Jaimee's Blog

team kai honoring nancy sakakura & jaimee yamaoka

2009-09-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

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
--------------------

camp-mak-a-dream

2009-07-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

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!!!

last day of chemo/camp mak-a-dream

2009-05-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

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...

still no chemo : (

2009-05-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

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...

update

2009-04-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

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 ; )

update

2009-04-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

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...

past due update

2009-03-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

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...

OCO Octagons

2009-02-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

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

2/3/08 test results

2009-02-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

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 ; )

smilesbysoo.com

2009-01-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

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 ; )

January 30, 2009

2009-01-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

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...

friday clinic

2009-01-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

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 ; )

not a typical day (6.5 hours)

2009-01-13T22:08:00.000-08:00

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

vfw fundraiser

2009-01-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

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

Low RBC

2009-01-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

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...

4th Chemotherapy

2009-01-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

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...

12/30/08 Update

2008-12-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

jaimee has been feeling really tired and her joints have been hurting her...last week she had to take medicine for the pain but is doing fine now...
today we went to COH for an unscheduled blood test, jaimee thought her counts were down and might need a transfusion but to our surprise her count went up by .4 which means no blood today...jaimee was hoping for a transfusion so she wont be so tired for the festivities on new years eve and new years day, hopefully she'll feel fine...
jaimee is still on the low side and may still need a transfusion when we check into the hospital on friday...this will be jaimee's 4th treatment...we're almost half way there...wooohooo...
jaimee is off of her diet this week and is having a great time eating everything with shoyu...
we wish everyone a safe and happy new year...
love...jaimee, tay, bryce, and jodee ; )

counts are down

2008-12-20T23:28:00.000-08:00

jaimee came back from the hospital last sunday night with a low red blood cell count and had to receive a transfusion last tuesday night...its amazing how a little blood gives her more energy...nancy...sorry we missed you at clinic, we were there from 4pm - 9:45pm...
on friday the 19th all of jaimee's counts were at their low...hopefully the neulasta shot she received today will help bring up her white cell count...
jaimee goes back into the hospital on january 2, 2009 for round four of chemo...we're almost half way there...wooohooo...

Update

2008-12-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone...
Jaimee had a PET scan appointment at 6am last Friday but was unble to go through with it because her glucose count was way to high...Finally last tuesday Jaimee's count was good enough to take her scan and today we received the results...
Dr. Aremian said the lumps went down which is great but because of the Neulasta shot (builds up the white count) Jaimee's WBC was at 71000 which makes it look like she has leukemia in her bone marrow which freaks out the nurses...Dr. Armenian assured us that it's probably the Neulasta that is making the results look bad and we'll have to take another PET scan after two more rounds of chemotherapy...He will lower her dose of Neulasta by 50% and if her count is still to high he may have to take her off of Neulasta before her next scan...
No room in the Pediactric ward this morning :( which was ok cuz we got to give Jai her last good meal (back home) before she checks into the hospital tonight...hopefully the all you can eat sushi digests (cooked) before she gets sick from the chemo, we don't want all that seafood coming back up :0
Jaimee is responding well to her therapy and we will continue with the same treatment with the exception of Neulasta...WoooHooo...
Hopefully Jaimee will be checking out of the Hospital on Monday...

2nd session of chemo

2008-11-24T11:52:00.000-08:00

another round of hospital chemo over with...wooohooo
this time was a little worse...5:30, 7:30, and 10:30am jaimee was sick to her stomache from all the heavy chemo...
she slept a lot on friday, saturday, and sunday morning...crackers, diet ginger ale, and water was all she wanted while nauseous...
finally i ordered chicken tenders with bbq sauce, fresh fruit bowl, doctored up her vegetable platter with garlic salt and american cheese, and oredered a diet italian ice which made her feel a lot better...it was amazing watching her eat it all...
everyone at the city of hope are wonderful...all the doctors and nurses that come in compliment the way jaimee looks, acts, and her attitude towards everything...
jaimee always says please and thank you no matter how bad she feels...i'm very proud of her...
mom

No Epilady Duct Tape Instead :o

2008-11-17T23:17:00.000-08:00

What a weird night of bonding...
We started out plucking nubs out of jaimee's head and decided it was taking to long...Tay had an idea of duct taping the nubs out, which Jaimee agreed to...After taping Jiamee's head we thought we would try the epilady to her head to get the rest of the nubs out but as soon as Tay touched Jaimee's head she screamed...That stopped that and we continued to duct tape jai...
Jaimee looks good bald and has a cute little head, it feels really soft...
Jaimee is off her meds and will go back into the hospital this Friday if all is well with her blood counts...She seems to be doing ok but her joints hurt and her body feels like a giant bruise...
we'll update you soon...

A New Do

2008-11-13T23:46:00.000-08:00

OMG...Atfer seeing clumps of hair on her pillow, floor, and brush Jaimee decided to get rid of her hair today...
Jaimee is a strange one...She wanted us to pull her hair out before she let Tay and I cut and shave it all off...That was just wrong!!!
Jaimee always cried after every haircut but for some weird reason Jaimee did not shed one tear today, she was very happy to have it all removed...
Tomorrow is another day for testing Jaimee's blood...The doc said she may need a transfusion or platelets soon...Hopefully we can use the blood and platelets Bryce has graciously donated to her...Thank you sweetheart ; *
I would like to thank everyone for being so kind to all of us, we greatly appreciate your support and friendship...
love,
Tay and Jodee

another blood test

2008-11-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Jaimee spent three hours at the hospital to test her blood count today, unfortunately they lost Jiamee's blood and had to re-take it again...Good thing they left the needle in the port a cath so it wasn't such a big deal to her...

Jaimee didn't cry at all today, she is very proud of herself and so are we ; )

Even though Jaimee's white cell count is dropping she seems to be acting normal...She even drove to my apartment and back to her dad's house today...

11/07/08 Out Patient Chemo

2008-11-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Jaimee had to have her blood tested and freaked out before they stabbed (Jaimee's words) her in the port a cath, which is still sore from the placement of it : ( After a couple hours of out patient chemo she was better with the port being used...

Jaimee earned a poke bead, chemo bead, and a compliance bead for today...

This hospital is pretty cool, jaimee gets to relax in a recliner and watch TV, play wii, playstation, and other games if she wanted to...They will also bring her food, snacks, and order out for pizza...They are very nice and accommodating...

Jaimee's anemia is about the same as when she left the hospital, which is good...The doctor thinks in the next week or so her count should be dropping and may need another blood transfusion but we'll have to keep checking her count twice a week to see...(November 7th, 11th, 14th, & 18th)

Dr. Armenian told Jaimee she can be off of her diet until she goes back into the Hospital on November 21st...wooohooo...She's craving everything and eating it all...it's pretty amusing and amazing...

11/08/08
Jaimee commented how she almost didn't cry for her Neulasta (helps bring up her white cell count) shot today...She did pretty good...

We're very proud of her...
Mom

I'm Home

2008-11-03T17:29:00.000-08:00

Today was Jaimee's best day in the hospital...
She was unleashed from all those tubes and bags she had attached to her
The doctor said her parents do not have to give her a shot everyday like we thought
Jaimee was sent home with 7 different kinds of medications to take throughout the week-no shots until Friday...woohoo...
She met and took a picture with the, "Fight For Life" police and sheriff teams which may get published in their newsletter, we'll see...
http://www.fightforlife.org/
Jaimee earned 16 beads of courage for everything she went through so far and will continue to earn more throughout her journey
http://beadsofcourage.net/

Jaimee's immune system is not the same as everyone else, with chemo she will not be able to go shopping, b-day parties, school, family gatherings, or anywhere else with a lot of people around...If Jaimee has a fever of 101-102 degrees she will have to be admitted to the hospital...Hopefully with our flu shots we won't catch anything and give it to her...

Jaimee is on a strict diabetic and low tyramine diet http://www.healthsquare.com/mc/fgmc2007.htm which we're trying to follow...We'll be cooking a lot of fresh stuff for Jaimee and giving the leftovers to Tay...hehehe...Dr. Armenian said Jaimee will have an uncontrollable hunger that will amaze us...We can't wait to see it happen...

We go back on Friday for her check up, shots, and to meet and greet other patients going through cancer...

1st & 2nd Day of Chemo

2008-11-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

What a horrible experience for Jaimee...
Jaimee felt dizzy and nauseous with her first treatment today...It was like she was drunk but without any alcohol...She said she hates to throw up and did it four times last night...
They figured out that 50mg of Benedryl is way to much for Jaimee to handle and cut it in half which eliminated the dizziness, hopefully that will help stop her from getting sick...
With all the chemo Jaimee is having she sleeps a lot and doesn't want to eat, nothing sounds good to her...
The doctor came in to check on Jaimee and said she is doing better then some of his other patients and everything is going well...Jaimee was relieved to hear that and even smiled, which was nice to see again...
Mom

October 30, 2008

2008-11-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Poor Jaimee, it looks like a vampire bit her on the neck...The surgeon tried to place Jaimee's port on the left side but had some complications with the swollen lymph nodes in the way so they had to place the port on the right side instead...ouchy

Jaimee's room wasn't ready to check into after surgery so we had to push her around in a wheel chair and eat lunch at the cafeteria, which she loved...We finally checked Jaimee in her room just before the the Oncology team came in to consult with us...

Dr. Aremenian gave us a lesson on each Chemo medication Jaimee will be getting (Bleomycin, Etoposide, Doxorubicin, Cyclophosphamide, Vincristine, Prednisone, & Procarbazine) and what to expect from all of them...Jaimee also needs to gargle with Biotine and swish and swallow with Nystatin to try and prevent mouth and esophagus sores...Yucky!!!

Since Jaimee's PET scan showed cancer in her bone marrow she did not have to have another bone marrow biopsy...wooohooo...With that said, Jaimee is in Stage 4 B but Dr. Armenian is confident that the, "City of Hope" will cure her from Hodgkin's disease...

Jaimee did have to have 2 units of blood pumped into her since her blood count was so low (8.7)...Jaimee and I were up all night with the nurses checking on her for adverse reactions, vitals and constantly going to the bathroom...The doctor said Jaimee will need more transfusions along the way but we don't know when...Bryce donated on Thursday but I guess it takes a couple days to filter it out so we had to use the blood bank instead...

October 29, 2008

2008-10-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Jaimee did more tests yesterday but no needles...wooohooo

Tomorrow Jaimee checks into "The City of Hope" for a port to be put into her chest to access her veins when needed...While Jaimee is under anesthetic the doctors may decide to do another bone marrow test on the left hip where the PET scan showed cancer activity, not on the right one : (

When Jaimee wakes up from having the port put in she will be admitted to the paediatric word of the hospital for her 1st chemo treatment...The doctor will let us know when she can come home, hopefully 3-4 days from tomorrow...

Tomorrow will be the start to a journey of recovery...

Mom

City of Hope

2008-10-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

What a great experience for all of us but especially for Jaimee.

The doctor was very thorough with his consult today and told us he will cure Jaimee...He was very confident of the medicines and staff at their facility...

Jaimee is going back tomorrow morning to do a few more tests...Hopefully all the results will come back an an hour and a half after our appointment so they can place a port in Jaimee's chest for chemo...

Doctor Armenian said Jaimee will have to be admitted into the hospital 3-4 days twice a month for her treatments and may not have to have radiation after chemo is over with, we'll have to see...He wants to start tomorrow if possible...

Dr. Armenian told Jaimee school will have to wait and that she may have to drop out, we'll find out more when we speak to the social worker and an educational advocate tomorrow as well...

This is going soooo fast and very overwhelming for Jaimee...

Thank you for all your support for Jaimee...It's great to know she has so many friends to help her get through this tough time...

Tay, Bryce, and Jodee

Bone Marrow Test Today : (

2008-10-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today was the most traumatizing day ever.

I was scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration, which i was majorly stressing about. We got there and waited for the nurse to call me in. When she did she took my weight and blood pressure. After she took my blood pressure she decided to surprise me with a blood test. I absolutely hate blood tests and since it was a surprise it made everything worse. I had a panic attack and started crying. I think I scared the other patient in the room and the nurse as well. After the blood test we had to sit and wait for the doctor. Before the doctor came in the nurse came in to give me medicine to relax. I wasn't as scared for this shot because i just had my blood drawn a few minutes earlier. So the nurse pinched my skin and stuck me with the needle and I thought this isn't bad I can do it. But then she started to inject the medicine and my skin started to burn. the burning intensified as the medicine was injected into my arm. I felt like I had an inferno in my arm. The shot was supposed to relax me but I think it made everything worse. I listened to my iTouch to try to keep my mind off of things and it worked until the doctor came in. So when the doctor came in he told me to lay on my side in the fetal position to find the best spot for the bone marrow biopsy. I was crying and the doctor kept on telling me it was a small procedure but it didn't matter to me because it involved needles and blood. By this time i was extremely nervous as he was swabbing my hip with betadine and alcohol. Dr. Lim then gave me a numbing shot to the hip and then another one into the hip bone, which was more painful then he said it would be. Now it was time to start the biopsy. The doctor said I would only feel pressure but I felt everything that he was doing and it was definitely more than pressure. I cried and screamed a few times...The music did not distract me at all. My chest felt like it was going to collapse and my leg felt like it wanted to fall off, i was hating life. It was the worse experience of my life.

Dr. Lim went over the PET scan and told us I am in at least stage 3 of my disease and we'll find out next Tuesday if the cancer is in my marrow which will up grade me to stage 4. We then decided it would be best for me to go to, "The City of Hope" where they have more treatment programs with experimental drugs and clinical studies. We also decided to check out the pediatric care center verses the adult center. We have our first appointment on Monday and hopefully will be starting chemo this week.

Thank you Nancy Sakakura and Staci Fujita for all the help you have given us. Dr. Lim said that the City of Hope is the best choice for me.

Wig hunting today...AAAGGGHHH
When we walked into the store I was excited and kinda creeped out. It was weird because there were a bunch of heads all over the walls with creepy faces on them. but there was a hot pink wig and i started to get excited because I wanted to try it on. We then were greeted by this crazy Asian lady to try a few wigs on. She was very pushy, rude, and not a very good listener, she picked out wigs that she said were cute, and said no to the ones i wanted to try on...The wigs she picked were probably good for people her age, not for me. She said she has been doing this for 31 years and knows what she is doing and said I was not ready for a wig yet.

We then walked out very disappointed and went to this really nice lady in Westminster that hand makes real hair wigs for a fraction of what it would cost somewhere else. They were extremely nice and we finally had a good experience. Tomorrow we will check out one more wig place and see what they have to say. This is so exhausting!

Thanks for your thoughts and concerns...I will update you all soon.

Jaimee

First Consult with Dr Lim - Hematologist Oncologist

2008-10-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2008

Dr Lim explained that with Hodgkin's Lymphoma I have a 95% cure rate if I am in stage one or two with the disease and if I am in stage three or four I will have a 50% cure rate.
Since I haven't lost 10% of my weight Dr. Lim thinks I may be in stage one or two which is great!
In order to figure out what stage I am in Dr. Lim has ordered a PET scan tomorrow and a bone marrow test on October 24th, I HATE NEEDLES!!!

I will be having a minimum of 8 months of chemotherapy and another two months of radiation. Along with chemotherapy i will need to have a booster shot the day after my infusion.
Dr Lim has warned me that I will be losing my hair through all of this : (

I am constantly tired from night sweats, fevers, stress, and anemia. I love to sleep when ever possible and I have a very short attention span.

Dr. Lim has advised me to stay away from baby sitting, coaching, and sick people. I have to wash my hands all the time so I don't catch anything.