Happy Birthday Gloria

Spent a lovely Sunday afternoon celebrating Gloria's birthday at Neiman Marcus's Rotunda. If you've never been, I highly recommend dining at the Rotunda. Beautiful architecture with so much natural light throughout the restaurant and a gorgeous view of SF.

The lovely birthday girl sandwiched between me and Margaret.

Tasty delights

Friends gathering around the guest of honor.

Trying to get the massive ceiling in the pic. 

Sister Act

Everyday my two daughters bicker like cats and dogs. EVERYDAY! So when moments like this come my way, I'm so thankful that the two sisters worked together as a team to bless and serve their parents. I give you, Maddy and Alicia's Brekfest (Breakfast) Bafe (Buffet)...

Isaac woke up at 5:30 this morning and I soothed him for a while and returned to bed. I was so exhausted and didn't realize he woke up two hours later. The sisters tended to Isaac, tossed into his bed numerous toys to keep him occupied, and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. 

This is what was in store for us: carton of milk, jug of cranberry/raspberry juice, fruit on each plate, cereal already poured out for each person, and a TJ's frozen hash brown and wheat bread carefully placed in the toaster oven awaiting an adult to turn it on. They even placed a snack trap full of Cheerios and a toy for Isaac. 

So grateful for their hearts and selfless act. Though they argue and fight with one another 50% of the time, at least I know that they do enjoy working together and in their hearts, love each other dearly. 

CT Scan

Routine CT scan this morning.  My lovely friend, Tina, accompanied me today. Tina is a radiologist at the hospital and even on her day off, she drove me to her workplace to keep me company. She sensed I was having some anxiety and wanted to be by my side. I love this girl! Always taking care of me and making sure I'm ok. As for the results...stable. My CT scan looks good and my hematoma collection is almost gone. Praise God. He is surely making miracles happen. I still have a long road ahead of me but I'm feeling so joyful and thankful for God's mercy on my life. 

After the good news, Tina and I celebrated with a fun shopping excursion! Thank goodness we only had an hour to shop otherwise I would have done some serious damage. 

Chemo tomorrow...wish me luck! 

Happy St. Maddy's Day

We kicked off Maddy's 8th birthday celebration with a trip to Tahoe, her favorite vacation spot. 

Kids tried skiing for the first time. Weather was unusually warm for this time of year at 60 degrees and the slopes were mostly covered with man-made snow. Subpar ski conditions but kids still had fun. Alicia made a stink and whined all morning but after much coaxing she persevered. 

Overly dressed for the warm weather but don't they look cute! 

With cousin Paige

Blowing out her 8 candles. Oh my goodness! My baby's 8!!!! No more booster chair for this big girl. 

DIY wrapping paper: Trader Joe's paper bags and crayons. 

All 7 Pak cousins

With Grandma and Ikey

Opening presents

6 Pak all washed up and ready for bed

Hamming it up for the camera 

Cousins Rock!

Birthday lunch at CPK

Me and my Boo

So thankful for my little Maddy who is turning out to be a beautiful young lady. God has surely blessed our family with this sweet and gentle soul who all to often will beg to read one more chapter before bed, meticulously add the finishing touches to her drawings and diligently practice her soutenous and arabesques during and after ballet class. And yes, we still have days when she tries to get away with a frown here and a pout there and there will surely be many days when we will come to butt heads but I will always love being her mom and I will constantly seek help and wisdom and patience from our Heavenly Father. May she grow to be a God-fearing woman who will be Christ-minded and never ashamed of the gospel. I love you, Madeline Grace Pak! 

Date Night with the Jo's

Back in December 2012, our church hosted a Christmas luncheon for those that serve at church. Included in the luncheon was a raffle to entertain the guests. I won a $100 gift card to Wente in Livermore. And the second gift card went to Amy so we had planned a double date back in 2012. Fast forward to a year and a half later, our stars finally aligned and we were able to have our night out together. Wente is known for their amazing pork chops but I wanted to order the most expensive item on the menu...filet mignon. Eugene thought I was silly to order the most expensive dish just because we had a gift card but I felt like I had won the lottery! It was a lovely evening with our wonderful pals and it was like a date that you never wanted to end. :-) 

A Day in the Life: Bone Scan

I had a bone scan earlier this week. This is the machine used to scan my head down to my toes. 

I lay flat on a very uncomfortable surface for about 30 minutes while the machine slowly scans my entire head and body. I usually end up napping so its not entirely that bad. 

Waiting for the results from my doc. Let's hope and pray there are less cancer lesions in my bones. Fighting!!!

A day in the life: Chemo Day

People often ask what it's like to receive chemo or how I feel during and/or after treatment. It usually depends on how I'm feeling going into treatment and what chemo medicine the doc prescribes for me that day. Today, the doc ordered Herceptin and Pertuzumab - my preferred choice of chemo drugs - and chose to omit Taxotere from the group. Taxotere is the not-so-fun chemo drug where side effects include nausea, slight hair loss, decrease in appetite and nadir. Nadir is the point in time between chemotherapy cycles when I experience low white and red blood cell counts. This causes extreme fatigue and increases my risk of infection. Fortunately for me, my doc has decided that I can skip Taxotere for the next two cycles. Not that it's necessarily a good thing as my body still needs Taxotere to fight off the cancer cells from multiplying. But it's ok right now since my tumor markers are at a low number (14) and my CT scan shows that my tumors are shrinking. Yay! Praise God for His mercies!!!

Here's a photo tour of what I go through each chemo cycle or every 21 days. 

24 hours prior to chemo I have to get my blood drawn. Check out the bruise to the left. Been poked ufar too many times. 

Entering the chemo clinic at Kaiser. I always gets weighed in since the pharmacist needs to know my weight in order to prescribe the exact dose. 

The chemo drugs are hung on this contraption and given to me  intravenously. Luckily I have a port catheter in my chest so that I don't need to be pricked in the arm at every session. 

A view from my recliner. 

A happy patient. God is good! Check out my straight teeth and improved bite. Got my braces removed two weeks ago. Yay!