Great News

Praise the Lord everyone,

Today was a the day that I saw the doctor after my ct scan on Wednesday. My appointment was at 9 am this morning and don, ron and june made sure they were with me when I go in to see the doctor. My family are just too wonderful. Ron and June joined me in the drs. office with Don to have extra ears to listen to the drs. report.

My Dr. Nanci made a comment that if she didn't see at least part of my family with me, she would think something is not right. Yes, they do come with me, for extra ears. I just listen but may not get everything she is telling me. The first thing she asked me was, "how I felt." I told her I feel like a normal person for the last week and a half. my appetite is good. I felt ambitious and with no nausea, no heartburn and not lazy. Well, she went over my report from the ct scan after 2 sessions of chemo and as she read the results, I was getting more and more excited as she read and said that the cancer cells were SHRINKING, the lymph nodes were also getting
SMALLER and the cancer cell that was 7.5m was down to 5. I got up from the chair and gave her a BIG HUG for such great news. She said that is why I love coming to work to give good news to patients. She is such a wonderful dedicated doctor and so personable. She is a beautiful lady and found out today that she is a mother of a 7 month baby, but couldn't wait to get back to work. so after 2 weeks she was back at work and loves it. Her mother watched her newborn for 6 months night and day for her while she got her rest. Now of course she has a nanny.

Well everyone, thank you so much for your prayers, love and support you have constantly given me while I have going through all this. I will have my 3rd session on Monday June 2nd and will continue with the same meds for chemo since it seems pretty successful.

I have been thinking of all of you and miss seeing you, but of course my family keeps reminding me that my immune system is still very weak so, I am playing it safe and staying out of public places. My Dr. ron keeps telling me to carry the anti bacterial wipes and keep using them,. Mom you have to be very cautious what you touch, so be careful, cause there is bacteria all over stuff.

I have to share with all of you, how well I felt on Memorial day and we had a fantastic family dinner in our back yard with a new bar b que built with tables and a whole bunch of chairs so we all enjoyed steak, king crab, corn, salad bar, baked potato bar fruits, even with choc. covered strawberries, with homemade cookies, and with all this food, I was able to eat and enjoy with no problem with nausea by this time.

Thanks for letting me share my excitement with this good news. God is wonderful and will continue to hear your prayers. thanks for your love and prayers. love you all dottie and family

2nd session of chemo

Hello Everyone,

This morning, tues. morn I feel a little better after 2 sessions of chemo the day after Mother's day. Monday the 12th was a 3 hour session of chemo and Tues. was a very long day. 11 in the morning till almost 6 that evening. I had such support throughout the whole day. Robbi and Juli was with me from morning and Kirk, Jackson and June came along about 12:20pm and they all had lunch together. In the meantime food was brought to me throughout the day to keep me fed, It was such a long day, Juli and Robbi went to take care of their families at about 4 pm and June stayed while ron came down after seeing his patients at 5:30. Than Don came after me at 6 and we were finally able to go home.

I keep praying about not feeling too badly, but I guess with all the side effects, the chemo is taking effect. Been really tired lately and nausea and diarreaha comes along with all the side effects. Even with meds it doesn't help sometime. This chemo affects so many things. You just don't feel like eating and for the past few days it has been somen and tofu, the same diet as my Jackson. He could eat a whole block of tofu by himself plus he likes somen also, so for the past few nights I eat with Jackson. Course he eats more than I can. Whenever he gets a popsicle I have one also, just to get fluid in me. I am coping with my discomfort and try to get up and do a little, but it is amazing how lazy you feel. Well to all my great prayer warriors and supportors of my condition I am praying that in the next few days by the 14th day after chemo they say I should feel better. In the meantime I do get hydrated at least 2 to 3 times a week just to make me feel better. In a couple of weeks I should be getting a ct scan to see how the chemo is doing. So please pray for good results of that test.

I also had an exciting week-end with Brittany coming over to get ready at grandma's house before she went to a prom. She said she will get ready here and mom will come down to take a few pictures. I was able to see her looking really cute and pretty getting ready for her big night. She looked so pretty with Mark in his handsome white suit with matching vest the same color as Brittany's dress. they looked so good. That was the hightlight of my evening. Thanks for the kids they keep things interesting for grandma. Will get in touch again soon. love you all dottie

Special day for Mom's

Hello to my dear friends and A Happy Mother's day

Yes!! Mother's day was a great blessing. Today I went for my 2nd set of chemo and so far feel fine, so I want to share with you how wonderful it is to be a mom. God has blessed me from the moment he planned me with my parents and from that moment in life his plans for my life has been just too wonderful. Being a wife and mom, grandma is lifes great Joy. Yesterday as usual was a sunday with family and little Kristy and mom Regina who are just like family. We had a variety of dim sum, and chinese food, even a whole platter of lobster. which went over big. It was a brunch since June took her mom, brother and sister in law to a vietnamese concert at Knott's berry farm for a 1:30 pm show. and Juli, kirk and Jackson visited with Kirks mom at his at his sister Joy's house with all 3 grandchildren fixing Thai dinner for them. It was of course mom's day off, so even at this house the dad's and kids washed and cleaned up.


the gifts I received were awesome. Many practical gifts being that I have lost so much weight I don't need any new clothes and so Juli made me 6 turbin scarfs for me to wear on my hairless head. they are really comfortable to wear. robbi's family gave me boxes and boxes of practical note cards which I really go thru and a dvd of a fun movie called 27 dresses. Ron and June were also very practical and emotional. Ron wrote a sweet letter to Mom and said all the nice things of what I used to do for him, and where I took him for lessons and all the small things he remembered we did for him as he was growing up and going to all his activities and appreciated every bit of what we did. How sweet is that. He really remembered a lot of things. June said he had so many great memories he wanted to put it in a letter. He let June present me with flowers and a couple of UV shirts to protect me from the sun rays. Jeff did not forget Grandma, flowers by UPS was sent to me on Saturday from San Diego florest and it was a whole bouquet of beautiful tulips and came with a vase and of course, with a sweet note. Brittany presented me with this cute box of personalized note cards that I can send out also with many memorable pictures. So clever these children.


Thank you for letting me share my story as a mom and each one of you moms are gifted to be the best to show your children how proud you are of them being a mom and starting their families. By showing your love, be an encourager, inspire them, be a supporter let them believe in miracles, and let life be fun and let them know of your unconditional love is always with open arms. God is love and as a mom you are all treasures, so cherish all the wonderful memories that you have with each and every one of them. You know what folks, my bout with cancer is nothing to the love and joy that I get from being a mom and grandma. I know God is doing something wonderful in my life and whether it be more time with all of you or time for the golden street of heaven I am content as to where I am today. Looking forward to the last day of my chemo to see all of you soon. Thanks for letting me share my beautiful Mothers Day.
Love you all. dottie

sharing our celebration

Hi to everyone,

today is a good day. Feeling pretty good and enjoying somen, miso soup and tofu for lunch. Thought if I could eat tofu, it will give me some protein. This week end was a big thing for the Takai family. Back in Feb. I wanted to give our son Ron and June a 25th Surprise anniversary party, but that is when I was in the middle of wondering what I will feel like with my cancer. Well as you know I had my 1st chemo treatment on April 14th and 15th and the Dr. says I should feel pretty normal by the 14th to 20th day from the day of the treatment, so we took a chance and set the surprise for May 3rd. Well the day came very quickly and a few days before the party I was told that my white blood cells were very low and I needed shots for 3 days. so on Wed, thurs, and friday, I was given whitel blood cell shots and felt pretty good on Sat. for the party. Still I was told to stay away from crowds. ( don't want to be sick before my chemo)
So my Juli, gave our guest a book mark which said, ( my mom loves each of you for being here and would like to hug each of you but right now her immune system is really down so please hug and throw a kiss from afar.) My family made sure of that. they placed me at a table where I can see everyone getting their food and I was able greet each one as they passed by. with a hi sign. The family surrounded my table. The day went well and we even flew in Jeffrey from dental school to surprise mom and dad for their party. Brittany was held responsible to bring mom and dad by 1 pm and she did it. Jeffrey gave the toast and we had a super good time with friends and family. We appreciated everyone being there and even renewed our vows with ron and June. 25 for them and 55 for don and I .
Isn't it amazing how God has his hands in whatever plans we have and gave us a beautiful sunny day and I felt great all day. My children were on me most of the day and even said I should go home now since you were here long enough and you don't want to get overtired. So Robbi says, come on mom, you have to go. So I was able to say a quick good by before taking off EARLY. Thanks heavens for kids tho. I just got a hold of the caterer and the kids ran with the plans after that, decorations, table covering, and all the needs of a party. they were great.
I am at the last strand of losing my hair, so you will see me with a beanie on most of the time if not a scarf. It's really strange, how the skin on your skull feels so sensitive with no hair. Don't take any time with combing anymore. that's a good thing.
Well my dear friends, the day after mother's day is my 2nd session and please pray that I don't get too bad of side effects. Will let you know, hopefully I will feel like getting on the computer.
much love from me and the family.