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