It was week four since being diagnosed. I had to go to see a fertility doctor because Chemo could potentially destroy my reproductive system. It would age my eggs by 10 years and essentially I would have a increased risk of not being able to produce healthy eggs. So at 28 years old – the eggs would be as if they were from a 38 year old. This was something that was important to Saylor and I. Although we didn’t want children at that time, we knew we want to be able to have them sometime in the next few years. I’m very fortunate to have OUTSTANDING insurance – pretty much everything is covered. So I’ve been very lucky to have such an amazing employer who values having good coverage. But the only thing my insurance did not cover was fertility. So we had to truly had to look at ALL of our options. Freezing eggs/embryos would take a about week, so it would slightly delay treatment. It consisted of daily shot injections to prep my ovaries and eggs and then they would retrieve them when the eggs were a certain size. This would generally cost ‘$15k-$30k’ just for treatment, retrieval, creating healthy embryos, and then storing them. Did you know you actually have to pay monthly 'rent' to store them? Ha! I thought that was kind of funny – it makes sense but come on… after paying all that money you have to pay monthly embryo rent? Jeeeze!

The other option was a Lupron shot, which was a shot given every month of chemo. This option would essentially put my reproductive system ‘temporarily to sleep’ so I would stop producing eggs and it would allow them to not get damaged in the process of chemo. This would increase my chances of NOT having Ovarian Failure – aka not being able to kids. Supposedly the statistic is that if I did the Lupron shot, studies show that it can increase your chances of successfully having kids after chemo by 90%. 

After talking with Saylor, my family and my nurse navigator, I decided that I needed to focus on MY health, and I needed to do what’s best for me and my treatment to get healthy again. I did the Lupron shot but the only down side was that since my ovaries were ‘temporarily asleep’ - my body actually thought I was going through Menopause. So not only was I be going through chemo, I’d also be going through menopause at 28 years old! #LivingTheDream

From the beginning of being diagnosed, Saylor and I knew that we wanted to move back to Michigan for treatment to be with family and have that support system around us. Thankfully my work was understanding and kind enough to allow me to move back and work out of our office in Michigan. Within three days, we packed up the pup, the kitten and our entire life in Colorado and moved across the country back home. It was bittersweet. I LOVE Colorado. I loved where we lived, our apartment was amazing, the location was KILLER, & living in the city was a blast. But I was also going to miss all my friends that I had made and my family at the office. I knew I was going to miss that life for a while, things wouldn’t be the same L But we would be back sometime in the near future.