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
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
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
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
Thursday, June 16, 2011
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
Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
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
Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, June 13, 2011
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
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
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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
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
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