A selfie taken in the morning sunshine at home on Aug. 5, 2014. ‘Betty,’ my wig, is retired and I’m enjoying my transition hairstyle. It’s nearly care-free and no blow drying means saved time.

This post had me pondering two headline alternatives to try to encapsulate my message. You see what I chose, but the close runner up was, “End construction zone; resume safe speed.”

What a summer this has been and what a journey life has shown me this last year.

In my last post here,  I recounted my special birthday in May. Then June 13, I began my reconstructive surgery. All went well without any issues. I had to limit my exercise to walking for the first three weeks. Since then, I have returned to the surgeon on a couple occasions for followup and some swelling. All is going as planned. I am back now to playing golf, running, cycling and all the other activities I enjoy.

By the way, I am no longer wearing Betty, my wig. My hair is grayish, short and a bit curly. Some new growth is still in the process of filling in, but all and all, it is at a great stage. Not having to worry about blow drying my hair has really spoiled me!

A few weeks ago my sister asked me to accompany her to the British Open. Deb offered to use her travel rewards points to pay for first class tickets and our hotel room. How sweet and thoughtful to offer this awesome trip to me. Well, of course I said yes. We stayed in London and traveled by train to the Open for a one-day visit. The entire trip was wonderful and to be able to share this experience with my sister was very special. (See photos.)

I am finally able to devote my full attention to my new start at Bridgeworth Financial, having recently celebrated my one-year anniversary there. I had just moved to my new career home at Bridgeworth in May 2013 when on June 13 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Everyone was very supportive and I will always be grateful they stood alongside me on this journey. Work is going very well and I couldn’t be happier about my decision to join the Bridgeworth team.

So, more than a year later, here we are. I would say, all is almost back to normal in every sector of my life. I will continue to receive infusions thru October, to ensure success against my particular type of breast cancer.

Sometimes, I still cannot believe the experience and that this scenario really happened.

This Soulchanger.com blog has been an outlet that served several purposes – chief among them, efficiency in communicating highlights of my journey during periods when energy was scarce. In coming days, you can expect to see posts much less frequently here on the site, but hopefully, more individual interaction from me. As I continue to work my way back to normal, I would be happy to hear from you and catch up on things happening in your life.

But before I ramp down things here, I would like to thank Belynda again for all her incredible support! Also, my family as they all have been very special to me, and of course my friends who were there also with a text, visit or phone call. I especially would like to thank Vickey Williams, who has taken my words and photos for each post and constructed them into a fluent story via this blog.

If there is anyone you know who is struggling with breast cancer, please give them my name if they would like to talk. It is a scary finding and would be happy to help if I can. Lastly, please encourage a newly diagnosed woman to seek out a second opinion. I know in my case, I just wanted to have the surgery as quickly as possible. I was fortunate that a friend strongly encouraged me to seek a second opinion at UAB.

I’ll close out with a collage of London photos, highlighted by my selfie with golfer Sergio Garcia. Just more evidence that I’m a lucky girl.

My sister, Deborah, hosted me last month on a dream vacation to the British Open and the sights of London. At top left is my selfie with Sergio Garcia. Other pros we were able to see up close included Tiger Woods and Tom Watson. Other bottom row photos show Deb and I before the play Jersey Boys, on a Downton Abbey tour and Deb trying to figure how we could make off with the Ferrari parked outside our restaurant.

Fresh from safety training, here I am during my inaugural ride yesterday on my birthday. The bike had been parked in my garage for a year, due to the need to manage through a health detour you know all too well. See link below to a video of my ride.

What a birthday I celebrated this week! I had to tell you about it here.

One year ago we decided to get a new motorcycle with the hope that I would learn to ride.  As fate would have it, less than two weeks after getting the bike the phone call came with the biopsy report of my breast tissue.

Plans, dreams and hobbies were put on hold. Life’s central focus shifted to setting a path for sorting through diagnoses, treatments, surgeries and more. Through God’s grace, the latest tests show the most positive outcome possible, a PCR or “pathologic complete response.”

So this week, it was finally time to turn my attention back to the bike. For my birthday, Belynda paid my tuition to a  motorcycle safety class where I spent last weekend learning to ride. Unfortunately, the bike provided for my lesson was a very small motorcycle but I did learn the basics.

So yesterday, one year after its purchase, my motorcycle came out of the garage and for the first time I was ready to roll. It was very intimidating at first because of the difference in size compared with the much smaller model I had used in training. But with Belynda cheering me on and building my confidence, off we went. Here’s a short video.

My sister, Deb, had to be out of town for my birthday dinner last night at a neighborhood pizza spot, but arranged to have sent to the table a Scotch with a sweet note of good wishes.

As for other festivities of the day, there was breakfast out, dinner with friends and family, and finally good pals from Florida arriving for more fun over the next few days. My sister, Deb, had to be out of town on business but arranged to have a Scotch sent to the table with a message sending love and saying that Mom and Dad would be proud.

I had ordered wine a glass of wine so for a moment, with two glasses in front of me, it probably looked as if I was really celebrating.

A cousin fetched our out-of-town friends from the airport to join us at the restaurant and at one point he turned the aisle in the pizza joint into a dance floor and we took a spin to the applause of our fellow guests.

In more ways than one, yesterday was a sweet, sweet ride.  Happy birthday to me!

Even the serving staff and fellow diners seemed to get a kick out of our birthday celebration.

Feeling positive on Jan. 14, just before my surgery.

Hello, everyone. It has been a little more than three weeks since my surgery and almost two months since my last chemotherapy so I am overdue for posting an update.

As you may remember, I had a mastectomy on Jan. 14. The surgery and reconstruction was smooth sailing. The drugs after surgery were really good and I did not have any problems.

A few hours after my surgery on Jan. 14.

Belynda stayed with me in the hospital the night after surgery. We were able to leave around 2 p.m. the following day. I fussed at her on the way home to be careful with hitting potholes and making sudden movements in the car.

I was feeling a little nauseous. However, I made it home fine and the recovery went very well.

I had two drains. My friends Pat and Laura had given me 2 camisoles with drain holders so that when I walked around in the days following surgery the drains had a place in a pouch.  Very clever and what a help!

Up and about in my hospital room, getting ready for the ride home.

I am feeling very good but still cannot do too much like working out or jogging. I can walk and have been doing this with some walks in the woods.

This past week I had a meeting with the radiologist about radiation therapy. The discussion centered on whether I needed it or not. She explained that I fall into a gray area. She said she would be OK if I had radiation and if I decided not to have it, she would be OK with that decision as well.

What a dilemma! There are side effects to radiation, as you know. Add to that the fact that  there was not much improvement to be had in lessening my chance of recurrence, I decided not to have radiation.

Another factor that impacted my personal decision: My pathology report following surgery.
I had a “pathological complete response,” which means that the chemo drugs did their  job. My path report from surgery showed zero cancer cells and my four lymph nodes they removed were clear.

Currently I am waiting on additional healing and further reconstruction.

But I am not totally off the hook. Due to the type of cancer I had — HER2-positive — I will get an infusion of a drug called Herceptin every three weeks. I will continue this until August. This infusion is not chemo and is said to have very little side effects! Yeah for this!

Here are some links with further details, if you are interested. The Mayo Clinic has some information here, and WebMD explains my particular type cancer here.

I wish for you a happy Valentine’s Day and thank you, as always, for your prayers and support.

Preparing to leave the house one morning with my friend Betty.

Greetings from the midpoint in my treatment cycle for the Adriamycin and Cytoxen cocktail chemotherapy. That means two down, two to go.

The treatment occurs on Wednesday afternoons, you might recall. By last night I did not feel well so I went to bed early and with the assistance of a sleeping aid, I had a good night. I finally got out of bed at 8:45 this morning, which set a new record for me. I haven’t slept that late since I was a kid.

This morning was spent on the couch, answering emails and taking it easy. My biggest complaint is indigestion and Nexium is helping, along with my friend Zofran, which beats down the nausea. Knock on wood, I haven’t really suffered from nausea.

Mostly I just feel weak.

Following my last treatment, I felt like a new person by Friday. So I am hoping for the same outcome this time.

My train of thought is somewhat hampered today, so I will keep this short but it does appear I will have some sort of surgery (either lumpectomy or mastectomy) at around the end of year or early January. My physicians say I also may need some radiation because my tumor was so close to chest wall.

The good news of course is that I can use the past tense in reference to my tumor. As I mentioned in an earlier post here, my physicians say the chemo has resulted in 100 percent resolution of my mass; meaning the last MRI did not pick up anything! I further understand that at time of surgery if this is still the case, then I would have a 98 percent
likelihood that I should not expect a recurrence, and I would be “cured!” It is amazing how far treatment has come.

Enjoying breakfast out on Veterans Day.

And while I might be a bit hampered today, know that not all days are like this.  Much of the last week I felt just fine. For example, Saturday morning I jogged for 2.5 miles and felt great. Veterans Day was a long and busy Monday for me. On Tuesday, I worked from 7:30 to 6 and briefly stopped by a jewelry party afterward.

Most days, I think I’ve also been able to hold onto my sense of humor. In that vein, I’ll share with you that I’ve nicknamed my wig “Betty.” Some days she joins me, some days she stays home.

As always,  thank you – each and every one – for your concern, support and prayers.