Love is in the air !

"Winning the Leukemia Lottery !!! " - Lisa Mark

First things first, thank you my Lord and Savior !!

Well, today was an awesome day. My sweet love came to see me and we danced in each others arms, it was beautiful. I got to feel his arms around me and we held each other tight. It brought us to tears.

The other awesome news is I received part of my genetics test and do you want to know what my God did ?! He gave me a NORMAL inversion 16 ! What's that you ask ? Its a chromosome in my DNA (ok enough of that lol). What it means is that it's curable and treatable. Hallelujah to my King !!

This past week, as I mentioned before, God has, is and will continue to do great things because that's what He does. Ill receive my complete test results soon. So for now I'll be here for 3 weeks (neutropenic still though. throw in a bone marrow, check my levels and thankfully go home for a week). So on and so on for 3 months (at least that's their plans). I believe God has something bigger planned.

If you're curious who my God is, cry out to Him with a pure heart, repent of your sins
and make Him the Lord of your life. Believe He will change YOUR life...for the better !!Then hold on !!

Prayer requests: Please continue to pray for these next 3 weeks as it will be intense treatment. Please pray for these ladies at the hospital.

Thank you for all your prayers...keep them coming because prayer changes things. Thanks for all of yours. Love you all,

J

Visitor Update !!!!!

Ok, So I got a call from my mom this morning. She is no longer able to receive any visitors. She is neutropenic. (very low blood count---can easily get infections) This is good because the chemo is working and doing what it needs to do. We are not sure how long she will be in this condition. She's waiting on her genetics test results and bone marrow biopsy. If everything comes back looking great then they will begin rebuilding her blood cells :) But if not then she will be doing another round of chemo. So for the time being she won't be having any visitors outside of the immediate family. And she isn't always taking phone calls or texting so don't take it personal if she doesn't get back to you. If anyone has any questions or wants to talk to someone feel free to call me. She sends me updates so I can relay any messages to her. She's asking that you all pray that this round takes out all the cancer so she can start working her way up to get back to normal :)
 
Also, many have mentioned a desire to bring meals to the family. We all love that idea and are so thankful to you all. Please give either my dad or me a call so we can make sure someone is at the house when you wanted to come by. :)


Shawn 562-881-7444



Lauren 714-329-6205

God is changing my life...for the better !

(from Joanie)

Hi everyone !
Wow, this has been a wild ride already ! I'm still in shock ! Ya know I knew this year was going to be a great year LOL! We never saw this comin' that's for sure, but then again..that Acute Leukemia is a sneeker :)

Since being in the ER, transferred to Anaheim and now at USC (which I'm now a fan). God has been doing incredible things with me, in me and all around me. The people I've met on this journey from all walks of life have been so sweet. From the janitors, transporters, EMT, cleaning ladies, nurses, specialists, doctors, some believers and some not. God has shown me their hearts. I'm so blessed that God has allowed me that pleasure. He keeps opening doors over and over again and I'm walking through, "holding nothing back" from what He wants me to do.

Hey does anyone remember that whole Britney Spears things, when she shaved her hair off ? Well, I remember thinking "I want to do that" LOLOL! I guess you should be careful what you wish for huh ? haha !Well, Tiffany Amber Theison wig .. HERE I COME !!!!

As you can tell, my spirits this week are good. Started my treatment so please pray for this first week..its supposed to be intense. My soul is at peace and my God is here with me. So I'm not alone.

So what do I need ? YOU! My friends and family. I cherish my relationships. My true, genuine relationships that I'm blessed with each and every day. And even though I don't see you every day, I know you think of me. You all inspire me by just being YOU.

MY LIFE IS OVERWHELMINGLY BLESSED WITH MY FAMILY...
-Shawn is my BFF. From the moment, and I MEAN moment, we met it was FIREWORKS. And every minute since has been fireworks. God is in my husband. He treats me like God does, everything unconditional. Now THAT'S a man ! The man of my dreams. Stay strong baby!

-My kids are incredible. TOTALLY different from each other, but the loves of my life. I'm in love with my kids. Stay strong my loves !

 

-And then there's my precious, precious Kaia. WOW..what can I say? She's "the best granddaughter ever!" (She loves when we say that) Thank you God for this amazing, beautiful Joy that you blessed me with. "You are my Sunshine!"

 

We are all going to FIGHT ON!!!! TOGETHER! (Phil 4:13)

I'm praying for all of you, please know that. Please pray for all the people that are surrounding me here. That their lives will be forever changed by our Lord and Savior.

Remember, this is not about me, really! It's about God's plans for all of us. I'm just a vessel being used for His glory. Am I scared ? You bet, but God's got this! And that's good enough for me!

C'yall soon !!
All my love to you
- Joanie

P.S. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK !

Chemo round 1..hopefully the last !

I got a call from my mom today. She sounded good. Staying extra positive :) So far all of her test results are looking great...she is waiting on her cytogenetic test results which will tell her exactly what level of AML they are dealing with. Those results will take about 2 weeks to be finished...so lots of prayers that its a lower level and not extreme. Here is the link for those who are curious to know a little more details about this form of Leukemia. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/adultAML/Patient

She has started her first round of chemo this evening. There will be a number of side effects. So if you ARE texting or calling her she will most likely NOT be responding at this point. But she would like to receive funny jokes, uplifting words and most importantly (she told me to be specific about this) she wants anyone with any prayers requests to send them to her so she can pray for you. Also, she would like prayers for calmness, peace and for her to be able to witness to those she comes in contact with in the hospital.

What the chemo is going to be doing is making her red blood cells attack the white blood cells that are causing the cancer. Please pray that this round of chemo will eliminate all the white cells and that she wont need to go for another (or more) rounds of chemo.

She will be getting ANOTHER bone marrow biopsy done in 2 weeks to see if the chemo has eliminated any if not ALLLLLLLLL the cancer cells. (keeps your fingers crossed and send a lot of prayers upstairs for positive results)

Some of you may be wondering if she will be losing her hair due to the treatments. YES she will. But she is already embracing that and not worried about her hair. If hair loss is a side effect of beating cancer then take it all !!!!! and take the cancer with it !!!

She has been writing her own updates in the hospital and prayer requests so tomorrow when I get them  I will  post them up so you'll have something straight from her :)

We have been getting such a great feedback so far from this blog and I thank you all for being so supportive and here for my mom when she needs it more than ever. :) She's going to kick this cancers butt !!!! She going in fighting like the warrior that she is..a warrior of God. With him as her leader, friend, father and supporter we know she is in the best of hands.

 

 

Well, today has been pretty eventful... We spoke with the doctor. The type of Leukemia she has is called AML(Acute Myeloid Leukemia). We are still waiting on tests to see how far advanced this type is. We will get those results in the next few weeks. Until then she will be starting basic Chemo treatment. According to the doctor the actual Chemo wont make her feel weak or run down. But because her immunities will be extremely low she will most likely catch illnesses (cough,cold,sneezing,etc) VERY easily. Call ahead to see if shes feeling up for visitors. Right now shes taking it day by day.

 She will be staying at USC for about 1 month (as far as we know). Then she can come home. She will have to continue the month long visits but we aren't 100% sure how many of those visits she will have to do. Feel free to leave any comments or questions on any of these posts. She will eventually be posting up her own words and feelings. Same with my dad and possibly brother. So keep an eye out or those ;) But I will be monitoring this page daily so you will get a response soon.

Many have asked about sending flowers or plants...There are no live plants/flowers allowed. Also, no outside food without the nursing station approval ahead of time. But feel free to send humorours cards or send her funny videos to her phone. She'll love that :)

after she had her bone marrow biopsy..they let her keep some. she said it was "glistening" :)

they also gave her a piece of her bone !!!! trippy !!!!

For those of you who have already been informed about my mothers situation and have sent your well wishes I thank you very much. To those who haven't heard much here's the update/announcement.

This morning my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia. And as you can imagine we all were in complete shock. One minute we are camping in Silent Valley.. the next...emergency room. She was admitted Sunday night. Had a lot of tests done only to confirm that she has Leukemia. Fortunately they caught it in the early stages and will begin Chemotherapy within the next couple of days.

She is currently at USC: Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in LA. We have heard nothing but the best about this center and have complete faith in God and the staff that she will get the best treatments out there to nip this cancer in the butt ! Its going to be a bumpy ride. But with the support and love of all our family and friends we will get through this together :) She is definitely not alone in this and has an amazing support/prayer group in all of us.

Her room is located on the 3rd floor room 3311. Visiting hours will be 10am-8pm. PLEASE CALL BEFORE HAND. Since she will be going through intense treatments she will,of course, not always be up for visitors. If she doesn't answer her phone or the room phone, try again at a later time. Phone numbers will be listed below. I will be posting updates regularly on this blog for those who wish to be kept in the loop.

If you feel the need to send/bring anything to her, she is only accepting humorous greeting cards. The ward she is in has limitations and laughter is the best medicine so send as much funny things her way :)

Nurses Station: 323-865-3333
Room #:323-865-3311
Personal #: 562-217-9358
1441 Eastlake Ave.
Los Angeles, 90033

PS. YOU MUST PAY FOR PARKING. METERS ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS AND QUARTERS.(yes, this is a bummer but we have been informed that even the employees have to pay to park "/. so no one wins with parking in LA)