A smiling and confident Rep. Judy Boyle returned to the Legislature Thursday following her battle with cancer and a successful surgery.

Boyle, a Midvale Republican, was upbeat and optimistic during the morning’s House Education Committee meeting.

Boyle, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June, missed the first few days of the legislative session while recovering from surgery.

Boyle had a substitute lawmaker serve in her place, but was able to meet her goal of returning during the second week of the legislative session.

She chose Thursday as her return date because that’s what her doctor advised.

“I’m so happy to be here,” Boyle said. “I’m feeling awesome.”

During her absence, Boyle received updates from fellow lawmakers and her surrogate, and closely followed news coverage.

Boyle completed chemotherapy in November, and underwent a lumpectomy surgery and had lymph nodes removed earlier this month. Her doctors told her the treatment was successful.

“It was amazing, my surgeon told me three times that I had a very excellent pathology report showing absolutely no cancer cells whatsoever,”’ Boyle said. “That was highly unusual for my form of cancer – normally there are some cells left here or there or somewhere.”

In November, Boyle was re-elected to her fourth term in the Legislature.

The best part of returning to the Legislature is “just being back to normal, being able to get back to work,” Boyle said. “I’m not good at sitting around.”