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. :)

Hospital Day 1

From Morry:

Jenn had a very restful night last night and was able to get some much needed sleep. Today, she's been awake, eating (yogurt and a waffle - breakfast of champs!), and even took a walk. But she is very sore and in a lot of pain, as to be expected. Her doctors are attempting to wean her off of the intravenous pain meds, switching her to oral painkillers which is what she'll be able to have at home. Tony was able to go home last night and spend time with their kids, all of whom are very relieved that their mom made it through the surgery so well. I will probably have more news later this afternoon, and hopefully will be able to talk to her and get a personal message posted here as well. So check back this evening for additional updates.

Also, please sign your name when commenting on this blog; most comments come across as anonymous, so unless you say who you are, Jenn won't know who is sending her all the well wishes. Thanks!

Surgery Success!

From Morry:

Jenn has made it through her surgery with flying colors. Everything went as well - as planned - and she's recovering nicely. She'll be moved to her room later this evening. The best news of the day is that the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes! Her lymph node tests all came back negative. This is quite possibly the biggest relief for everyone involved, so everyone can cheer this wonderful victory. Hooray!

Surgery Day: Prepped and Ready to Go!

From Morry: Jenn is prepped and ready to go, positive attitude all the way!

Double Mastectomy Surgery is Tomorrow

From Morry:

Jenn is slated to arrive at St. Mark's Hospital tomorrow (Thursday, January 31) at 7:00 a.m. Based on what she and Tony were told us at her last appointment, the first order of business will be to have the tumor injected with a nuclear dye. It will then be a three- to four-hour wait before the surgery can begin to allow the dye time to travel through her lymphatic system. The purpose of the dye is so that the doctor will know which lymph nodes will need to removed to have biopsied. Given that timeline, she should be in surgery sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., and the surgery is likely to take between five and seven hours. Hopefully she will be out of surgery and in recovery no later than 6:00 p.m. Please keep Jenn in your prayers tomorrow, and as I know more throughout the day, I will post updates here.

My Story

Me and my family: husband Tony, and kids Gabe, Teauna and Alex.

How does one ever really comprehend the words of CANCER??  Never in a million years did I think that I would be the one standing before God with my hands, heart, mind and soul open, having to step back and release control of my life to Him. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I like being in control. From my family, to work, to running Liturgical Dance at St John the Baptist, to coordinating Teauna’s Murray Silver Blades Figure Club skating shows and competitions, getting Gabe to all of his debate tournaments with Juan Diego, to being a part of Alex’s greatest and BEST year of hockey yet (I love watching, cheering and being a part of the Squirt Lightning Team!!). It is hard letting go of all that fun stuff to think about cancer!!!  My Doctors understood all of that and I will be forever grateful that they allowed me to stay the course as a busy and active mom - traveling to Sun Valley for hockey, sticking around to see the Grizz Cup, and to let me run the latest Skating Show.  I promised them that if I could get through all of that I would be ready and head strong into taking care of myself.  Now that all of my pre-cancer obligations are competed, I cry…  A lot!!  I haven’t allowed myself to cry much since December 12, 2012 when the actual words came out of the doctor’s mouth. 

This all began in May of 2012, when I had my 40-year mammogram. Of course nothing I do is EVER normal. That day I spent over two hours at my appointment, going in and out of the mammogram area, and was even sent to have an ultrasound.  After all that, they didn’t find anything, but said to make sure I never miss my yearly mammogram. 

But then in October 2012, as I was chairing the Central Pacific Regional Championships for US Figure Skating, while putting on my favorite lotion one morning, I felt a mass just at the top of my left breast.  I tried really hard not to think about it, because the competition needed every space of my brain.  By Thanksgiving the mass had not gone away and I was starting to get concerned, but I still hadn’t done anything about it. Our family was enjoying the warmer weather over the holiday weekend in sunny St. George with my sister and brother in law, Laura, Abel and their kids, and I suspected that the mass was getting bigger. As our families were enjoying lunch one day, who should walk in the door of the restaurant, hundreds of miles away from home? Non other than my gynecologist, Dr. Brown. It was the sign I needed. I looked up at the heavens above and said, “Okay I get it, I will call him first thing Monday,” which I did. From that first appointment on, I have had to release myself and just let the doctors and God take care of me.

Dr. Brown sent me in for a new mammogram, and from that point on, the appointments and tests started coming at a rapid pace. At the mammogram appointment, I knew something was wrong – you just see it in everyone’s faces, and once again, my appointment took longer than average due to the amount of looking and prodding and additional testing. A week later, I had to go for a biopsy to confirm a diagnosis.

December 12, 2012, is a day Tony and I will never forget. The biopsy had been done the day before, so there we were, in the same waiting room, prepared to hear the results. It seemed like we waited forever that day, and when the counseling nurse came to get us, I was trying as hard as I could to be strong, positive, and to not just freak out. But as we turned the corner to go into the counseling room, I saw the doctor standing in her office waiting for us.  That is when I knew.  It was official: I have breast cancer.

So, I sat through an hour or so meeting, sitting straight and tall pretending that I was listening to someone else’s diagnosis…  I wanted to say several times… “Wait… What?”  I kept thinking… am I being punked??  I kept looking around the room for the cameras, am I on TV??  You could say that is a definite out-of-body experience.  The good news is that the doctors told me that if I had gone shopping, I picked a rare but very treatable form of cancer. They say that it is a Level One, which means it is slow growing, however if 4cm is small then I would hate to see this one move fast!!

I have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (tubular type).  We will know what stage once the cancer is removed and fully biopsied.

So that brings me to now - the week of surgery. Thursday the 31^st is the big day; I will have a double mastectomy, and pray that my lymph nodes are clear, and that the cancer has no new surprises!!

Thank you to all of my family, friends and neighbors for you support through all of this. I am blessed to have three incredibly strong friends who have already been through breast cancer treatment and recovery. I prayed for them like all of you are praying for me.  Without them, I don’t think I would have taken the time to go have a mammogram.  I feel so blessed to have their strength and knowledge in my corner.  IF I could ask anything from anyone one it would be to GO GET YOURSELF CHECKED!!!  Yes it hurts, yes it is expensive and a little time consuming, but all three of my friends (and myself!) are KICKING CANCER’S BUTT because we had it done!!!! 

Thank you to everyone that has reached out to my family. Tony has been a ROCK; I couldn’t have picked a better husband, partner or best friend!!  Gabe, Teauna and Alex are all scared, but with all of the love and support around them, they are hanging in there!! A big thank you goes out to my mom and dad who have taught me grace and strength which will help me through this battle, and for my in-laws, Paul and Pickles, who have always given my family nothing but love and support. For my brothers Wade and Matthew - I was blessed the day we all became a family. For Laura, Abel, and your kids (the best nephews in the world), thank you for always being there for our family; the fun times we spend together camping, traveling, watching and playing hockey are some of my most favorite memories. I love you all more than the stars in the sky!

This would be an awful journey to take by yourself, but as you can see, I am in no way going it alone. I am going in for my surgery strong, and ready to kick cancer to the curb!!  Time for me to get my life back.  Keep the prayers coming; the power of prayer is what has gotten me this far!!

Made by Teauna when she learned of my diagnosis.

Note: My friend Morry will help keep this blog updated while I am in the hospital and recovering. Please check back here often, or sign up for email updates (right hand column), to stay posted on my progress. I'll resume writing as soon as I can.