Jan moved from her beautiful home on Lake Holcombe, on December 20,2019, to 561 Blue Karner Drive, Altoona, WI.  Leaving that beautiful view of the lake and the home she made with the love of her life John, was a difficult decision.  However, caring for that home after John passed in October of 2014, became more challenging with time.  She found comfort in the memories that were created over 28 years spent enjoying family, friends and grandchildren as reminiscing over the countless evenings spent  enjoying a glass of wine and playing cribbage with John while they watched the sun setting over the lake.  
After moving Jan continued to be bothered by a dry cough that wouldn't go away, an initial diagnosis of pneumonia and treatment with antibiotics failed to resolve the cough. A CT scan on January 15, revealed a tumor and complete collapse of the left upper lobe of the lung. On Jan 17 fluid was removed from the left lobe of the lung revealing cancer cells, identified as a primary adenocarcinoma of the lung with metastasis to the lymph nodes on both sides of the lung. 
A CT/pET scan confirmed the presence of the lung cancer but thankfully no apparent distant metastases.   
Jan as we all know is healthier at 81 than most 50 year old individuals. She met with her oncologist on January 29th  and was found to be a good candidate for immunotherapy with Keytruda.
She had her first infusion with Keytruda yesterday, without any side effects. 

Her children have been "helping" although LeaAnne fell down the stairs the same day of the Oncology appointment and injured her arm- Tom took her to UC in EC - after 3 hours she left with the diagnosis of a complex fracture of the left humerus- which was not that humorous - but you have to laugh sometimes or you would cry.  As my dad would often say "nothing is so bad that it can't get worse"- true-but not that comforting. 
Regardless, we all rejoiced in the good news that although this is stage 4 lung cancer there is a treatment available, that is well tolerated and that the oncologist has treated patients of a similar age and tumor size with good success.  He told us he has one patient mom's age who had gone into remission after 2 years on the therapy. 
We are thankful for the many friends who have already visited and called we will provide updates to those who are interested through this Caring Bridge site.

Her new place is adorable but a bit difficult to find - so if you are intending to visit give Jan a call first so  she can help you with directions.