Please join us ; )
Subject: Team Kai - Light the Night Walk!
Hi everyone!
So sorry for the delay!
We will be having our Team Kai walk on Saturday, September 26th at 11am in
Huntington Beach. We will be off of PCH and Beach - look for the big EZ Ups and
red and white balloons! We will be sending a flyer to everyone regarding food
assignments... this is a BIG potluck!
Please remember to bring your own drinks, too! Marsha Hamamoto will be our
chairperson in charge of food.
Cost of parking in HB is $15/car - so you might want to consider carpooling. We
won't be doing an actual "walk" this year, since it is a bit crowded on the
beach.
We're trying to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, so any money
that you can donate or have collected this year is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks
for helping to find a cure! We will be selling Team Kai t-shirts again this
year for $10/each... there will be a different design this year and all proceeds
will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you would like to
purchase a t-shirt, please send me an email with the sizes you would like.
Thanks in advance for your support!
Don't forget that we will be honoring our two honored heroes for the walk -
Jaimee Yamaoka and Nancy Sakakura! Both survivors and both Jaimee and Nancy are
a HUGE inspiration to us all!
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions... I will be in touch
again as the walk gets closer.
Thanks again for all your support!
Kai, Gen & Daigo and
Gary & Staci
714-227-0248
email: thefujitas@yahoo.com
--------------------
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
camp-mak-a-dream
helloo everyone...its jaimee...I'm soooooo sorry that its been awhile since i have updated this with my mom...anyways...i had the greatest time at camp! At first i was nervous because i was going to MONTANA and i had no idea what to expect because you never here about anything in Montana. I was also nervous because i kept on having dreams about going there and not getting along with the people. Usually the dream was that my sister and I went there and I got stuck with weird people and tay got stuck with all of the fun outgoing people...haha...i guess shouldn't have worried at all because I'm a big weirdo so it shouldn't have mattered :D when i got to the Missula airport in Montana it was a tiny little thing! I saw a bunch of people around my age sitting on the ground and was too scared to just go up to them so i walked around for a little and found a counselor wearing a camp-mak-a dream shirt and i went up and introduced myself and she told me that i was going to be in her cabin and then we walked to where all of the other people were sitting. Everyone was sectioned off into groups and that made me worried because I didn't want it to be like that at camp. My cabin leader, Jen, introduced me to some people and then left me alone all by myself in the middle of all of the groups! haha i was kind of panicking on the inside because I am not the kind of person who would just go up to random people and make friends with them but it was time for me to break out of my little mold and go talk to some people...so there was this other girl sitting by herself and i decided to go talk to her...it helped alot that she was wearing a cute knee length skirt with leg warmers and flats...i have never seen anyone dress like that and it totally worked for her (its so much easier for me to talk to people if i can find something to complement them about haha) we ended up sitting on the bus together for the one hour ride to camp. Her name is Jolene Pollard and she is from Canada and she wants to become a singer. When she told me that i thought it was cool but didn't think anything about it but then she played a few of her songs for us at one of the camp fires and at the talent show and she was AMAZING!!!! if you like folk/pop music you should check her out on myspace http://www.myspace.com/jolenepollard
my cabin. beartooth.
the camp is BEAUTIFUL!! It looks like a resort, not a camp. To keep the place nice they don't allow anyone to walk on the grass so you have to go WAY out of the way to get to any place that you want...it was really annoying but at least I got extra exercise.
There were a lot of things to do at the camp. There was the art barn where they had pottery, painting, beads, and basically any supplies for whatever artsy thing you want to do. There was a climbing wall, archery, a small mini golf course, a volleyball court on sand, a basketball court, a pool and jacuzzi, a rec room (pool table, Foosball table, ping pong table, and a two player basketball game)
Tener, he is training for the special olypics to do archery!!! he is amazing!!
art barn
tie dye and screen printing in the art barn
Jordy and Me Climbing the wall...hes on the difficult side. He climbed that wall sooo many times and fast too
the high ropes course
wet, freezing, and dirdy after the high ropes. When my group went up on the course it was raining really hard and it was also really windy. It was misrable but soooooo fun!
!!
When we didn't have free time there were scheduled workshops or field trips. How to start up a non-profit organization was one of the workshops and Christine baze was the guest speaker who started up the yellow umbrella organization. She plays concerts all around the country and donates all of the money to cervical cancer awareness. A local theater group came by and they taught us some improv games. There were a lot of workshops where you do icebreakers and get to know everyone. there were a lot more but i cant remember them all. Oh and all of the workshops were optional. We went on two field trips. One was to Missula and the other was to philipsburg. In Missula we went to farmers and peoples markets and it was really cool because missula is a little hippy town in the middle of the conservative Montana. It was really neat how there were a whole lot of booths where people sell crafts that they hand made. Philispburg is an extremely small town and we got to mine for sapphires there. There were also cute shops there.
some of the people at camp, in Missula
Philipsburg
One night there was a carnival where we would play games for tickets and exchange them for prizes. At the carnival they had a mini shooting range with pellet guns and that was fun. Another night we had a karaoke dance party which was really fun...the camp lent out costumes for everyone to wear if you wanted. The last night there was a talent show. I didn't do anything but it was really fun watching everyone haha
One thing that was really weird was how much of a California accent I have!! Most of the people that went to the camp were from the South or the East Coast and from being around all of those different accents I sounded like an idiot with a valleyish accent!! I'm not even from the valley!! haha anyways, I had sooooooooo much fun at this camp. I met amazing people and I cant wait to go back!!
my friend shooting at the mini range
karaoke...
...dance party! jolene dancing w/ tener
brownie bake off! my team won!!!
my cabin. beartooth.the camp is BEAUTIFUL!! It looks like a resort, not a camp. To keep the place nice they don't allow anyone to walk on the grass so you have to go WAY out of the way to get to any place that you want...it was really annoying but at least I got extra exercise.
There were a lot of things to do at the camp. There was the art barn where they had pottery, painting, beads, and basically any supplies for whatever artsy thing you want to do. There was a climbing wall, archery, a small mini golf course, a volleyball court on sand, a basketball court, a pool and jacuzzi, a rec room (pool table, Foosball table, ping pong table, and a two player basketball game)
Tener, he is training for the special olypics to do archery!!! he is amazing!!
art barn
tie dye and screen printing in the art barn
Jordy and Me Climbing the wall...hes on the difficult side. He climbed that wall sooo many times and fast too
the high ropes course
wet, freezing, and dirdy after the high ropes. When my group went up on the course it was raining really hard and it was also really windy. It was misrable but soooooo fun!!!
When we didn't have free time there were scheduled workshops or field trips. How to start up a non-profit organization was one of the workshops and Christine baze was the guest speaker who started up the yellow umbrella organization. She plays concerts all around the country and donates all of the money to cervical cancer awareness. A local theater group came by and they taught us some improv games. There were a lot of workshops where you do icebreakers and get to know everyone. there were a lot more but i cant remember them all. Oh and all of the workshops were optional. We went on two field trips. One was to Missula and the other was to philipsburg. In Missula we went to farmers and peoples markets and it was really cool because missula is a little hippy town in the middle of the conservative Montana. It was really neat how there were a whole lot of booths where people sell crafts that they hand made. Philispburg is an extremely small town and we got to mine for sapphires there. There were also cute shops there.
some of the people at camp, in Missula
PhilipsburgOne night there was a carnival where we would play games for tickets and exchange them for prizes. At the carnival they had a mini shooting range with pellet guns and that was fun. Another night we had a karaoke dance party which was really fun...the camp lent out costumes for everyone to wear if you wanted. The last night there was a talent show. I didn't do anything but it was really fun watching everyone haha
One thing that was really weird was how much of a California accent I have!! Most of the people that went to the camp were from the South or the East Coast and from being around all of those different accents I sounded like an idiot with a valleyish accent!! I'm not even from the valley!! haha anyways, I had sooooooooo much fun at this camp. I met amazing people and I cant wait to go back!!
my friend shooting at the mini range
karaoke...
...dance party! jolene dancing w/ tener
brownie bake off! my team won!!!
Friday, May 22, 2009
last day of chemo/camp mak-a-dream
last friday was jaimee's last chemotherapy appointment, what a relief...
all the nurses in the clinic sang zip-a-dee-doo-dah to her and gave her target gift cards for her last day of infusions...we are so happy she's finally done...wooohooo
today we will be getting a blood test to see how her counts are doing, if everything is ok we come back on the 29th to do a pet scan, pulminary function test, and echo cardiogram...hopefully jaimee won't have to do another bone marrow test...cross your fingers...
if jaimee still has lumps we will test them to see if it's live cancer cells if so they will do more tests and maybe limited radiation...hopefully they're all gone...we're hoping for the best...
jaimee was granted a scholarship to camp mak-a-dream in montana...she's very excited to meet other young adults with cancer and participate in all the activities they have to offer...she's already a happy camper knowing that she was accepted...
thank you debbie toomey for the application ; )
http://www.campdream.org/young_adult_conf.html
we will update you again when we have the results of her tests...
have a great memorial day weekend...
all the nurses in the clinic sang zip-a-dee-doo-dah to her and gave her target gift cards for her last day of infusions...we are so happy she's finally done...wooohooo
today we will be getting a blood test to see how her counts are doing, if everything is ok we come back on the 29th to do a pet scan, pulminary function test, and echo cardiogram...hopefully jaimee won't have to do another bone marrow test...cross your fingers...
if jaimee still has lumps we will test them to see if it's live cancer cells if so they will do more tests and maybe limited radiation...hopefully they're all gone...we're hoping for the best...
jaimee was granted a scholarship to camp mak-a-dream in montana...she's very excited to meet other young adults with cancer and participate in all the activities they have to offer...she's already a happy camper knowing that she was accepted...
thank you debbie toomey for the application ; )
http://www.campdream.org/young_adult_conf.html
we will update you again when we have the results of her tests...
have a great memorial day weekend...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
still no chemo : (
jaimee has been resting at home trying not to get sick...
her white cell count has been to low to administer her chemo...hopefully when we go on friday her counts will be high enough to start again...
jaimee was sad she couldn't watch the superstarzz play in the FOR tournament this past weekend...she misses them a lot...
her white cell count has been to low to administer her chemo...hopefully when we go on friday her counts will be high enough to start again...
jaimee was sad she couldn't watch the superstarzz play in the FOR tournament this past weekend...she misses them a lot...
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
update
today was supposed to be jaimee's last long day of chemo but unfortunately jaimee's white blood cell count was to low to proceed...
jaimee was more than happy to come home and eat eggplant with miso sauce since she didn't have to be on her diet...yummmm
jaimee will have her regular blood and pulmonary test on friday and if everything is okay she'll have her second to last round of chemo...
we're almost there...wooohooo ; )
jaimee was more than happy to come home and eat eggplant with miso sauce since she didn't have to be on her diet...yummmm
jaimee will have her regular blood and pulmonary test on friday and if everything is okay she'll have her second to last round of chemo...
we're almost there...wooohooo ; )
Saturday, April 11, 2009
update
jaimee and i have been seeing this cute 3 year old boy (tammer siam) and his dad in clinic every tuedsay and friday but now he is having his awful hospital treatments...he broke out with a itchy rash all over his little body and doesn't want to eat, poor guy...we wish him well through all of his treatments...
jaimee's counts are still low but the dr's think jaimee should be fine and will be checked again on tuesday...hopefully no blood transfusion...
jaimee's last treatment made her feel yucky and nauseous for three days...she finally felt better yestarday and hung out with friends last night...
jaimee's next long day of chemo will be april 28th and then the following tuesday will be her last treatment...wooohooo...we can't wait...
we wish everyone a happy easter...
jaimee's counts are still low but the dr's think jaimee should be fine and will be checked again on tuesday...hopefully no blood transfusion...
jaimee's last treatment made her feel yucky and nauseous for three days...she finally felt better yestarday and hung out with friends last night...
jaimee's next long day of chemo will be april 28th and then the following tuesday will be her last treatment...wooohooo...we can't wait...
we wish everyone a happy easter...
Friday, March 27, 2009
past due update
hi everyone...
sorry for the late update...no news is good news...
the chemo that jaimee is getting is much easier for her than the first half of treatments...she loves sleeping and eating at her own house rather than the hospital ; )
jaimee plans to go back to college in the fall and looking forward to the working world...she wants to work at disneyland but dr a. said not until she's done with bactrum in december ; (
Tuesday starts jaimee's 7th month of chemo...we can't believe she's almost done...what a relief...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
OCO Octagons
Hey guys this is Tay!
On Saturday Febuary 7th the OCO Octagons and I had a fundraiser at Racho to help raise money for Jai. We sold kahlua pork, chili rice, nachos and more. It went really well. We sold a about $1200. Thank you Hamamoto family and James family for their generous dotations. I really wanted to thank everyone who had helped to make this fundraiser a great success. I am glad that i was able to be involved with this fundraiser because Jai does so much for me.
<3 Tay
On Saturday Febuary 7th the OCO Octagons and I had a fundraiser at Racho to help raise money for Jai. We sold kahlua pork, chili rice, nachos and more. It went really well. We sold a about $1200. Thank you Hamamoto family and James family for their generous dotations. I really wanted to thank everyone who had helped to make this fundraiser a great success. I am glad that i was able to be involved with this fundraiser because Jai does so much for me.
<3 Tay
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
2/3/08 test results
jaimee and i left the house at 7:40am for labs and hydration at 9:00am, we met with dr armenian at 10:00, chemo at 11:00-1:30, and post hydration from 1:30-5:45pm...we finally got home around 7:00pm...what a long day...
dr a. gave us good news that the protocol jaimee was on has done well for her...jaimee has one lump left in her stomach and her bone marrow test came up clear...wooohooo ; )
jaimee will have one long day of chemo every 28 days followed with a shorter day of chemo 7 days later for four more cycles...this means jaimee will hopefully be done with chemo mid may with chemo pills for 6 more months after that...
jaimee did get nauseous today after the 24 hour zofran wore off but that's ok...her chemo was cut in half and is much more tolerable for her...
no more overnight hospital stays and her diet is for two weeks at a time instead of three...
the bad news we have is that jaimee's respiratory system is starting to be affected by chemo...we'll have to see if any changes occur and deal with it as it comes...
overall jaimee is humming along and doing great...
jaimee would like to thank everyone for their well wishes and continued support...
jodee ; )
dr a. gave us good news that the protocol jaimee was on has done well for her...jaimee has one lump left in her stomach and her bone marrow test came up clear...wooohooo ; )
jaimee will have one long day of chemo every 28 days followed with a shorter day of chemo 7 days later for four more cycles...this means jaimee will hopefully be done with chemo mid may with chemo pills for 6 more months after that...
jaimee did get nauseous today after the 24 hour zofran wore off but that's ok...her chemo was cut in half and is much more tolerable for her...
no more overnight hospital stays and her diet is for two weeks at a time instead of three...
the bad news we have is that jaimee's respiratory system is starting to be affected by chemo...we'll have to see if any changes occur and deal with it as it comes...
overall jaimee is humming along and doing great...
jaimee would like to thank everyone for their well wishes and continued support...
jodee ; )
Friday, January 30, 2009
smilesbysoo.com
Thank you Dr. Soo...
i wanted to let everyone know how special you are to jaimee, tay, and myself...you are one of a kind and very special to us...you not only treat my girls for their orthodontic work but also took time out of your busy schedule to donate your blood to jaimee...you are not only a wonderful orthodontist but a wonderful person as well...we appreciate all that you do for us...
jodee ; )
i wanted to let everyone know how special you are to jaimee, tay, and myself...you are one of a kind and very special to us...you not only treat my girls for their orthodontic work but also took time out of your busy schedule to donate your blood to jaimee...you are not only a wonderful orthodontist but a wonderful person as well...we appreciate all that you do for us...
jodee ; )
January 30, 2009
jaimee had a wonderful time today despite the bone marrow tests...
dr armenian and nurse practitioner debbie were joking around and making the whole situation a lot less stressful for us...they said they wanted to do the first synchronized bone marrow test as dr a did jaimee's right hip and nurse debbie did her left hip...dr a receives a 0 for synchronization but deserves a 10 for performance, he did great for his first time at the city of hope...
jaimee was given two kinds of medications which made her laugh hysterically at every little thing, she even laughed at the discomfort she felt from the bone marrow aspiration...jaimee was saying the funniest things (which i won't mention ;0 )and sang the song from step brothers (thanks mikey)...you had to be there...she was hilarious...
the protocol that jaimee is on has worked well for her...the pet scan showed all but one lump has disappeared ; ) but the bone marrow is still lighting up with the scan which might be from the neulasta...if it's not the neulasta we'll have to discuss what other disease jaimee might have...he'll give us the results on tuesday...
for the next month jaimee will not have to stay in the hospital for chemo treatments but will have long one day treatments twice a week for the next two weeks...no more hospital food...woohoo
we are very happy and proud to be dr armenian's first patient at the city of hope...we can't wait to be his first success story as well, he's wonderful...
we'll up date again after we receive the results from the bone marrow tests...
have a great week end...
dr armenian and nurse practitioner debbie were joking around and making the whole situation a lot less stressful for us...they said they wanted to do the first synchronized bone marrow test as dr a did jaimee's right hip and nurse debbie did her left hip...dr a receives a 0 for synchronization but deserves a 10 for performance, he did great for his first time at the city of hope...
jaimee was given two kinds of medications which made her laugh hysterically at every little thing, she even laughed at the discomfort she felt from the bone marrow aspiration...jaimee was saying the funniest things (which i won't mention ;0 )and sang the song from step brothers (thanks mikey)...you had to be there...she was hilarious...
the protocol that jaimee is on has worked well for her...the pet scan showed all but one lump has disappeared ; ) but the bone marrow is still lighting up with the scan which might be from the neulasta...if it's not the neulasta we'll have to discuss what other disease jaimee might have...he'll give us the results on tuesday...
for the next month jaimee will not have to stay in the hospital for chemo treatments but will have long one day treatments twice a week for the next two weeks...no more hospital food...woohoo
we are very happy and proud to be dr armenian's first patient at the city of hope...we can't wait to be his first success story as well, he's wonderful...
we'll up date again after we receive the results from the bone marrow tests...
have a great week end...
Friday, January 16, 2009
friday clinic
we only spent two hours at the clinic this morning...wooohooo...
jaimee's white blood cell count (wbc) was still to high from her neulasta shot last saturday...we hope her wbc count will be on the normal side when she has her bone marrow tests on january 30th...jaimee will also have a pet scan, chest x-rays, and respiratory tests on january 21st...they will compare all tests with the base tests taken in october...hopefully we'll see a change for the better...
the next round of chemo will be postponed for a week or two until the tests are back and we consult with dr armenian...
jaimee ate cheddar cheese, pepperoni, and natto with shoyu tonight, she's happy to be off her tyramine diet and not wasting anytime doing it ; )
jaimee's white blood cell count (wbc) was still to high from her neulasta shot last saturday...we hope her wbc count will be on the normal side when she has her bone marrow tests on january 30th...jaimee will also have a pet scan, chest x-rays, and respiratory tests on january 21st...they will compare all tests with the base tests taken in october...hopefully we'll see a change for the better...
the next round of chemo will be postponed for a week or two until the tests are back and we consult with dr armenian...
jaimee ate cheddar cheese, pepperoni, and natto with shoyu tonight, she's happy to be off her tyramine diet and not wasting anytime doing it ; )
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
not a typical day (6.5 hours)
jaimee and i went to the city of hope today for her tuesday & friday blood test but when the test came back jaimee's counts were way down ; (
this was the first time jaimee had to be given platelets, it looks like concentrated orange juice going into her...jaimee couldn't look, she closed her eyes the entire time...after the platelets were done they started the blood transfusion which she couldn't look at either, she's funny...even though they gave jaimee benedryl to help sleep through it all she woke up for the veggie pizza we ordered and went back to sleep again...yummmmy ; )
just before we left today we talked to jaimee's social worker to see what kind of fundraiser the octagon's could do for the tweener's (18-21 year olds)...this age range of kids are too old for the ronald mc donald camp or qualify for the make a wish foundation (jaimee was bummed)...even though these young adults receive medical bills in their name they are still kids at heart and deserve to have something to look forward to as well...we heard a couple of nurses might have started something and are inquiring about it, hopefully we'll hear something soon...
thank you to the oco octagon's for involving tay and asking her to help out with her sister, i really appreciate it...
jodee
this was the first time jaimee had to be given platelets, it looks like concentrated orange juice going into her...jaimee couldn't look, she closed her eyes the entire time...after the platelets were done they started the blood transfusion which she couldn't look at either, she's funny...even though they gave jaimee benedryl to help sleep through it all she woke up for the veggie pizza we ordered and went back to sleep again...yummmmy ; )
just before we left today we talked to jaimee's social worker to see what kind of fundraiser the octagon's could do for the tweener's (18-21 year olds)...this age range of kids are too old for the ronald mc donald camp or qualify for the make a wish foundation (jaimee was bummed)...even though these young adults receive medical bills in their name they are still kids at heart and deserve to have something to look forward to as well...we heard a couple of nurses might have started something and are inquiring about it, hopefully we'll hear something soon...
thank you to the oco octagon's for involving tay and asking her to help out with her sister, i really appreciate it...
jodee
Saturday, January 10, 2009
vfw fundraiser
jaimee would like to thank everyone that donated money to her from the vfw christmas party...she is overwhelmed with everyone's thoughtfulness and appreciates the $100.00check given to her...
i'm very sorry this is a month after the vfw fundraiser...i would have written this sooner but was unaware of the whole event...
jodee
i'm very sorry this is a month after the vfw fundraiser...i would have written this sooner but was unaware of the whole event...
jodee
Low RBC
jaimee had to have another blood transfusion yesterday...her red blood cell count was down to 7.2 which is very low...this was the reason why jaimee felt so tired and wanted to sleep all day...
jaimee had to have her neulasta shot today to bring up her white blood cell count...hopefully her counts will be up by tuesday, her next clinic/lab test day...
since jaimee's billirubin count was up (she looked a bit yellow) tay and I took a long walk with jaimee at the beach to get some ulta violet rays in her system...what a fun beautiful day...
fyi: tay was amazed with all the dead creatures that were along the way and took pictures of them...she also saved a giant hermit crab from being seagull food...
jaimee had to have her neulasta shot today to bring up her white blood cell count...hopefully her counts will be up by tuesday, her next clinic/lab test day...
since jaimee's billirubin count was up (she looked a bit yellow) tay and I took a long walk with jaimee at the beach to get some ulta violet rays in her system...what a fun beautiful day...
fyi: tay was amazed with all the dead creatures that were along the way and took pictures of them...she also saved a giant hermit crab from being seagull food...
4th Chemotherapy
jaimee started her 4th chemotherapy on january 2, 2009...
two hours after they started with jaimee's chemotherapy she got sick to her stomach...after eating saltine crackers and diet sprite all day she decided to ask bryce to make her rice soup(juk)with a lot of ginger in it, this was the only thing she wanted to eat and held down...i felt so helpless and bad for her...
jaimee went through four different kinds of anti nausea medications which helped her sleep...she still woke up alomost every hour to go to the restroom...
the nurses were feeling sorry for jaimee and were rubbing her back and trying to make her comfortable...this hospital is absolutely the best place to be, everyone is great here...
in two weeks jaimee will be having a bone marrow test on each side of her hips, pet scan, and a few other tests...they promised jaimee she will not be awake for the bone marrow test which made her very happy...
if all goes well with the tests dr armenian said jaimee may not have to be hospitalized for chemo anymore...wooohooo...
two hours after they started with jaimee's chemotherapy she got sick to her stomach...after eating saltine crackers and diet sprite all day she decided to ask bryce to make her rice soup(juk)with a lot of ginger in it, this was the only thing she wanted to eat and held down...i felt so helpless and bad for her...
jaimee went through four different kinds of anti nausea medications which helped her sleep...she still woke up alomost every hour to go to the restroom...
the nurses were feeling sorry for jaimee and were rubbing her back and trying to make her comfortable...this hospital is absolutely the best place to be, everyone is great here...
in two weeks jaimee will be having a bone marrow test on each side of her hips, pet scan, and a few other tests...they promised jaimee she will not be awake for the bone marrow test which made her very happy...
if all goes well with the tests dr armenian said jaimee may not have to be hospitalized for chemo anymore...wooohooo...
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