Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

Can you hear the howling wind? I can. The trees are rustling and I am restless. Do you feel the chill in the air tonight? So many forces seem at play right here , right now. Do I regret my path, do I fear the journey ahead? No, but I feel weary already. Time seems to be standing still. I feel as if I have crossed into an alternate reality yet my feet are still planted right here in the ground. The minutes pass every so slowly and with every tick of the clock I grow more aware something is wrong, something is moving, festering, expanding within my breast. Yes the sun has risen in the east today but I know, yes I am painfully aware my life has changed. I am no longer living in youth's blissful denial. No today the call has come.... today I became one of just under 10,000 women under 40 in the US to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. That was 2006. This is 2009 and though many feared they would lose me here I stand. Today, October 1, 2009, marks the beginning of Breast Canc...

If we stop, we can hear the seconds passing us by...one by one they tick away. .. Just this past weekend we celebrated my parents 40Th wedding anniversary. It was beautiful as it was celebratory. Still I felt as if I were hurrying around so much at times I didn't get to sit and breathe. I felt guilty, as if I were not spending enough time with our guests. Most celebrations are like this though. How many times do we plan a celebration and actually take it all in, see everyone? Usually after all the crowds have gone home, the decorations have been put away and the food is cleared do we finally breathe. Do we not live our lives just like this? Hurrying around, planning, and tidying up our days? We can be merciless in our attempt to get things right, perfect in every way. But then something happens, changes our plan leaving us with the option to fall to pieces or to laugh. It kinda reminds me of my own wedding to my husband Johnny. We were married in April and planned an outside ceremo...

Below is the Houston Chronicle Article that I was interviewed for. Kim did a great job and I am thankful to have been included. The options a woman has today are amazing but without proper information it can be disastrous. I know it is hard to believe that it has been 32 months since I lost my breast. It seems a world away actually. Life has moved on, and I have adjusted to living life as it is. The chemo is behind me, I have been in remission for 2 years and so it would seem the breast reconstruction would be also. Truth be told, I am still caught somewhere in the middle of that process all this time later. I have lived too long in this in between state. Not a uniboob so to speak but not quite a two wheeler either. When I started down this road I was not properly informed. I was thrown into the process and then left "as is" because of the mighty dollar in all honesty. I wasn't told that I would have to come back in 10 years to have my implant replaced, or that silicone w...