Race for the Cure; More Surgery to Come

Me with my brothers Matthew and Wade at The Race for the Cure

I thought it was time to update the blog, in case anyone is still following my progress…

I will begin with the Race for the Cure - what can I say? I had an incredible group of family and friends who found time to come and support me on the walk. A big thank you to my good friend Morry for putting the website together and designing the cool boot logo for my team (Giving Cancer the Boot). I am one lucky girl to have such incredible friends!!  My doctors were proud of me for walking the full 5k, and I have to admit... I was pretty proud of myself too. If you haven’t ever done a Race for the Cure, at the end of the race, they do a Survivor Walk, which is so humbling to see hundreds of other survivors, and hear all of their stories. I was in the front of the group due to my new diagnosis, but got to walk with my brave dear friend Mary. Walking through the crowds there were people crying, cheering, waving... I had to hold back my tears so that I could take in every moment of this special experience. The best part was getting to my family and friends. The love I felt was overwhelming and a feeling I will never forget. I am blessed to be a Survivor and I will never take that for granted. I can’t forget the incredible Pink Ribbon cookies that my good friend Kelly Stapley made for us; we all enjoyed every single one of them.

The day before the Race for the Cure, my sweet Grandpa passed away on his 73rd wedding anniversary. Due to my reconstructive expander appointment the Wednesday before, I was off work, in major pain and having my own pity party when I got the call from my mom telling me we needed to get to see my Grandpa soon. Tony got home early so the whole family could get to the Care Center to see my Grandpa and for the kids to say good-bye. I count my blessings that we could all be there with him in his last days; all three kiddos told me that night that they felt the strongest love and sense of peace when they said good-bye, and knew that Grandpa was headed to see Grandma to celebrate their lives. Since I was off work, I decided to spend as much time as I could with my Grandpa on his last days. We were anxious for my brother Wade to get home to see my Grandpa. He made it late on Thursday night, so we stayed at the Care Center with my mom, Aunt Sally, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jim and Cousin Amy. We all laughed a lot, and cried a lot, as we watched one of the best men in the world passing on. I was overwhelmed with love when my mom, aunts and cousin all showed up to join me for the walk. I knew they had things to do, and that they were exhausted. But, there they were, ready to walk and run and show support to me on a really tough day.  That is what family is all about, and my Grandpa and Grandma would have been proud of us for carrying on.

So, I am now done with the dreaded skin stretching (expansions) and preparing myself for the next big surgery June 14th. Dr. Self told Tony and me that this surgery would take 4-5 hours and a few weeks of healing. For this surgery he will open up my incisions, take out the expanders (or as we all joke: the BOULDERS), clean out all of the scar tissue and input the new fancy gel implants. I am not looking forward to another surgery. I know this one will be easy compared to the last one, but I am still scared to death, and am anxious in anticipating the pain. Being confined to our recliner chair and HGTV all over again is going to be maddening. But, it is time to get the boulders out and time to move on. There will be one more major surgery in three months, but I am not thinking about that one yet.  Just taking one day at a time, and enjoying every day I have to work in the yard, walk with my friends, and being with my beautiful family. Keep Tony in your prayers, he needs them too!! It is tough job trying to help me through all of this.

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers, and for all the support during this winning battle with Breast Cancer. I am winning and Giving Cancer the Boot!!! 

Pictures from The Race for the Cure

Let's Give Cancer the Boot!

Breast cancer. We all know about it. We know of people, friends and family that have had it. We know people that have beat it, and we all, unfortunately, know those who have been taken from us because of it. But this year, breast cancer hit all too close to home for me: I became one of those people.

If you've been following this blog, you know that in December 2012, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically - Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. In January, I underwent a double mastectomy, and I'm currently in the process of reconstruction surgery. My diagnosis and treatment were swift, and today I am gratefully cancer free. But my journey from hockey mom to cancer survivor has not been without it's emotional and physical ups and downs, and I will now forever have breast cancer as part of my life.

So it's probably no surprise that I registered for the Komen Race for the Cure. I want to make an impact in the fight against breast cancer. I want to make sure that early intervention will save more lives, like mine. I want to make sure that more women can "Give Cancer the Boot," like I did.

And I want to do it with you by my side. Just as certainly as I couldn't beat cancer without a vast network of support, the Susan G. Komen Foundation needs your support as well to continue to fund its essential research.

So won't you please join me? Join my team and walk with me, or simply make a tax-deductible donation today in support of my fundraising efforts. You can donate online with your credit card by clicking the button above my fundraising thermometer.

Please join me in this fight today, and let's "Give Cancer the Boot"!

Visit my personal fundraising page to pledge your support:
http://utah.info-komen.org/goto/jennlewis

Walk with me! Join the "Give Cancer the Boot" team at the Utah Komen Race for the Cure. Our team page is here: http://utah.info-komen.org/goto/givecancertheboot

Great News!

Thought I better get the news out...

The best news I have gotten throughout this journey came yesterday at my appointment with my oncologist. First, let me start by saying that this was a hard appointment to go to... I was having anxiety/panic attacks as the day grew closer, since this appointment would definitively tell me if I had to face chemotherapy or not. And you all know I have a hard time not having control of my future. Well, my future is bright!!!

It turns out, I will not have to go through chemotherapy after all! No chemo was what the doctor ordered!!!  Rather, I will have hormone therapy treatment for the next 5-10 years. I am not sure how I feel about hormone therapy, but I do know how I felt about chemo. So I'll take it one day at a time, at least that's what everyone keeps telling me. (My question is how do you do one day at a time??? Anyone with an idea or direction on how to do that would be appreciated.)

I will continue my weekly appointments with my plastic surgeon, and ongoing appointments with my cancer surgeon and oncologist. But, I am excited to be on the road to the new and better me.

I finally feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and like I said earlier, it is bright!!!

Thank you again to all of you for all of your kindness, prayers and love. I have made it this far because of you...  If I could give each of you a hug right now I would!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Week 3 Update

We are almost to week 3, and I am finally starting to feel like me again. I am so grateful to my mom and mother-in-law, Pickles. They both come take care of me during the days, taking care of laundry, bathrooms, floors, making sure I am eating and drinking, and anything else they can find to keep busy. My cute kids have been amazing, doing dishes, massaging my feet, doing my hair, cuddling to watch movies. This has been hard on them, but with faith, support and love they are going to be stronger for this little road bump. Tony doesn't stop, he is amazing. He continues to work, goes with me to every doctor appointment, takes care of the kids, homework, hockey tournaments, skating competitions, and me, the emotional wreck. I am lucky to have him as my rock, and as we come to our 18th wedding anniversary I love him more every day, and know God blessed me the day I married him.

I am so grateful to everyone that has taken time to come visit, sent flowers, cards, brought dinners, and have kept me in their prayers. I don't know how I will ever be able to tell each one of you how much I appreciate and love you. Also, I am very grateful to have my sister-in-law, Laura, who has sat with me, cried with me, organized our dinners, and helped with getting our kids all over town. I am not sure how I will ever be able to repay you for all you have done. You are amazing!!!

I have begun the expansion process (for eventual reconstruction surgery), which is NOT my idea of a good time. I will see my plastic surgeon (Dr. Self) every week to stretch for the next few months. He is amazing and makes me feel so comfortable, considering what he has to do is not any fun. I saw my surgeon yesterday (Dr. Lloyd); she has me doing a few more tests, but said I am healing great. I am right were I should be.

I am anxious for my appointment on Monday with the oncologist. I hear my doctor is amazing, and at the top of his field.  I will be sure to update the Blog next week. But for now, thank you for your prayers!

More Info about Chemo

From Morry:

Here's a message from Jenn this morning, further explaining the news that she got yesterday that she'll have to proceed with chemotherapy treatment:

"So it looks like the Over Achiever gets to go all the way! The cancer [tumor] was bigger than the mammogram, ultra sound, or MRI showed. Just over an inch all the way around. Chemo is a must to make sure there are no other sucker cancer cells floating throughout my body. They have also sent my cancer off to a special lab to do more testing. The doctors need more information since it should have been slow growing, not over an inch in size! Dr. Lloyd said the oncologist is going to need to know if the cancer is a stay in the house nice kitty, or a big carnivore-eating kitty that needs to be caged - basically they need to have as much information as possible going into the chemo arena! I'm l looking forward to a new hairdo...  Look how gorgeous Mary's new blond hair looks, and Des has the cutest new hair style too, with just a touch of curl. Maybe mine will come back blond and straight! Please thank everyone again for their concern, love, food and prayers. We are humbled by all the support coming our way!"

I promised to take her hat/scarf/wig shopping when I come to Utah in a few weeks to see her. Let's all help her have a lot of fun with finding her new style! I suggest this wig to start - don't you think she'd rock this look?! :)

Biopsy Results

From Morry:

This is the message I received from Tony this evening, which pretty much sums it up:

"The doctor just called and because of the size of the tumor, we are going to have to go the chemo route. Jenn was pretty upset about this as you can imagine. We won't get in to to see the oncologist for three weeks by design to allow Jenn time to heal. It sounds to be more of a precautionary treatment as  they feel they were able to remove all the cancer. Jenn did not think to ask what stage so we will have to find that out later. We are just trying to stay positive and we will hit this head on. Thanks again for all your support."

So, we all know what that means: more prayers, karma, good wishes, positive energy, cool vibes...whatever you can send her way, please do!

Home and Resting

From Morry:

I finally spoke to Jenn tonight, and it was so wonderful to hear her voice. She has been home from the hospital since Saturday afternoon. She's uncomfortable, exhausted and in a lot of pain, but all of that is to be completely expected. She's got drainage tubes that require tending, and it was discovered that she's got a silver dollar-sized blister on her back that is adding to her discomfort. She's also very emotional - the tears come easily - again, to be completely expected. But Jenn being Jenn, she was still her wonderful lighthearted self on the phone in between the tears, able to crack jokes about the Super Bowl's half time show. Oh Beyonce....

At any rate, she wanted to make one shout out to her dad, who stayed with her through the first night at the hospital. Not only did that allow Tony to be at home with the kids, it was a tough night for Jenn and she doesn't think she could have made it without him there by her side. She's had a lot of support, of course, from all of her family, but she is, after all, still daddy's girl (my words, not hers, but I suspect she'd agree). Having him by her side through one of the roughest spells meant the world to her.

Tomorrow, Monday, is another big day: she will learn the complete biopsy report of the tumor that was removed. She'll know the stage of the cancer and how aggressive it is. Those results will dictate whether or not she'll have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation. So, once again, everyone is praying for good news. I'll post results when I get them.

On a final note (again - Jenn being Jenn) - she wants everyone to know that she hasn't checked her voicemail, texts or emails since her surgery (to which I responded: "I should hope not!"). At any rate, she knows that she's got well-wishers out there who may be trying to reach her, so please understand that she's simply otherwise engaged. :)