Our Christmas card this year is a thank you note to all those who have helped us the past few months. While I tried to get it out to as many people as possible, the truth is that we have been helped by more people than I can count (and that I know addresses to). So this is my way of saying thank you for all the generosity and love, you have no idea how much it has meant to us.

Eat at Costa Vida to Support Janelle!!

Remember to go to Costa Vida in American Fork any time TODAY (and bring this flyer!!) to help support Janelle's Fight Against Cancer! 15% of sales generated by those who show this flyer will go towards Janelle! If more than 100 people show up, they'll donate 20%! Please help spread the word!!!

Also remember that we are still accepting donations online at https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/9983/janellescancerfund

Los Angeles Update:

We had a good week in Los Angeles last week. Besides a successful doctor’s visit, we were also able to have a little bit of fun, which was such a nice break to take my mind off things.

In Los Angeles, we met with one of the country’s leading experts in Carcinoid cancer, Dr. Wolin, at Cedars Sinai. Because carcinoid is so rare, many oncologist will not even see it during their career and unfortunately there are no specialists here in Utah for it. So I feel very blessed that we were able to see Dr. Wolin as I know it is something that not everyone gets to do. At Cedars, Dr. Wolin runs a carcinoid clinic as well as 10 clinical trials. It was a lengthy and informative visit and to be honest felt really good to talk to someone who deals with this on a daily basis.

While we were down there, we made another trip to the hospital to have some blood work done to start tracking specific markers in my blood. The details of the visit get quite technical, but what we settled on as the next step is to get another scan done. Dr. Wolin would like me to have what is called a 68-Ga DOTOTATE scan. This scan is part of a clinical trial and not yet approved by the FDA. It is only located in 3 places in the US, one being UCLA Medical Center. (While not approved sounds kind of scary, there are actually no FDA approved treatments for carcinoid cancer right now, mostly due to the fact that it is very rare so it doesn’t have the funding or large number of people for clinical trials that other types of cancers do). The awesome things about this scan, as opposed to the standard scans we have now, is that it can detect carcinoid as small as 2 mm in the body with a much clearer picture. Having read many research papers in school, it is a bit funny being on the other side of it now, but I’m grateful that we have new technology to catch things at the earliest onset.

So we will be heading back down to Los Angeles next week for the scan and a follow-up appointment. Our hope and prayer is that they find nothing on this scan and then we go from there to see what’s next. While this is not in my nature, one of the lessons I am learning from this process is to take life one day at a time because I feel like the plan changes each week.

I’m so glad that my family was able to be there with us (although the staff was a bit surprised by my entourage J ). I realize more and more that I would not be able to get through this without the support of my family and friends. I feel blessed by the donations that so many have made, which allow us to see these types of doctors and get the best care. I am also very grateful for all of my doctors, especially my surgeon here who made the referral to Dr. Wolin and continues to communicate with him and follow my treatment. 

Successful Fundraiser!

Here are some pictures from our fundraiser on Saturday! You can see the full album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.225861684257796.1073741829.210813409095957&type=1

We had a blast and raised money for an incredible family! It was the perfect way to start our Saturday morning.

Thank you to Jonathan Hardy for all of the wonderful pictures! http://jonathanhardyphotography.com/

Fundraiser!

Our fundraiser is in ONE WEEK! We are so excited for the big event! We have had people asking about shirts. You can buy them at the fundraiser, or reserve them by emailing janellesfight@gmail.com.

Let us know you're coming by RSVPing to our Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/700604443284959/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Please help us spread the word this next week! We want to make this event incredibly successful to help Janelle and her family! If you're coming, make sure you bring a friend! Every little bit helps!

There will be a silent auction, raffle, bounce house, free food, a walk/run, live music, and more! It will be fun for all ages! Please help us continue to share Janelle's story!!

See you Saturday!

Heartbreak and Hope

I’ve been a bit quiet the past 3 weeks with what has been going on in my journey. To be honest, I wasn’t sure this aspect of it was something I was going to share as it is the part that is most dear to my heart. But I’ve come to realize that for me, this is one of the most important parts to share as I know there are many other women who have gone through this in different capacities.

After a lot of painful decision making, three weeks ago I decided to move forward with having my eggs frozen. It was not an easy decision. Some people have argued that it is not worth putting my body through more medications and procedures and delaying my treatment, which is a very valid point and something I thought about a lot. But when it came down to it, for me it was about Hope.

While I know that this sounds crazy, the most devastating part of my diagnosis was the idea of not being able to have more children. I could come to grips with having a big surgery, losing my lung, and even going through chemo, but this just pushed me over the edge emotionally. I am so grateful to have Audrey and if she was my only child, I would feel blessed for the rest of my life, but the idea of being able to have another child at some point gives me great hope for the future (something I really need right now).

It has been a relatively quick process. I met with the fertility doctor and less than three weeks later they retrieved my eggs. It is a very delicate process, something that I didn’t realize as I’ve really never spent any time looking into in vitro. My body was very sensitive to the hormone shots they gave me and as a result I have been going back and forth to the doctors every day for the past 2 weeks (including Saturdays and Sundays) for monitoring. Toward the end they had to take me off the shots completely for a few days because my levels were getting so high.

The doctor had told me before I started this that we needed about 20 frozen eggs for the odds of having two more children. This past Thursday they retrieved my eggs through a small procedure and got 20 eggs! I was thrilled and relieved. Today I received a phone call from the fertility clinic telling me that only 5 of those eggs have made it to be frozen, with only one of those being what they call a good quality. Heartbroken doesn’t begin to explain how saddened I feel about this. I guess I was just hoping for one part of this journey to go smoothly.

So this is where I am now. My fertility doctor recommends doing another round of this over the next few weeks which means more time, money, and trauma to my body. Those who have been through this know that egg retrieval/ in vitro is not something that is covered by insurance and costs thousands of dollars each time you do it, but when all is said and done, I need to do it because of that hope.

I have been so blessed through this journey and I have seen miracles of which I will be eternally grateful, so I hope this doesn’t come across as a big complaint entry. But the emotional side of this journey is very real as well and something I want to remember when I’m older. So while my heart is broken tonight, I am still hanging on to hope that those five little possibilities give me. 

Update from Janelle:

I got great news today!! Earlier this week I had another CT scan done to look at a couple lymph nodes in my neck that on previous scans were enlarged and active. The results today came back that the lymph nodes are back down to normal size! This is big news for me because if those nodes were still enlarged, it would have meant another surgery and a worse staging of my cancer.

It feels good to finally be getting some positive news and hope for more to come. Thank you for all your prayers and support.