (Uncle Frank & Aunt Phyllis) came all the way from Oregon with their son Anthony & his wife Tamra. My parents were friends with Frank & Phyllis before they were even married! Although they're really not related to us, we've always treated them like they were. My favorite part of the reunion yesterday was when my Dad saw all of our family friends for the first time. The look on his face was so classic, he was definitely happier than he's been in a long time, and very surprised. Unfortunately, John had to work and didn't arrive until later on in the evening, but at least he got there. I don't know how I managed to make it through that long day, but I'm sure it was the love of my family and friends, and also the pure adrenaline of it all. We sat and talked, laughed, ate, swam, you name it, we had a great time. We did miss my nephew Josh (who had to work), my cousins Harold, Linda, and Jim along with their families. Hopefully they'll all be able to make it for the 2012 reunion!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Upping the Pain Meds...

Went to see Dr. Rohatgi this morning and although my numbers are high he wants to keep me on the Xeloda for a while longer to see how I do. He says that sometimes the tumor marker shows high before going back down. I told him about my pain levels and also about the issue I had with my arm last night, and he decided to put me on Morphine for the pain. I haven't taken it yet, I'm a bit scared, but he assured me that it's fast-acting and that I can administer it every 2 hours (if need be). He also ordered an x-ray on my arm and a Bone Scan for this Friday. He wants to know why my pain has increased so much and whether or not we've got to do more radiation. Remember, every time we do radiation we have to stop chemo, so although it's a quick fix for pain, is it worth it in the long run?

I'm about to try my Morphine for the first time...gulp.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Pain Sucks!...

I've been in a lot of pain lately and when I got my tumor marker test results it explained everything. Unfortunately, it's higher than ever before at a whopping 301.2. If you recall, last month was 191.9 and I was freaking out. I go to see Dr. Rohatgi tomorrow and who knows what the game plan will be. Maybe this oral chemo isn't working either, I don't know! All I can think is that when I was having chemo infusions, my numbers were looking pretty good, now they're off the charts :(

Tonight I had a HUGE scare. I took 2 percocet and decided to take a nice warm bath. When I was ready to get out, I got to my knees and then baring all of my weight on both of my arms, I knelt up to get out of the tub, only problem was that my right arm almost gave way as the most excruciating pain I've ever felt tore through my arm. I thought for a moment that I'd broken it this time, I wailed out in pain. Jordan came running to help me as I stood there crying, helpless. Jordan insisted that I call John although I knew he couldn't do anything from work. He was, however, able to calm me down and suggest that I put my arm in a sling so that I could rest it. Johnny was also working tonight, otherwise we might have ended up in the ER. I'm glad we didn't though because now it's much better and at least I know for sure it's not broken. Since I go to the doctors in the morning, I should be fine for the night. I guess I won't be taking any baths in the near future w/out John being home to help me. We've talked about installing a bar to make things easier for me, that would be great.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Sitting on The Pitty Pot...

I couldn't find anyone to come with me to the doctors this morning, so I came alone. Usually it's no big deal, but this morning has been kind of hard. I'm here for my monthly Zometa treatment and after checking in they reminded me that I should have had had my blood work done already, so I went across the hall to do it. While waiting, I saw a gentleman with a huge part of the back of his head missing and staples in it's place. I started crying as I looked around at the different faces of cancer and how it has no boundaries, it doesn't discriminate, it just attacks whomever it wants to. I didn't ask to be a part of this club and I wish I could get out of it, but apparently I'm one of those unlucky ones who is in it for life. I'm now sitting in the cafeteria looking silly as I'm crying my head off, I told you it was a bad day :( They gave me a voucher to sit and eat in the cafeteria until my lab work was done, but of course I can't eat.

I hope my lab work is done soon because now I have a headache from crying :( life sucks sometimes.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Revelstok Dr,Sacramento,United States

Terranea...

We returned home yesterday afternoon and boy was it bittersweet.
We were so happy to see the kids again, but returning to the "real world" wasn't too much fun after being in paradise for a few days. The Terranea Oceanfront Resort was amazing to say the least. We were greeted with champagne as we entered the resort and right away we recognized some basketball stars that were checking out from their stay. Rumor had it that Rashard Lewis had gotten married there the night before and he had a lot of teammates there as guests to the wedding. I'm sorry, he's the only name that I was given, otherwise I would have listed them too. After checking in, we went up to our room which was magnificent. From the ocean side view, to the incredible bed with a million pillows, I could have easily moved in :) We continued our stay with a day at Universal Studios on Monday and instead of a day at the beach on Tuesday, we decided to stay at the resort (because you literally didn't need to leave, they had everything there). Our day at Universal Studios was really fun and jam packed full of excitement. We were given VIP passes and we had our own tour guides. These guides brought us to the front of every line, treated us to a buffet lunch, and never left us alone at all. We went from one ride/attraction to the next without even a break. The 360/3D King Kong was the most incredible attraction we saw all day, just mind blowing how they do that. We were on the tram ride at the time and we thought we were going to be eaten alive by King Kong. At one point, King Kong is fighting with a dinosaur and there's apparently blood splatter, but they were really spraying us with water. I literally brought my hands to my face (in the dark) to see that it wasn't actually blood! I'm so gullible :) The only bummer about the trip was the drive to and from, it was about 45 minutes, which kinda sucked. However, that's the way it goes when you travel to a resort :) Another fun thing that happened was that I got to meet Jenni from the hit show Flipping Out on Bravo. I watch that show all the time, it's currently on my DVR, so when I met her I was the one who was flipping out :) We went to a dinner buffet the first night and were mingling with the other guests when I thought I saw somebody that looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. My actual first thought was that she looked like Julia Louis-Dreyfus a little (from Seinfeld). Then it dawned on me who she actually was, Jenni Pulos. I was then told that she was one of the Old Spaghetti Factory owner's cousin! OMG, now I remember! We were at a dinner with her several years ago when she mentioned that she was going to be on a new show coming up, but I completely forgot all about it. Now, I watch her show all the time because I love it and I had no idea that it was their cousin :)
how funny. Anyway, I had my picture taken with Jenni and it was really fun to sit and chat about the show with her. She's very nice and down to earth, a real sweet person.

Wow I almost forgot to mention my day at the spa! I was greeted by a soft spoken gentleman by the name of Micah and he brought me back to the room. I was first going to have a therapeutic massage, but I was afraid it might be too rough on my bones, so I chose a clay wrap. He started with a salt scrub, then washed it off. Next, he applied a warm clay all over, wrapped me in warm blankets and after a little while, washed that off. Finally he applied what felt like a thousand pounds of moisturizer to my skin (it was so incredibly soft). I took a cart back to my room, I felt like I couldn't even walk, it was so relaxing :) I would highly recommend a clay wrap to anyone who is ever given the opportunity, it was quite incredible :)




Finally, we're back to our regular lives and John just kissed me goodbye as he went off to work :( I'm sorry that he has to hurry off, but at least he just returned from two well deserved vacations and should be nice and rested.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Just the Two of Us...

Tomorrow John and I leave for a couple days to Southern California, thanks to the Old Spaghetti Factory. The GM Conference is usually held in a beautiful resort and we are so excited that they invite the spouse to accompany the General Manager on these trips. We are extremely grateful that they're still considering this trip because the past couple years they've had to cancel due to the economy. The resort is called the Terranea Oceanfront Resort and you can check it out at www.terranea.com. Besides the activities that we can enjoy at the resort, we are also scheduled for some fun outside as well. We're going to Universal Studios on Monday and the beach on Tuesday. Of course John does have a meeting to attend Tuesday morning, while I'm off having a massage at the spa. Life is rough :(

In the past, we've had to have the kids stay with relatives or friends during our trip, but this time we felt that they were old enough to be responsible on their own. We've never had to worry about them fighting or not getting along, so that won't be a problem. Since Johnny has his license and is old enough, he'll take care of driving Jordan to and from school. I wrote a schedule of meals for them this morning and they both laughed at me and said, "oh mom, you're just being you", as if to mean, thanks, but we'll end up doing our own thing anyway.

Although it's just a couple days, I'll still miss my babies. And for those who may think they're a bit old, they'll ALWAYS be my babies.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Michigan...

When John and I arrived, the rest of the family was already here. The cabin is as beautiful as I remember it being three years ago. We got here at midnight and the area was pitch black but alive with excitement, the party had just begun. We couldn't stop hugging the kids. Although it had only been a week since we'd seen them, it felt like a month. After finally settling down into our designated sleep areas, Jordan and I continued to whisper and giggle for at least another hour. Gosh I missed her so much!

The next day everyone started to catch us up on everything that had been happening at the lake during the week in which we missed. From fishing, paddle-boating, canoeing, swimming, sun-bathing, to checking out the island in the middle of the lake, it was adventurous. Later on that day extended family started to arrive for a "celebration of life" for my mother-in-law, Pauline. We had a nice get together and as we each felt comfortable enough, we took and spread some of her ashes. The next morning we planted a little spruce pine tree in her honor and gathered some rocks to form a rock wall around it. We then painted our special rocks to forever capture the spirit of Nana around her tree.

Unfortunately, my experience has been quite different than everyone else's here due to the fact that I've slept most of the time. When my bones start aching, the only real way for me to get some relief is to take a nap, which results in me missing out on a lot. However, I still managed to have a terrific time. Just being with family seems to make everything all better.

As the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun...it truly does. I'm now home and wishing I were still at the lake, taking in the beauty at least one more time. The dust has settled and we're adapting to the time change, still feeling kinda lazy from the trip. We celebrated Johnny's 18th birthday last night with a nice steak dinner at Cattlemen's. My baby has turned into a young adult, wow, now I feel old.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Lots of Stuff Going On...

First of all, they told me that a Tumor Marker was a measurement to show the amount of cancer that is in my blood. Whenever my blood work is done, among the other test results, one is to show how my tumor marker is doing. Six months ago (when I was with Kaiser) my numbers went up and down on a regular basis, however, I don't recall it ever going over 120. Mind you, I don't really understand this stuff sometimes, and these are just numbers to me. However, after switching to Sutter and starting on Temoxifen we determined that it definitely didn't work for me and you can see how my numbers are doing by the following:

<38- u/mL (standard range)

5/19/11 - 98.1

6/19/11 - 162.3

7/18/11 - 191.9

Our next plan of attack is to go back on chemotherapy, but this time oral form. The new drug is called Capecitabine (also known as Xeloda). I will be on one week, then off the next, and so on. They are starting me with 3 tabs in the morning and 3 in the evening, then if my side effects are bad, they will taper it accordingly. Apparently the side effects aren't nearly as bad as the other chemo(s) that I've been on because other than mouth sores, he's only mentioned redness/soreness in the hands and feet. I may also lose some more hair, but that's no longer an issue with me. I've kind of grown accustomed to really short hair again. I should be starting on my new chemo this week, when it is delivered to the house.

Next, in case you haven't already heard, we're going to Michigan for a bittersweet vacation. The kids are already there (they went with their cousins & aunts/uncles) and we will be joining them this coming Friday. Since John could only take one week of vacation, we will catch up with everyone this weekend. Growing up, John's family would always go to Michigan for the summer and spend it at his mom's family cabin (actually located in Rose City, MI). His mom's grandfather built the cabin, so it has quite a family history. Unfortunately, we lost John's mom last year (and yesterday was the one year anniversary). She always wanted her ashes to be spread at the lake where she grew up and so we are honoring her wishes. We will forever miss "Nana" and it just doesn't seem real that it's been a whole year without her. So, as I said, it's definitely a bittersweet vacation.

To end on a happier note, yesterday I was invited to the Rivercat's baseball game to watch my friend Sonia throw out the first pitch. If you recall, I threw out the first pitch last year on her behalf because she was out of town. Well...I shouldn't ever trust her because she always talks me into stuff! Sure enough, they were short a gal and needed a "survivor" to take part in just a little celebration out on the field. I thought, sure, they're just gonna need me to stand somewhere and that's it...not. They actually had me run out with the pitcher to the mound and I had to stand there as they sang the National Anthem! I was in friggin flip flops and wasn't expecting to have to run, thank goodness I didn't land on my face...that would have been so embarrassing! Instead, it wasn't all that bad. At least the pitcher was cute :) Since I wasn't expecting to do anything other than support my friend, I didn't bring anyone, and John ended up working late. That's okay, it was just another day in the life of a survivor :) Thanks a lot Sonia, I can't trust you anymore! jk.

Peace to you all ♥ Love, Genie

Zometa Treatment...

Receiving a Zometa treatment right now, having loads of fun. When I was with Kaiser I would have my labs done two days before any treatment and that was the routine I was used to. Here at Sutter they haven't given me a routine yet and I came in for my treatment today and found out that I had to wait a while for my lab results (which ended up being a little over an hour). The nurse informed me that from now on I can just come the day prior to treatment and have my labs done in the office, awesome. That will cut down my Zometa treatment by half, which is great.

I see Dr. Rohatgi on Wednesday and I should be starting my new chemotherapy then. I'm still not sure what the name of it is, but I'm sure I'll find out then. He might have to also increase my pain meds because I've been going through those like crazy. My most recent pain started last night in my right hip and it throbbed all throughout the night. Although I'm not walking with too much of a limp today, it stills hurts to sit and get up from a sitting position. Hmmm, sure hope this goes away w/out the use of more radiation. Radiation always stalls my chemo and I'm afraid the cancer has been growing lately. When I get home I'll be able to check my lab results and confirm whether or not my tumor marker has increased.

The gal in the seat next to me will not shut up! Holy cow, she talks twice as much as I do! Since I can no longer concentrate, maybe it's time for me to say goodbye for now.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

P.S. They just dropped off a tray with lunch on it! Can you believe that?! I had chicken, green beans, rice, peaches and coffee (which I switched for soda). Anyway, it was such a nice addition to everything else that I love about Sutter. AND...it didn't taste like "hospital" food either :) I can't wait until my next treatment, I'll definitely have to make it around lunchtime again!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:H St,Sacramento,United States

Reuniting with Friends...

Facebook has turned out to be quite an incredible resource for finding old friends from your past, and that's exactly what John and I did just recently with some pals from our Coco's days. As many of you know, I actually hired John as a server when I was in management with Coco's and our friendship blossomed over the years, and we started dating. During those days, we befriended some pretty wonderful people. Last weekend we met up with Norm Levee, Dawna & Bob Mencimer (and their daughter Jessica) in Old Sacramento for lunch. First of all, it's always wonderful to hear of other couples that have stayed together over the years, and so when we heard that Dawna and Bob were still together that was such a relief because we couldn't see either of them being with anyone else. As for Norm, he's always been the bachelor and so that wasn't quite a surprise to see him still single. It was great to see our friends, and we ended up chatting for over three hours, catching up on old times! Okay, maybe I did most of the talking, but still, it was awesome to see them. It's fun to bring up names from the past and to hear how everyone is doing nowadays. It's actually been 14 years since we'd been in touch and so we had a lot of catching up to do. On the other hand, it's hard to hear of the people whom we've lost over the years and those who aren't doing so well. Our love and best wishes go out to a fellow co-worker by the name of Heather who is unfortunately suffering some pretty serious health issues. Although I have my own problems to deal with, I would still never wish bad health on anyone else. Hang in there Heather, we're sending positive thoughts your way.

After John and I return from our two trips coming up, we plan to contact Dawna and Bob to get together again. Unfortunately, Norm now lives in Texas and so our visits will be seldom. However, he'll always be in our thoughts and prayers. We love them all dearly and it feels so nice to be reunited with some good friends.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

It's Not a Diet I Would Suggest...

I recently looked over my charts from when I started this journey back in October 2009, and apparently I've somehow managed to lose 50.2 lbs since then! I sound shocked because I truly am. This is the first time in my life that I've been losing weight without trying and it's actually a nice feeling getting back into some old clothes. Of course I'm sure this weight loss has come from vomiting so much, so it hasn't necessarily been fun. Since I can't really exercise without pain and pure exhaustion, I can't tone my body and work on muscle. But hey, I'm just happy to be losing some weight. However, with this excitement comes a warning from my doctors that they don't want me losing too much more. Like I was told in the beginning, some of this body fat can actually help in the long run in fighting cancer, since there's more to work with when you have meat on your bones. Makes sense to me.

Monday is my last radiation treatment (this time around) and then after checking in with Dr. Rohatgi, I should be starting back on chemotherapy. This time he wants to try pill form (which I haven't done yet), but it will come in handy considering we're going on vacation soon and I won't have to worry about interrupting my treatment. He says it's one week on, one week off, and doesn't have as many side effects as the other chemo does. I don't know the name of this new drug yet, but as soon as I know I'll tell you (Luanne :)).

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

A Couple More Treatments...

I only have a couple more days left of radiation treatments, thank goodness. I can barely keep my eyes open these days and getting downtown by 9:00 for this last week has been hard. I nearly fell asleep in the waiting area yesterday (because they were running behind) and I would have succeeded if it weren't for this little old man talking my arm off! Ugh, just let me sleep already! Just kidding, he was sweet.

Although radiation doesn't hurt at all and only takes a few minutes (at least in my case), it's a bummer what it does to the skin. It actually discolors the skin and leaves it feeling sunburnt. They forewarn you about your skin and also about being so lethargic, but after doing this three times, my skin is pretty ugly in places :( but hey, it's taking away some of the pain and that's all that matters.

I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July with family and friends.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Let's Try it One More Time...

I went for my Radiation Consultation today and it was pretty much the same as it was at Kaiser, except much more thorough. My appointment took about 3 hours all together, but that included the doctor visit, the CT Scan, the tattooing of my skin, and a whole lot of paperwork to go over. While I was there, I was able to meet a friend of Sonia's who is the Breast Cancer Navigator at Sutter and she was a wealth of information. She gave me some wonderful resources and program literature that will be very helpful. One support group that I was very happy to hear about was one for the caregivers of cancer patients. Ever since I was diagnosed, John and I have been looking for some type of outlet to support him as well as me, yet Kaiser didn't have anything like that. However, Sutter does, so we're pretty excited about that. There's not only support groups were you sit around and talk about issues, but there are actually different types of therapy groups that sound cool; like Art Therapy, Music Therapy, and Dance Therapy for cancer patients! Oh, and if I were interested in Fly Fishing there's even a program set up for that as well. It's such a fresh new start at Sutter I feel like I was just diagnosed, like the past year and a half was just a bad dream.

I want to thank my friend Kim for taking me today and hanging out during my super long appointment. Thanks for using your "Personal Day" on me :) You're such a trooper, thank you for being there when I needed you most. Love ya!

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Pain, Pain, Go Away...

Yesterday I went for my Zometa treatment (which is my monthly bone treatment) and my left shoulder was hurting so badly I was almost in tears. The nurses suggested that I go down to the ER and have an xray because they were afraid I might have a fracture. The good news is that it's not broken, however, the bad news is that I have Metastatic Lesions on my Humerus. This means that although my cancer hasn't spread in my shoulder, it's become quite inflamed and could easily break in that area.

Well, this morning I had an appointment with my Oncologist, Dr. Rohatgi, and he decided that the Tamoxifen wasn't working for me and said that he wants me back on Radiation treatment to alleviate some of the intense pain in my shoulder. Since I can't have chemo and radiation at the same time, he is actually going to leave me on the Tamoxifen for one more month and when I see him next, we'll be switching to an oral chemo. He also recently gave me a stronger Fentanyl patch (for pain) and it was actually working for a couple days until my shoulder started acting up, and now I've had to take 2 Percocet plus the patch every 4 hours and it's still not enough. Today he increased the strength of the Percocet and by this afternoon I started to feel much better. Wow, it's been intense. Tomorrow afternoon I start back on radiation and hopefully within a few days things will be much better.

On the brighter side, today we went to lunch with my brother Frank and his family, it sure was fun. Although we don't live far from each other, we just never seem to find the time to visit as often as we should. Frank and Monica are two of the sweetest people around and I'm very fortunate to be able to call them family, so we should MAKE the time more often. They also have two awesome boys who I love dearly and are now growing up so quickly I hardly recognize them. Someday I'm sure Frankie will become the professional baseball player that he's always wanted to be, and then there's the cutie-pie Zach who could end up being the president he's such a little smartie. I love you guys to pieces, thanks for meeting us for lunch today.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

And Then I Woke Up...

I had a dream this afternoon (from one of my many naps) and it made me wake up sad because it wasn't true, which is always a bummer. What happened was, in my dream I was going through old emails and clicked on an old picture of me prior to cancer and all of a sudden I had transformed back into that body. My hair was beautiful, I was healthy, and really happy. I kept telling everyone in the dream that it was only temporary because I was actually bald, but they didn't quite understand. I kept playing with my hair and running all over, just feeling so good inside. But then, I woke up :( I guess the moral of that story (if there is one) is that you never really know how good you have it until it's gone. Be safe, take care of yourself and cherish each day. You never know what tomorrow may bring.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Take One...

I just starting video taping for the kids, literally five minutes ago. This is going to be a LOT harder than I ever imagined. Don't get me wrong, the iPad has made everything "physically" easier, but emotionally...whew, it's a doozy. I only lasted a little over a minute before I was bawling and had to call it quits for the day. It's a start, and it should get easier. I have to get used to being in front of a camera and I also think if I planned out what I was going to say each time, it would help. The whole idea behind this is to leave something for my children as a guide for life's challenges and a voice from "mom" even after I've gone. I would normally share this with you, but this time it's just for them. Since this blog was originally for them, but they hardly ever read it, I've decided that the videos are just for Johnny & Jordan. Besides, I don't really think everyone wants to hear my advice to Jordan for instance about going out on her first date, or to Johnny about how I think it's okay to save yourself for marriage, even during these times. I sure hope my advice from up above helps John in raising our children to the best of our ability. I truly think we've done an amazing job so far (if I say so myself) compared to some of those kids out there! All you have to do is either watch the 5 o'clock news or an episode of Cops one night to feel like a super mom these days! Hats off to us :)

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

My Boy is Headed for the Future...

Friday afternoon Johnny graduated from high school. It was a beautiful ceremony, held at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, which I found out later on was a venue for some pretty spectacular groups (which you may have heard of), as in "The Beatles", "The Rolling Stones", and "New Kids on the Block"! I thought that was pretty cool. Heck, if those successful groups walked across that same stage, isn't that paving the way for quite a bright future for my boy as well? I hope to think so.

Johnny doesn't like the spotlight, he never has, however, we had a small gathering for him this weekend to show him how much he's loved and cared for. Some family and friends came from San Jose and although he didn't come right out and say it, I could tell that he truly enjoyed himself. Sometimes the party doesn't always sound like a great idea until after you get a chance to see your loved ones whom you haven't seen in awhile, and then you wonder why it's been so long! Johnny ended up having a great time and truly appreciating that everyone made the trip. Sometimes being in the spotlight isn't so bad after all.

Now that the dust has settled and we have one child graduated from middle school and on her way to Mira Loma High School, and the other graduated from high school and on his way to American River Community College, it's kind of strange. Johnny wants it to be known that he was actually accepted into a couple different state colleges, however, he chose to go to ARC for me. Being that I'm currently stage IV and my boy and I are super close, he wanted to be near me, to help in anyway he could. So, although he won't be going away to school, it wasn't necessarily his first choice. We're going to try and redo his bedroom so that it'll be more exciting (kind of like a dorm room would have been)... :) so that'll be our summer project to start working on.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Recuperating...

This past week Jordan graduated from middle school and we had family in town, which was awesome. My niece Erin, nephew Ryan, and father-in-law Charley all made the trip from San Jose to watch Jordan's "promotion". We knew that Jordan had a commencement speech to do, but we had no idea what she was going to say, she wouldn't let us read it ahead of time. She was fantastic, didn't have one ounce of stage fright. She is so comfortable in front of an audience it's amazing. Her speech was approximately 5-6 minutes long and she had us cracking up one minute and crying the next. We've tried to attach it to both emails and Facebook, but I think it might be too long because it's not working. Don't worry family, we're not done trying, Johnny is going to attempt to split it in half and send it. I don't know if that is possible, but he's going to try. It's definitely worth checking out. We're so stinking proud of her.

Since we had guests over, I attempted to help clean the house and run around more than I have done in months. I actually felt GREAT for two whole days and I wasn't even limping, almost back to normal. What a great feeling. But then, it all came crashing down Thursday after everyone left and I crawled back into bed. I was hurting so bad that I was almost shaking :( I guess I over did it. It sure sucks that I cant enjoy a couple "normal" days anymore. What the heck? I'm still kind of out of it and her promotion was three days ago...bummer. Time to take it easy.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

I Survived the Scans...

I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I sure wish we would have transferred to Sutter 10 years ago, I'm loving it that much! You're well aware of my anxiety over scans by now, but by the time I left yesterday I was telling the nurses if they needed me to turn around and do it again, I wouldn't have had a problem at all, it went that smoothly. I don't even think I'll need Valium next time, which is saying a lot. The difference between Kaiser and Sutter were a few things that made all the difference in the world to me. First, at Kaiser they turn out the lights, don't say a word the entire time, and wrap you so tightly that you feel very constricted. It takes everything in me to calm myself down and control my thoughts long enough to just get through it. At Sutter, they let my friend Roberta come sit in the room and chat with me, they had a beautiful lit mural on the ceiling to look at, they wrapped me loosely, and the technician was so wonderful, she made me feel totally at ease. What a totally different experience for me, it was great. Now I no longer need to get all worked up over scans, they're no big deal :) And thank you again Roberta for being there with me, I really appreciate it, you're wonderful.

Now on to today's event...Jordan is graduating from Jr. High School this afternoon! She was ranked #1 in her school and has achieved all of the goals set before her. She is such an outstanding young lady, we're so proud of what she has become. And to think that this is just the beginning of her path on the journey she will take. Jordan, my wish for you is that you find peace and harmony in whatever life brings your way. I already know that you're headed towards a very bright future, but I want you to be happy and enjoy yourself along the way. As they say, don't forget to stop and smell the roses. Have a great life, you deserve it! I love you with all my heart.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Please Send Prayers and Positive Thoughts...

My scan was rescheduled from today until Tuesday. Only problem, is now I'm having both a Bone Scan and a CT Scan that day. Most people can handle this without much difficulty, but I'm not like most people and I suffer from EXTREME claustrophobia. I'm also worried about my pain levels laying on that flat surface for so long. So, they've prepared me with all the right drugs and assured me that I would be okay taking Valium on top of my pain meds in order to get through this torture :( I honestly can't stand scans and I white-knuckle it the entire time, but I know how necessary they are. So please everyone, think positive thoughts in my direction that morning and hopefully I'll get through it okay.

My arm is gradually getting better and I haven't had to take Percocet...yay! I sure hope the Zometa treatment doesn't cause me pain like that each month :(

Lastly, I want to thank my brother Tim and his wife Melynda for having us over for dinner the other night, it was wonderful, couldn't have been any better. Well, maybe if the night were just longer so that we could have chatted some more, that would have been nice. I love you guys (Tim, Melynda, Tyler, Nick, and Hannah) thanks again.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States

Good News and Bad News...

First the good news...

I went to see my new surgeon, Dr. Jay Owens, and he was actually having trouble finding the tumor in my breast, so he pulled out his ultrasound and told me that since all he could see was scar tissue, there sure didn't seem to be any reason for surgery! WHAT?! Did I just hear him right? No tumor? Does he realize what huge news this is?! OMG! Going from 5.2 centimeters to nothing? I might have actually seen him write down 1 cm, but it was upside down, so I'm not sure. Still, awesome news. I guess that year and a half of chemo has paid off :) Now we need to work on the rest of the cancer!

Now the bad news...

I went for that Zometa treatment on Sunday and that night I started to experience pain in my left arm, severe pain. Dr. Rohatgi had instructed me that if I had break-throughs in pain (now that I'm on the Fentanyl pain patch), to go ahead and take some Percocet. Well, the pain was at a level of 9-10 most of the time, so I was taking Percocet every 4-6 hours round the clock! It still didn't completely mask the pain, every time I even moved my arm I would get excruciating pain running down it. What the heck? Of course I'm scared because the last time I was experiencing pain out of the blue, the cancer had spread to my hips and pelvis. Well, I have scans scheduled for this Friday and also Tuesday, which can probably answer my questions. I did, by the way, email Dr. Rohatgi last night when it was still extremely bad and he had no real ideas as to why it was only in my left arm. I didn't want to put words in his mouth and ask if he thinks it's spread, so I just left well enough alone. Since his email, my pain has decreased a bit and I only took Percocet this morning. Either the stupid patch is finally working, or it was related to the Zometa treatment and it's wearing off. At any rate, my arm is still very stiff and I can hardly lift it. I hope I don't end up with a bum leg AND a bum arm, that would suck :( my pain level right now is at about a 6-7, which is tolerable.

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Willow Rock Way,Sacramento,United States