Lucky Mia Bingo Sunday!

On Sunday the 10th, the SDES Portuguese Hall hosted a Bingo as a fundraiser for me.  It was a great day! My parents told me all about it.  I was not able to attend as my blood counts were low and you have to be 18 in order to play or even being on the floor once the event begins.  The event included a bbq chicken lunch and serious bingo playing all afternoon with many great prizes.  Fun was had by all.  Many thanks to all who made this happen for me, but especially Frank & Amelia Martins and Gil & Mary Lima.  I love you all!

Thank you also to everyone who attended!

Happy Birthday America!!

I came home July 3rd.  It was great to be home.  4th of July was lots of fun.  Morning at Nana & Papa's and swimming with Cody, Gracie, Alexis & Timmy (pix to come)..  Then went with Cody's family to a family friends' house for a bbq, fireworks and all.

Tuesday went to John Muir in Walnut Creek for my Nuelesta shot (helps my white blood count recover).  These shots cost up to $7,000 each... YIKES!!  Thank God for insurance, as my mom would say.

The rest of the week was uneventful, expect for Friday after having my blood work done.  My dad who usually doesn't let me do anything or go anywhere, decided it would be ok to take me to Kohl's for some shopping early before the store became crowded.  As we were checking out, I once again fainted.  Luckily my dad was right behind me and caught me.  Had it been 10 minutes earlier I would have been somewhere between the rack of summer dresses and tshirts in the juniors dept.  This time it was Kohl's that called the ambulance and fire dept...  Lots of excitement that early.  I thought the store staff were going to faint also...  I was fine, no hospital visit.  My dad signed the ambulance waiver and took me home...  

More blood work on Saturday morning...  got a call that my platletts were too low and it was back to UCSF for more.  Platletts take about 30 minutes to transfuse, so I was expecting a 2 hour visit max... No such luck, 5 hours later and I finally got to go home.  Oh well, as my mom said there were obviously children that needed more attention than I that night.

Round #5 - Not quite as smooth as the others...

So I am in the middle of the 5th round of chemo.  The first 4 went beautifully, with very little side effects during treatment.  This one is going well also.  However, yesterday my body finally gave in, temporarily.  All was well... had a great Subway sandwich for lunch.  Slept most of the afternoon and was beginning to talk about dinner with my mom when all the sudden I didn't feel so good.  Went and threw up the red Gatorade I had been drinking during the afternoon.  It was down hill from there.  The nurses were awesome.  Although I was on 2 anti-nausea medicines round the clock, there are 2 more I can take "as needed".  Since yesterday evening I am now on all 4 round the clock.  But my tummy recovered by midnight and has been good since.  Ate very little till about 3pm today, then all was good.  Some buttered pasta, french fries, and a salad.  4hours later and it is still in tact and am watching The Soloist (a little slow but interesting).

Update 7/2 - I am doing much better with the nausea and am now back to my regular doses of 2 meds.  Not sure what happened ??

Summer is finally here!

Well summer is here most of the time, but on Tuesday as we were driving in to UCSF it was pouring rain the entire way.  Really? 

Sun, Friends, and Fun - June was filled with all.  Cody went to Arizona for a week to play baseball.  The day after he returned, he was confirmed at his grandparents church.  I was able to attend with his family and had a great time.

Several pool parties with many of my friends and no worries about getting up for school the next day.  A visit to the county fair, but only on the first couple of days, when it is still clean, no rides, and me not touching anything.  Great fun though!  And finally music in the park a couple of times.  Our great family friend, Carlos Elizalde's band Ruckatan played one night.  My dad does their sound.  Definitely the best band of the summer.  Aaahhhh Bailar!

Congrats to all the June High School Grads!!

David Camerena

Mackenzie Sarin

Kortnie Maxatoupolis

Vanessa Medina

Blood, Platletts, and Counts

June was definitely action packed.  I completed round #4 and came home on June 9.  Promotion was the next day.  It took a few days for my blood counts to drop, but once they did, they really dropped.  This entailed a visit to UCSF for a blood and platlett refill (transfusion).  We were here for a few hours and then got to go home.  I guess the fainting spell (with a bruised chin and skinned knee) the day before should of been a sign... lesson learned :)  Bloodwork was more than usual, with draws 2x week and then five consecutive days one week.  Not a big deal, but during the week the local lab is open, on Saturday it's a 15 min drive to Danville and on Sunday, an add'l 15 min to Walnut Creek.  Scary thing is that the technicians now know me regardless of where I go to have blood drawn.
My counts did recover beautifully before round #5 began on 6/28.  I am back at UCSF and will be doing the same exact treatment as I did during round #4.  5 days of 20hrs of chemo.  No body should ever have to take this much chemo...  but I tolerate it relatively well and try to sleep thru it.  Port is great and was accessed with no issues.  YEAH!

Gallagherland at it's best - Maddie and Biz finish middle school and VBS

So I did make it home for my sister Maddie's (and my cousin Elizabeth) promotion from middle school on June 10th.  They looked beautiful.  Of course my parents didn't let me go to the actual ceremony as there were just way too many people there.  However afterwards I did join the family at Blue Agave for the celebration.

Many congrats to Maddie & Elizabeth!!

June is also VBS month at our church, from June 26th - July 1st, the hall was transformed into Pandamania!

This is always a highlight for the Gallagher family.  Because I had to come back for round #5 on Tuesday, I was only able to help over the weekend (with some painting/decorating) and on Monday (the first day).  I had a great time and loved seeing all the kids come back.  My uncle Mike (Mr. Ay Lee Lu), who is the VBS director, had all 550 kids, 200+ teens and adult volunteers bless me on that Monday.  What an amazing sight.  In addition, I was presented with almost 1000 japanese cranes, whom Morgan Ingram has been collecting from the community.  She conceived the idea and communicated it to the schools, friends and churchs.  She has since been collecting and stringing hundred of them.  Many have written messages that I will open and read after VBS.  The idea is that folding a 1000 paper cranes will make your wish come true.
Thank you Morgan!

VBS stage with a real tree house and a working waterfall!
AMAZING job by Lorraine, Scott, my dad and others who
made it happen.



Yes that is a working bulldozer made from a recycled golf cart.  My job to paint Tonka on the side.

My nana and auntie JoJo




A fun week at home filled with Great News!

I was home for an eventful week.  On Memorial Day, Rockin Jump hosted a fundraiser that had been organized by Christine Hoopes with lots of help from Alexis, Cody and my other friends.  It was a day filled with family and friends and lots of jumping, not to mention feathers, raffle, and bbq... Many thanks to all who helped make this happen and who worked all day.  Even my mom now has feathers in her hair.  My counts were up and I was able to hang out for several hours with my friends, just no jumping for me.

On Tuesday, I had a PET/CT scan (fancy xray) done of my entire body to determine how much cancer was left.  Also, same day I had a bone marrow biopsy to check for cancer in my bone marrow.  The results were excellent.  The cancer is at least 95% gone.  Further tests are being run on the bone marrow to determine if it's closer to 100%. YAHOO!! the chemo is working beautifully!
Blood counts were still too low on Tuesday so I got to go home for a few more days.


My mom trying to be funny by flashing her camera at me
in the dark while I was sleeping
7am appt for my PET scan, but the IV went in great!