Donate....

I just recently sent this out as an email and have since posted it on Facebook as a NOTE, viewable HERE (Facebook Note) 

M was scheduled to have her bone marrow tested today (10/24) But it has been pushed back a week  to Halloween (10/31). She is in the recovery stage of her chemo session; blood an platelets drop in this recovery time so they are very much needed. 

Below is a forwarded message that pertains to my mother about blood donations and platelet donations. I understand that NYC is far, and donating now at either Somerset Medical or Robert Wood will not go directly to my mother, but will go to someone who needs it, so that is fine also. 

However, to help out my mother read below. 

:::Please forward this to all your friends and family. I am finding out how many people they can take at a time that way we can car pool to make the trip more affordable. I can get a van. ~ Luz::: 

Please keep in mind while blood banks keep blood for long periods of time, platelets are only stored for about 5 days until they are considered waste. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Luz Maria Alderete <Luz@plipa.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 23, 2012 5:04 pm
Subject: please forward this to all your friends and family I am finding out how many people they can take at a time that way we can car pool to make the trip more affordable. I can get a van.

        MARINA BALOGH needs Blood & Platelets 

Marina is currently a patient at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in

New York City.  Her treatment requires regular blood and platelet

transfusions.  

Marina and her family would deeply appreciate your donation of blood and/or

platelets and requests you ask others you know to donate. Donations not used

by Marina will be released for use by other patients many of whom are

children.

To benefit Marina Balogh all designated donations must be made in the Blood

Donor Room of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Please visit www.mskcc.org/blooddonations for complete information about

donor eligibility and the donation process for blood or platelets.

For answers to questions and to schedule an appointment that is convenient

for you please Contact:      

Joe Licata   -   212-639-8177

Manager, Blood Donor Program

licataj@mskcc.org

 Blood Donor Room - 212-639-7648

1250 First Avenue (between 67th/68th Streets) NYC - Schwartz Building lobby

Open Every Day

Fri Sat Sun Mon     8:30am - 3:00pm

Tues Wed Th         8:30am - 7:00pm

The process for donating whole blood takes approximately1hour

The process for donating platelets takes about 2 ½ hours.

Appointments are necessary- All blood types are acceptable

FREE Donor Parking - 

               -Somerset Parking Garage, 1365 York Avenue -entrance on NW

corner of 72nd Street

Kandee-Gangnam-Style

I am a subscriber of several blogs and YouTube sites, but I most often visit Kandee J and KandeeLand both run by a wonderful makeup artist named Kandee Johnson. Some people find her annoying, but I think she is extremely talented, very creative and most of all charming to watch. (Seriously - try watching a makeup tutorial by anyone but Kandee; you'll want to strangle yourself.) 

She is my age, a mother of 4 and has been on How Do I look and worked on movie sets and has over 300 tutorials online. She makes things seem easy and runs two separate blogs about beauty and motherhood, all while keeping an upbeat attitude. In June, her father was helping someone move, fell through a window and died. Even though I don't know this woman personally, it was sad news to hear. She went on a short hiatus this summer but has since bounced back and has slowly been making videos again. 

Not to get off track here, but,  like most people I've stumbled across the "Gangnam Style" video by PSY - really though, who could miss it - and one of my Zumba instructors uses the song (and the ridiculous dance steps in it) as a warm up routine. It brings a smile to my face to dance around to such ridiculousness. So today, while looking at a blog Ms Johnson wrote, this video was at the bottom. Being the super blog stalker that I can be, I know that the kids in the video are her children, and two of the kids are her oldest son's friends. It put a smile on my face just watching it. I can only imagine how much fun it was to make the video. I hope it brightens your day, too! Have a happy weekend. 

Jaclyn’s Slow Cooker Chicken Pot No-Pie

I have been combining internet recipes and forgetting ingredients and adding ingredients - but this is BY FAR the best slow cooker meal I've had in awhile, and it's just a combo of pot pie and chicken with dumplings. It is perfect for fall or winter. It's basically a chicken pot pie with no pie! I can never seem to make enough of it.  This recipe will probably serve 4-6 adults, depending on how much of it you can eat. You could probably also add in potatoes too, but I never have. Also, instead of fresh vegetables you can use frozen or frozen mixed or frozen onions, or anything you have... but I like the fresh vegetables if I have them around.  Easy, simple and just YUM! 

Jaclyn’s Slow Cooker Chicken Pot No-Pie

1 Small Onion, chopped

1 Bag Baby Carrots, whole; or 2-3 medium carrots, chopped

2-3 Stalks Celery, chopped

Half Bag of Frozen Peas

1.5-2 lbs Thin Sliced Chicken Breasts

Salt and Pepper

3 cans (10 oz) Cream of Chicken Soup

About ¾ cup Chicken Stock

1 Clove Garlic

1 or 2 Refrigerated Biscuit Dough tube(s)

Place all vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker

Arrange chicken on top of vegetables

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Add cream of chicken soup and chicken stock

Evenly distribute garlic

Cook on LOW 6-7 hours

HIGH 3-4 hours

Prepare biscuits as indicated on package

Let cool and split in half

Place bottom half on plate, top with pot pie mixture and top of biscuit 

(At our house, we each have 2 biscuits) 

Enjoy the deliciousness!

“Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don't believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it's good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.” 

― Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression

Birthday for Bob

Today is Bob's (aka) my dad's birthday. He is 70 today!!! He looks and acts great for 70! He is in pretty good health - I believe he should be getting his full body CAT scan between now and next month to check on the remission of his bladder cancer. I will update when I have that news. 

So, M is done with her second try at chemo. She was admitted to Sloan Kettering on 10/9 (Tues) and started a 5 day treatment on 10/11 (Thurs) and it was completed 10/15 (Mon). Days 1 and 4 were her days to receive the clinical trial/placebo, also. She met the chemo with no complications but started fevers on Tuesday. I took a day off of work on 10/17 (Wed) and drove up there for the first time, solo, for a visit. She was doing better Wed than she was on Tues when my aunts and brother went to visit. Since she is off the chemo now, she will probably be there for about three more weeks to get her immune system back. On day 14 she should be getting a bone marrow biopsy again to see how this round of chemo panned out. I believe that will be 10/24 (Wed). The aunts and uncle were informed that this is Sloan Kettering, not RWJ, and to not rule out the possibility of getting a bone marrow transplant if they can get the leukemia into remission, even at her age. 

 I will visit again this Sunday. Last Sunday Rob and I visited her in the afternoon and took her out to the balcony at the Patient Recreation Center. It was a gorgeous day and nice for her to get to go outside. She wanted to see the pictures from the Light the Night walk. I am going to make her a poster board with pictures from the event on it. 

10/12 (Fri) A group of friends went to The Cup Entertainment Complex in Linden to see The 39 and Little Dipper. It was a great time, and really great to see two of my favorite local bands in the same night and same place. The crowd was lacking as it was only people we knew and a few randoms but it was still a good time here's a few pics of The 39, Little Dipper and the crowd: 

The 39

The Crowd 

The 39 Rocking Old School Metal 

Me Being Artsy with the camera

Left the setting for Little Dipper 

Hard to get Dave the Drummer on this stage 

Little Dipper 

10/13 (Sat) Was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk in Morristown and our Team, "Minnie's Miracles" was there to light the night. Our team raised $1,535.00!!!! Here are a few pics:  

Three of my parent's neighbors

A view of the starting stage at the Hotel 

Brian and Anders walking for Grandma

Walking for Mom/Grandma

Kelly and Mollie walking for Aunt Minnie

Stevens' Walking for Aunt Minnie 

Professional Group Shot - There's about 7 or 8 people missing from this shot, but you get the idea. I love each and every one of them for coming out and supporting Minnie's Miracles. 

Love, 

Jaclyn 

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same -- with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.” 

― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

Friday 10/12

M started her treatment last night. She will be getting cytarabine for 5 days (more intense dose than last time) and the clinical trial of vosaroxin on days 1 and 4, so she had the clinical trial drug last night (we hope, could be the placebo) and will have it again on Sunday. You can read more about that HERE if you are interested. 

She is in good spirits and two aunts a cousin went to Sloan via train this morning so she had some visitors today. I will be going on Sunday, since I have the Light the Night walk Saturday. 

A few pictures from St Louis: 

Where I spent the majority of vacation 

Bear sitting cute at the Zoo 

Little owl at the Science Center 

View of Football Stadium from Room  & Tailgating (They won that night; it was loud)

New Friends Planking at the Pub 

Red Panda - My Favorite 

Flutterby in the Garden 

Seal waiting for lunch 

Monkey getting a piggy-back 

New friends Jen & Mikey

Penguin peeking 

The Arch 

Roar, I'm a Dinosaur 

Another Flutterby 

Manfriend and I 

Tonight I have two shows to attend and I will post some pictures of all of that and the walk sometime next week. Happy October. 

“I don't want to go to Peru."

"How do you know? You've never been there."

"I've never been to hell either and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there.” 

― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

Exhaustion Causing Title Delay

So, back from St. Louis: another pin in the globe. Not much to report on the trip itself, it was rather uneventful for me, just nice to get away. Everyone is a lot nicer in STL than in NJ, a few things are cheaper, and slower, however the weather was about the same. Spent the first day at the Science Center and the Zoo, and an early night in. 2nd day (yes, the entire day) was spent drinking at Tigrin's Irish Pub, where I made some new friends and even met a guy named Mike, my age, from NJ. Third day was spent sleeping in and a quick trip to the Arch at night. Although it seems like not much was accomplished - I was exhausted easily on this trip. Fourth day was spent traveling home... and finally seeing Ava :) I missed her so much. 

Unfortunately our trip started the same day that M was scheduled to go to Sloan Kettering for the first time. I was really bummed about not being there for her. I can only imagine what M and her travel companions went through on October 4 when she made her first trip to Sloan being that I saw it firsthand yesterday. What a disaster it is trying to get there. She was told last Thursday to come back Monday (yesterday, October 8) for a bone marrow biopsy and to be admitted. 

Mon (10/8) Up at 530 am- straight from my trip I ventured into the city with M, an aunt and an uncle. We left at about 7 am from Dunellen and got to our destination at about 850 am; we spent too much time ignoring the two GPS's that were giving us different directions. Anyway, once we got there we were told that her appointment wasn't until 11 am, but a little after 9 one office called to say that they knew she should be in at 9 am, but her DR was in a meeting. So screwed up. We ate breakfast in the cafeteria and relaxed until 11 am, and went to M's first appointment. She got all her cultures done, and was advised that she could hang around to wait for her bone biopsy; back to the cafeteria we went. We were told that they weren't admitting her on Monday but INSTEAD on TUESDAY and that we should make plans to come back. (Really?) 

Whilst in the Lobby, we received a phone call from Financial Services expressing that her insurance didn't include pre-existing conditions and that no further treatment would be done for her unless it was out of pocket; we were then advised to go to the Financial Services Department. M, Aunt and myself explained that the insurance INDEED covers pre-existing's and they weren't hearing it. Some of you may know how heartless and condescending insurance reps can be, you should see the Financial Services (FS) Department of Sloan Kettering. We were told that should have the biopsy done even if she wouldn't be admitted, or if she had to pay out of pocket. Now, imagine you are told you are going to be hospitalized for a month after you've been out of the hospital for a month from being in the hospital for a month. Imagine just knowing someone who has gone through that. Now imagine hearing that your insurance might not work in this new hospital and you'd have to pay out of pocket for services, or wait 6 months, or yadayadayada. This is not something you want to hear after you were just told you still weren't being admitted today but tomorrow because they have no rooms available. After discussing on the phone with another family member they said "Go back in there and argue! They are not right! It's not correct!"  After about a dozen phone calls made from our FS planner in Sloan to BCBSNJ - they finally realized that we were right, and her insurance surely covers pre-existing and existing conditions. (Duh, you jackasses, that's why we chose this insurance). Why would you scare anyone like that? Especially a person sick with Leukemia about to go into the hospital for a 2nd round of intense chemo? 

Anyway, after that whole ordeal, we went back up to the suite we were originally in to hear the results of M's blood cultures. At this time, it's about 2:30 pm. We are told Ms #s are borderline and she needs two bags of blood transfused right away. If you've ever seen or witnessed blood being transfused, you will know that one bag takes about 2-3 hours. We brought M up into the suite where they perform transfusions and left for some fresh air. After all the commotion of the day, someone had three Guinness's, someone had two Captain and Cokes and someone else had a Xanax and a cocktail at an Irish Pub around the corner. It was well needed. On our way back to the hospital about 5pm we brought M a sandwich and sat with her until she was done  being transfused - that was about 730 pm. We made it home about 845 pm. 

Tues (10/9) M and two aunts made it to hospital in record time. Her admitting time was 3 pm but they made it there before 130. I believe they sat and had lunch. She should be admitted as I type this. 

I do not know the outcome of the bone biopsy that was performed yesterday. The results of that test determine whether or not M is getting straight chemo like before (5 days on, about 28 days rest cycle) or that combined with a clinical trial. I will know more about that tomorrow and will be traveling in the upcoming days so I will try to update when I have the time. 

Don't forget to donate or visit Minnie's Miracles Home Page - my team is walking this Saturday in Morristown. 

& as always - donate your blood and platelets! Someone out there needs them!!! 

Maybe tomorrow I will post some pictures from St Louis :) 

“I might be confused sometimes in my head but it is not something you need to talk about. Before you can talk you have to line it all up in order and I had rather just let it swirl around until I am too tired to think. You just let the motion in your head wear you out. Never think about it. You just make a bigger mess that way.” 

― Kaye Gibbons, Ellen Foster