Love can move mountains!

First there were 2!

Someone saw our protest and left this at the door.....

Then there were dozens!




 

This is what was in that envelope, so those who say my protest doesn't matter, well it mattered enough for this person to leave a 10,000 dollar check at the door.

The morning of the occupation Yazzy Fresh and I started off annoyed with about 10 people who said they were going to be with us at 9am. Surprise, Surprise , they weren’t, some trickled in around 10 and some didn’t show up at all. I want to clarify that I am not talking about my cousins from Livingston, their brother was shot in the early AM and was in critical condition, they had a MORE than legitimate reason for not coming.  Our prayers are with them and if you’re a religious person I ask that you pray for him to.

Yaz asked if I wanted to wait until more people showed up, I told her, “No, we said we’d start the occupation at 9am and we will start at 9am!” Eventually our buddy Alan showed up,then Yazzys sister, then  my cousins, then more friends and family. At one point, a woman who had been screwed by Kaiser joined us and brought her own signs. She was also an ex- Kaiser patient and when she came down with a rare lung disease Kaiser jacked up her insurance to 1,000.00 a month and she could no longer afford it. NBC 11 showed up at 10am and we made it on the 6 o’clock news, the rest of the news stations didn’t have enough vans to send out(that’s code for we don’t think your “news worthy”), I interned in the newsroom for two years, I know what’s up.  

By 3pm we were protesting in FULL force! We had about 30 people out there with signs, someone gave me a blow horn and the rest is history. I took advantage of the 4 way stop and started telling South San Jose Mama Bears story. I was amazed at how many people rolled down their windows to listen, after hearing about MB and her struggle people would honk and send us their support.

 Not everyone was quite so friendly, a neurosurgeon at Kaiser flipped us off.  I can understand his anger BUT if he would have stopped to listen to our story maybe he would have understood our outrage. He wasn’t the only one to flip us off, others yelled at us and told us to go home. I apologize for making some of my Neighbors uncomfortable yesterday but we can’t keep pretending that our neighborhood Kaiser is the best ever. We can’t let injustices take place in our own backyard and look away. That’s what our parents and our grandparents did and that’s why are country is the way it is. That’s why the FDA is controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and our president can’t manage to provide his citizens with adequate health care. It’s time for WE the people to stand up and fight for ourselves and our future generations. We can’t wait for our politicians to change things. Like MB always says, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. Yazzy Fresh and I witnessed an incredible injustice directed towards MB Monday and we didn’t just go quietly into the night…..WE FOUGHT BACK, WE INSPIRED OTHERS TO FIGHT BACK,WE MADE A DIFFERENCE and we’re not done. We will be back out there Monday and next Friday. We won’t stop until Kaiser provides Humane Healthcare to ALL their patients.

A special shout out to Yazzy Fresh, my partner in crime. She kept me focused, She gave me strength and without her I couldn’t have done any of this. When we were alone in the car I looked over at her and said, “You are my sister”.  Friends like Yazzy Fresh are hard to come by and I thank God for sending her my way. She worked so hard that her boyfriend thought she was obsessed,you’d swear it was her mother she was fighting for.

I thank everyone who came even for a little bit. Your support meant so much to us. Some people took the day off, others drove over 2 hours to get there, others brought us food. They all did it for the Love they have for MB.

When we finally made it home Friday night, MB told us that someone dropped off a bag of avocados on our doorstep and inside the bag there was an anonymous check for 10,000 dollars. God is definitely sending us Angels and letting us know that we are on the right path. Hearing this news made my day. One of our neighbors was so moved by our protest that they left this check. This inspires me to work harder and I THANK whoever gave us that money from the bottom of my heart. MB would like to let you know that you are her Angel and that when she is better she will personally go to Burzynski’s clinic and give a patient in need 10,000.00 to continue their treatment. So whoever you are, please know that you not only made a difference in our lives but you will be making a difference in another patient’s life as well. We Love you all. Thank You and Goodnight.

My Bday Dinner....

Bet Y'all didn't know I was crafty, I put together the centerpieces myself!

I did these too!

Making posters after Bday Dinner!

We're FIERCE

Even though I am going through a lot, I still feel like the luckiest girl on the planet. Things aren't perfect but I have great friends and a great family....

Tonights Birthday dinner was a perfect example of how I'm so blessed. Most of my friends dragged their tired asses from work to help me celebrate my BDAY and make posters. I am so thankful for the sacrifice they made to drive long distances in the cold and share a meal with me. Laughter echoed through the house all night. We drank, we ate and we organized.

I feel like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde...

Correction Yaz made 8 posters today....She would, best Co-Organizer EVER!

Tonight I went to my first Occupy San Jose meeting. It was different to say the least. The occupiers do this thing called general consensus. What they do is propose something and the whole group has to agree, the way they show that they agree is they do jazz hands. When I proposed Occupy Kaiser they all did Jazz hands at first and then one annoying guy starts asking a bunch of questions and in the end only half of the group did jazz hands, the rest did sad jazz hands lol. The good news is some may still join my movement as individuals which is cool.

At the meeting I felt like Elle Woods at Harvard. I was definitely out of place. Earlier in the day, I spoke with my friend at KTVU, he was collecting information about my occupation, he asked what I was going to do. Occupy Kaiser DUH, but his question really got me thinking, how did I get here? I normally Occupy the parties or Vegas, what is my dumb ass doing occupyng Kaiser?

Surprisingly my friend Yasmine has gotten really into the occupation, I can safely say she's obsessed! Every 5 minutes she's texting me another idea and today she single handedly made 6 posters. She Would. I love that she is so into it, it helps a great deal. I still have to do a lot for MB and I'm starting to get tired but I'm going to keep pushing and fighting because no one messes with MB and gets away with it. When people say, "YOUR" organizing Occupy Kaiser my response is, "What, like it's hard?" then I do a little dance ;)

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MB and I at my last BDAY so much has changed since then.

I've always been a Birthday whore, I'm one of those people that wants the whole week instead of the day. I blame MB, ever since I was a little girl MB would always throw me a huge party with lots of family, friends, food and presents. She'd dress me up in my poofy paisa dress and I was the QUEEN! Everything had to go my way, all my cousins had to play the games I wanted and do the things I said. If I wasn't the first to hit the pinata you would find me crying, throwing a hissy fit, If I wasn't the one with the most candy, hissy fit, If I wasn't the very first in line, hissy fit. The kids that tried to "help" me open my presents lost limbs! Yes, I was one of THOSE kids. Are you really surprised?

Today I spent the day thankful that I still had MB. She peeked in my room and whispered, "happy birthday". I couldn't have asked for a better way to wake up! I love my little Baldy. I continued to organize Occupy Kaiser and went about my day as normal. No cake no singing no nothing and it was just fine. I did get a massage but thats about it.

Some of you may be wondering about Taliboo. Yes, to my surprise he has been texting and calling me. He refers to his dog as our son which is cute. Today he called and sang Happy Birthday. It totally made my day!

Reunited and it feels so good....



He's the Yin to her Yang



My second family minus one but he was there in Spirit;)



I was the flower girl 25 years ago, they donated their dollar dance to MB. Super Amazing couple;)



            

Chiveto is on my right and our big bro's are behind us, they look like our body guards then but they loved picking on us;)



As soon as MB walked through that door PB could not stop hugging her, his face lit up instantly. When she sat down and made herself comfortable, he sat right next to her as close as he could and could not stop touching her face, hands and feet. He was in heaven, his Prozac was BACK!

 MB’s illness has affected all of us but most of all PB (Papa Bear).  When I worked at the American Cancer Society I would hear stories of women whose husbands left them when they were sick. PB has been an exceptional husband and father throughout this whole ordeal. He confides in my Godmother frequently and told her that sometimes he just sits in his work truck and cries as loud and as hard as he can. One time he was crying so loud that a passerby actually knocked on his window and asked him if he was OK. Oh Papa Bear, he’s really sensitive below that macho man exterior.

MB and PB are soulmate’s. They met when MB was 16 and PB was 20. They dated long distance for a year. PB would drive from LA to San Jose to visit MB on a regular basis. One day, she called him up and his uncle answered the phone, he asked her if she was the girl in the red car or the blue car? MB quickly let him know she didn’t have a car and broke up with PB right away. Yeah, PB was a player. Four years later, after not having spoken or seen each other, MB and PB ran into each other at a random bus terminal in Mexico. Three months later the two were married and the rest is history. When I asked PB why they were married so quickly PB said he just couldn’t let her go again. Their Love is Epic! I’ve never settled for any Man because of the standards PB set. He’s handsome, charming, loving, charismatic and hardworking, a very rare breed of man. His only fault is that he can be grumpy and negative, nobody’s perfect.

Saturday, I decided to go to my uncle’s 25^th wedding anniversary. I was tired as hell but I just couldn’t miss out on a chance to see all my cousins.  My Godparents live in Livingston and they are my second family. All my God brothers and sisters are like my real brothers and sisters. I love seeing them and their kids. When I was a kid we would go over every summer and sometimes my parents would let me stay a whole week. My God brother’s favorite pastime was to torture me and make me cry except the youngest one. I called him Chiveto, his friends called him Balooga but his real name was Luis Alberto. We were the same age and he knew all too well about the bullying, he was very light and his brothers would call him white trash, they would. Chiveto and I invented our own games and teamed up against the big bullies. Ten years ago he was murdered  and none of us have ever fully, or will ever fully recover.

The uncle who celebrated his 25^th wedding anniversary is My Godmother’s brother. I remember when he first got married, I was the flower girl and Chiveto was the ring bearer. How I wish we could have taken a picture together 25 years later. Who knows why God does things. All I know is on this last visit I grabbed one of the many pictures of Chiveto and asked for his help with MB. I know he’s close to the big guy and can probably put in a good word. He is our Angel;)

I had the time of my life and I've never felt this way before.....




 



Our fantastic nurse Amanda, We are going to miss her!



MB dreaming of PB



Dr. Yi and Ana discharging us....Happy DAY!



I almost cried when I kissed Taliboo goodbye at the airport….almost. I didn’t, because I’m cooler than that. MB met him for the first time today and definitely liked him. She said, “he’s soooooo sweeeet”. She really appreciated the fact, that even after working the graveyard shift and not having slept a wink, Taliboo was still nice enough to drive us to the airport at noon. He’s the BEST Texas BOO ever. I will definitely keep him in my little black book as my 713 Ho… just kidding! Actually, as soon as we got to our gate I deleted his number. I just don’t want to get my heart broken.

The ride over to the airport was pretty hilarious. As soon as we stepped into Taliboo’s car Taliboo apologized for the mess, his car was actually immaculate, as soon as he said that, I KNEW MB was going to say something about my messy car so I beat her to the punch. I yelled, “MB, don’t even think of telling him about my car. MB exclaimed, “ I was just thinking it and you called YOURSELF out, YOUR BAD!” she would, I need to stop teaching her cute catch phrases.  MB was analyzing his accent and telling me it wasn’t that strong. I don’t know why but I hear a heavy accent . When I asked her if he looked Arab, she said ,”no, he’s just hairy”. She also told him I call him Taliboo behind his back. Luckily, he already knows I call him Taliboo so it was ok. I love how MB isn’t afraid to put me on blast. She thanked Taliboo for keeping me company while he got us a cart, he HUGGED MB goodbye and told her that he wished nothing but the best for her, he kissed me and went on his way.  MB thinks I should definitely try to make something work with Taliboo. She Loved him!

The last three weeks have been like a dream. There was a lot of anxiety at our house before we left and while we were gone. Travelling with someone who has stage 4 cancer and is given a couple more weeks/months to live is no joke. A Lot could have gone wrong while we were away. We took a HUGE risk by flying to Texas in MB’s delicate condition.  Baby sis and Baby Bear bared the burden of grumpy Papa Bear, his nerves were on edge the whole time we were away and that makes him very cranky and kind of unbearable.

Not only did nothing go wrong, but everything seemed to magically fall into place for us. From the very beginning we were hooked up.  Everyday we were here, I witnessed the power of all of your prayers, they were guiding us to the right people, the right places , the right discounts. . The visits to the clinic were always smoothe and the staff was always nice. I remember one visit when MB was telling our Russian Physician Assistant, Ana, that she was going to kill her with the costs of all the medications, Ana, in her very heavy, very Russian accent simply said, “No veee don’t kill you here, veee kill cancer”. Ana is sweet but not very funny, kind of dry, but I think that was her attempt at a joke.

Everyone keeps saying that I’m awesome and MB calls me her little Angel but I’m just doing what a daughter is supposed to do for her mother. I Love MB more than anything , that Love  gives me the strength to keep fighting for her. We joke, that now I’m the MB and she is my baby. Let me tell you, somedays it feels just like that. Just travelling through the airport with her is a pain in the booty! I have to carry all her bags because her back hurts and she has to pee every 15 minutes. I’m no saint. I get annoyed. Sometimes, I yell at her to stop drinking so much damn water! I’m trying to check us in and she HAS to pee, I’m trying to get us past security and she HAS to pee! I try to check my FB while we are waiting at the gate and she HAS to have her crackers! I’m telling you it’s like travelling with a two year old! I feel bad but I’m not used to being so needed by another human being. I actually feel like her MOM. I keep telling her that I’m going to give her away, now that her blog is taking off I’m sure someone wants MB. She told me she’s going to put an ad out that says, “WMV for sale”. I asked what a WMV was and she’s like, “WILD MARIELA VARGAS”. She would!

It’s crazy how the dynamic between us has changed. She’s like my little Baby Bear and I have to protect her, she even looks like a baby with her bald head. I have to admit, even though I’m tired as hell andI want to spank her on her BOOTY, there is an immense satisfaction that comes from caring for another human being. I feel good when I see that her symptom’s are improving. I like seeing her smile and crack jokes . I love listening to her when she tells me she’s gonna beat me, or  when she tells me that she’s gonna slap me across the face if I don’t stop being such a smart ass! I feel a sense of accomplishment when she is thriving. I think to myself,” I did that” and no  matter what happens I will NEVER live with any regrets, because I know , in my heart, that I’ve done my best for her, just like most of you would for your MB’s.  Yes, yes, Y’all I just had, what Oprah would call an “AHAH moment”!....I still can't stand babies on planes!...there should be a law against that or baby Nyquil so I don't have to hear their crying!

Only Time Will Tell.......

I'm going to be leaving a piece of my heart in Texas and MB will be leaving most of her life savings, neither of us regret it though. Its only been about two weeks since MB started the treatment and I can already tell that it is working. When we arrived both of her legs were swollen and she was coughing a lot. Within the first week of treatment the swelling dissapeared and this week she has barely coughed. She feels like her belly is less swollen which is a good sign because most of the tumors are in her belly.

Today MB told me that maybe she would only take one of the pills instead of the whole regimen. That really upset me because I feel like everything in combination is helping her. I understand why she only wants to take one, keeping up with the regimen will be around 10,000.00 dollars a month. When we get home we have a huge battle to fight with Kaiser to try to get them to cover all her meds. I have been trying my best to fundraise but I understand this is a difficult time for most to give.

I will definitely miss Taliboo, he is taking us to the airport tomorrow. The doctors told us we need to come back in two months so maybe i'll see him again maybe not. Only time will tell.

I wish I was a billionaire so I wouldn't have to ask for money but this is what my MBs disease has reduced me to. I Thank anyone who can spare some dollars to help us continue with the treatment until we find some sort of insurance to cover it. Thanks to everyone who has supported us. Every little bit helps.