The One Thing I Have in Common With Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ten years ago, I had a clear protusion removed from the bottom of my leg.
Since that time, it's turned in to a mole.
Last year, I had the mole looked at because it fit the bill of "ABCD" and the dermatologist said it was nothing. I was so surprised!  I think I even posted a vague Facebook status that day, something like, "It was nothing!  Doctor says I'm cancer free!" while in disbelief.  I couldn't believe it.

At about the same time, we got the news that unlike what our initial orders read, we'd be moving from our southern home 2 years earlier than planned - that summer.

We were not only moving, but we were moving to the north.  I was so afraid because it gets so cold.  Many forms of government service (my parents', my own) have kept me in pretty warm climes, deserts even (doggonit!) and my blood has verifiably thinned.  I will argue with any doctor about that!

But I also did not want to leave my neighborhood or the pool, or the kids' school and teachers....

Fast forward to this spring. I'd been hibernating for approximately 7 months, unlike my southern lifestyle. I spend a bit more time on Facebook, okay?

So, I read something one of my Usborne book customers had posted to her wall.  It was a farewell to her precious friend, and the blog was her friend's record of her prior year.  I read the blog, in detail, because this friend of my Facebook friend was my age.
She was 38.
She was 38, yet gone from this earth and with her heavenly Father.  From melanoma.

So my mole on my leg had been poo-poo'd as an issue last year, but I still had a couple of issues this spring - one, with a pyogenic something-something growing out of my neck (really gross!  It was like the alien from Spaceballs!), and then after that was done, several hemangiomas grew in the same spot.

The combination of the pyogenic-whatever and the hemangiomas have made this an extended scarf season for me.  So in and out of the doctor as I was, and having read that blog, I finally decided to mention that "nothing" mole on my leg to the doctor.  Since I was there, anyway.

"Oh that comes out.  I can get you to a dermatologist ASAP or I can take it out.  Either way I am not comfortable with that being there."

Because of my neck issues, I scheduled the dermatologist.  Same reaction.  The PA said, "We like for our patients to stick around town after removing skin issues so we can help in case of infection.  But even though you are traveling all of June, I am going to say we need to remove this now.  I am not comfortable with that being there any longer than it has to be."

Huge old hole punch, and it was out.  Great big scar on my leg.  Thank goodness I'm already married.

But it could have been worse.  I got the phone call while I was traveling: it was indeed melanoma in situ - which means superficial melanoma, but melanoma nonetheless.  The PA said she was "relieved, because we don't have to call an oncologist, but it was melanoma like I suspected."

Thank you, God, for removing me from the sun.  I never thought I would say that, but because we moved last summer, I didn't spend the summer at the pool.  Because we moved to a cold place, I barely ever had shorts on - all pants and long skirts.  Because we moved up here, I believe the disease on my leg may have been stopped in its tracks.  And because we moved, I had to find a different dermatologist, and the PA at the dermatologist was thankfully aggressive.  Yes, I am thanking God every day for this unexpected move north.

The next step is to cut a half centimeter around the site of excision to verify it has not spread. I will be doing that in the end of July.

Back to the one thing I have in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The woman who wrote this blog that scared me into action, this blessed lady who spent her last year documenting her battle with melanoma, you have to know, was a career communicator.  Julie Soderlund actually worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carly Fiorina as their communications director.

Yet, I count her as my own communications director.  This woman's gift of communication verified my intuition that something was wrong.  It's incredible the signs our bodies are trying to give us that we yet ignore.  I am not sure I would have been sufficiently scared enough to ask a doctor about the mole again if it hadn't been for the clarity in her blog.  I honestly blindly trust doctors - and in this case had even ignored my intuition.  Julie's words confirmed for me I must do something.

Like Arnold, I am indebted to her.  I am indebted to her not for my career, though, but for my life at the moment.  To be in the position I am in, to have a chance to cut everything out before it spreads anywhere, I feel like I owe it to this woman.

#TeamSoderlund

Awaiting the end of July,
Wendy

The One Thing I Have in Common With Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ten years ago, I had a clear protusion removed from the bottom of my leg.
Since that time, it's turned in to a mole.
Last year, I had the mole looked at because it fit the bill of "ABCD" and the dermatologist said it was nothing. I was so surprised!  I think I even posted a vague Facebook status that day, something like, "It was nothing!  Doctor says I'm cancer free!" while in disbelief.  I couldn't believe it.

At about the same time, we got the news that unlike what our initial orders read, we'd be moving from our southern home 2 years earlier than planned - that summer.

We were not only moving, but we were moving to the north.  I was so afraid because it gets so cold.  Many forms of government service (my parents', my own) have kept me in pretty warm climes, deserts even (doggonit!) and my blood has verifiably thinned.  I will argue with any doctor about that!

But I also did not want to leave my neighborhood or the pool, or the kids' school and teachers....

Fast forward to this spring. I'd been hibernating for approximately 7 months, unlike my southern lifestyle. I spend a bit more time on Facebook, okay?

So, I read something one of my Usborne book customers had posted to her wall.  It was a farewell to her precious friend, and the blog was her friend's record of her prior year.  I read the blog, in detail, because this friend of my Facebook friend was my age.
She was 38.
She was 38, yet gone from this earth and with her heavenly Father.  From melanoma.

So my mole on my leg had been poo-poo'd as an issue last year, but I still had a couple of issues this spring - one, with a pyogenic something-something growing out of my neck (really gross!  It was like the alien from Spaceballs!), and then after that was done, several hemangiomas grew in the same spot.

The combination of the pyogenic-whatever and the hemangiomas have made this an extended scarf season for me.  So in and out of the doctor as I was, and having read that blog, I finally decided to mention that "nothing" mole on my leg to the doctor.  Since I was there, anyway.

"Oh that comes out.  I can get you to a dermatologist ASAP or I can take it out.  Either way I am not comfortable with that being there."

Because of my neck issues, I scheduled the dermatologist.  Same reaction.  She said, "We like for our patients to stick around town after removing skin issues so we can help in case of infection.  But even though you are traveling all of June, I am going to say we need to remove this now.  I am not comfortable with that being there any longer than it has to be."

Huge old hole punch, and it was out.  Great big scar on my leg.  Thank goodness I'm already married.

But it could have been worse.  I got the phone call while I was traveling: it was indeed melanoma in situ - which means superficial melanoma, but melanoma nonetheless.  The doctor was "relieved, because we don't have to call an oncologist, but it was melanoma like I suspected."

Thank you, God, for removing me from the sun.  I never thought I would say that, but because we moved last summer, I didn't spend the summer at the pool.  Because we moved to a cold place, I barely ever had shorts on - all pants and long skirts.  Because we moved up here, I believe the disease on my leg may have been stopped in its tracks.  And because we moved, I had to find a different dermatologist, and the dermatologist was thankfully aggressive.  Yes, I am thanking God every day for this unexpected move north.

The next step is to cut a half centimeter around the site of excision to verify it has not spread. I will be doing that in the end of July.

Back to the one thing I have in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The woman who wrote this blog that scared me into action, this blessed lady who spent her last year documenting her battle with melanoma, you have to know, was a career communicator.  Julie Soderlund actually worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carly Fiorina as their communications director.

Yet, I count her as my own communications director.  This woman's gift of communication verified my intuition that something was wrong.  It's incredible the signs our bodies are trying to give us that we yet ignore.  I am not sure I would have been sufficiently scared enough to ask a doctor about the mole again if it hadn't been for the clarity in her blog.  I honestly blindly trust doctors - and in this case had even ignored my intuition.  Julie's words confirmed for me I must do something.

Like Arnold, I am indebted to her.  I am indebted to her not for my career, though, but for my life at the moment.  To be in the position I am in, to have a chance to cut everything out before it spreads anywhere, I feel like I owe it to this woman.

#TeamSoderlund

Awaiting the end of July,
Wendy

Weekend Retreating

I'm so excited about books this year!

I mean I have always been, but this year they are just going to blow your family away!

Click here for new titles!

I recently got to travel down south to help my skin cells come alive in the sun again.  I was gasping at how good it felt, just driving down the highway!

I got to hang with my dear friends, the Wonder Women! Here we are with the fabulous Randall White.

This was our first night there - a meet and greet!  I was so pumped that we all arrived safely - it's hard to leave the family behind but once everyone was there, I felt like I had another family.

I kidnapped my friend Carrie and we spent some time in my spiritual homeland just prior to the conference. She was such a good sport.  Holy cow.

I was so pleased to be able to meet up with some longtime friends, some of whom are on my team and some of whom I will never be able to express my gratefulness fully.  Here's my teammates, who I've known from 3 to 15 years!  They met at my fave restaurant downtown.  We dished about books and the lady on the left had just shopvac'ed her basement for the 2nd time.  How fabulous does she look!?

I then got to hang out at a coffee shop with just so many sweet friends who made the trip!  I was short on time and these are half of the precious friends I got to see!  The couple on the left are planting a church - their bible study was the first I went to as a young officer 16 years ago, where everything finally clicked.  My friends I grew up with are in the middle, and a young lady I got to lead in bible study is now the fine lady to the right!  And she has 2 kids!  OMGoodness I am OLD!!!  She is still so full of joy. 

Afterward we headed off to Lauren's house.  We spent hours catching up with her and her mom.  It was incredible.  Carrie and I learned SO MUCH about grace in sickness, and I saw that joy was alive and well in Kim.  I love her so much, she was one of my adoptive moms as a single person.  In fact, her house was the last house Dave and I stayed at after our marriage/pack up the house/move across the US final 3 days.  Just a loving, hospitable woman whom I emulate. 

Most people in town will recognize mi familia above.  Their home was my safe house as a young woman with only a lonely apartment to my name.  Whenever I needed to just feel normal, they greeted me with their weirdness.  It worked!  Perfect combination.  Until you wonder, who's normal and who's weird?  And you don't know anymore because you don't care.  You go there because you know you are loved.

A quick vignette: When I left my church, they went out of their way to let me know church was not a building, and that I was always welcome any time.  Well, I popped back in after 10 years and yep!  I love love love this family like my own.  They even came to visit my family in Germany when we were brand new parents!  They accompanied baby Ellie and I to Austria to visit my parents.  They are adventurous, loving, praying people.  I couldn't have asked for better guidance than their open home.

And finally I have to give a shout out.  I got to see Coralie at this weekend retreat!  This lovely lady is someone I am now calling my Irish sister. We spent one full week on a bus together in Ireland and honestly she and her husband are the bestest. I adore her through and through. What I love is that after our company-filled weekend, we agreed to help each other out propelling our businesses.  We aren't on the same team! Isn't that so great?  I know that is an odd phenomenon in the outside world but in Uzzie-land, I feel like it happens more often.  Our families and teams are blended!  I am thankful for her brightness.

And so, lest you think I am too wishy washy, I have to tell you we worked hard on detailed team leadership items.  Yes we spent time in the hot tub, and yes we hung out like champs in our cabin, but we accomplished a great deal, too.  I fully recommend this book for you to get a glimpse into my team philosophy.  It is founded on independence. It describes my team.  We are a Team Genius. These ladies are dynamite.  Creative, ambitious, and doing good for their families and communities!

Peace!

Wendy