I am absolutely loving my winter break. It has been so nice to to sleep in, to spend time with the family, and have the freedom to read books that I want to read versus the books that I have been assigned to read.  I'm keeping up with my workouts by meeting a friend and using TRX straps outside at a track so we can watch our kids play and run around. It's been good for both of us, and our kids, to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

A tradition that I have missed and am so glad we can take advantage during out school breaks is to pile everyone into the van for a drive to explore new areas, like the Blanco river.

We decided to visit Blanco, Texas earlier this week to visit the Real Ale Brewery (http://realalebrewing.com/). The brewery offers a free tour on Friday afternoons and samples of their seasonal beer. The nerd in me loved that the tour guide explained the science behind making the perfect batch of beer and the beer drinker in me loved that they gave out five free samples that were really, really good.

Today, I had the pleasure of going to Round Rock, Texas to visit The Salt Lick, (http://www.saltlickbbq.com/), and meet up two of my very best friends, Jay and Marcie. A group of us met on the internet 10 years ago, formed our own separate MSN group, and became good friends. Over time we met in real life, after we making sure that the person we were meeting wasn't an ax murderer or an internet "weirdo", and continued to stay friends. After my cancer surgeries Jay and Marcie would either Yahoo chat or Facebook chat with me listen to me whine and complain. They helped me through some of the darkest times of my life and for that I will always be grateful.

It was nice playing catch up and having a conversation that didn't involve a computer or a phone. Since Marcie lives in the Northwest and Jay lives on the opposite side of the state we don't always have the ability to meet up for lunch so today was a very special day. I really hope that one of these years our entire internet group will be able to meet up for lunch. (hint, hint).

It's been a while

Merry Christmas!!

I can't believe how long it's been since I have written. Life has been crazy busy and I have been trying to enjoy every bit of it; although, every so often I will think "Oh, I should write about this" and then.. I don't. Since my third surgery I have:

• Gone back to school with the goal of getting my Doctorate in Physical Therapy. I have a long way to go, but I know that with hard work I'll achieve my goal.
• Walked the San Antonio Half Marathon. It took me 4 hours, but I did it. I finished the race. I was training for the Kansas City Half Marathon when my tumor was discovered and I always promised myself that I would finish a half marathon, even if I had to crawl across the finish line.
• Started fostering dogs for the Texas German Shorthair Pointer rescue. 
• Spent two awesome summers enjoying my kids at different amusement and water parks.
• Continued to grow bone around my implant. 

Since it has been almost 2 years from my last surgery, I have decided to change the name of the blog from Life With Chondrosarcoma to Life After Chondrosarcoma. When I received my diagnosis and had my various surgeries I never felt like there would be a life after cancer. I am so glad that I was wrong. There is life after cancer. Yes, it is something that is always at the back of my mind when I go in for tests and appointments; however, I don't let that fear and worry consume my life.

Some of my goals for the upcoming year include:

• Continue losing weight. When my doctor told me that I probably wouldn't lose any weight until after a year from my last surgery he was right.
• Do a triathlon in April
• Walk another half marathon
• Keep my 4.0 GPA

Before I go, I want to share some pictures of my friend, Beth, and I at the half marathon. Beth lives in Arizona and I am so happy that she was able to fly in to Texas and walk with me!

 Before the race

At the end. We were smiling because we were glad it was almost over.

 Tired, but very happy

We were so happy that when we tried to "Hi-5" each other we missed. Of course the photographer would have to capture that moment in time.

Defying Gravity

My Mother's Day weekend

First family hike in almost 2 years! I was hiding from the sun.

I almost cried. First time on a horse in a few years. I LOVE horses, and it's one of the things I was most concerned about when I got my diagnosis. I wanted to take this boy home with me :).

 I got to sit on Oreo, the Steer. He was awesome and oh so soft. 

The family. It's awesome to be able to to do family activities again.

Still alive

It has been crazy here. Crazy. In the month of April and the first 2 weeks of May I had at least one sick kid per week. The climax was reached the second week of May when I was at the hospital every-single-day for various appointments. To be fair one of them was my own, but still. It felt like I lived there. I did have to go again this week, for my quarterly chest x-ray, so I have been to the hospital at least once per week for 7 weeks. Yuck.

My appointment was to see my surgeon who gave me clearance to do this



Because of this

Isn't that an awesome x-ray? The tech took it while I was standing up. This shows lots of bone growth, lots of muscle growth and an implant that is holding up really well. Because of that I have been cleared to do pretty much anything besides martial arts, aerobics and sports like volleyball. Oh and running, of course.

Physical therapy is going really well and becoming more challenging. Some of the new exercises are one-legged squats, ladder drills while "jogging"/shuffling, monster walks, one-legged bridges (HATE these with a passion) and long arc quads with ankle weights. I notice that i'm not limping as bad as before and I can tell by the way my clothes fit that the muscle in my legs and butt is growing. It's awesome and i'm very excited.

It feels like a fog has been lifted and I can see clearly again.

Livestrong Austin 2011

One of my goals for 2011 was to walk and ride a bike for the upcoming Livestrong Austin event. I've had to modify my goals a bit, I don't think i'll be ready to ride at the event. However I have registered to walk in the 5k.

To say that i'm excited is a major understatement.

I almost cried.

Okay, I did cry.

If anyone is interested in donating, even one dollar, I would really appreciate it. Here is the link to my website.

It's been one hell of a week

This week has been crazy. Crazy I tell you. I either haven't time to sit down and type, been too tired to think of what to type, and the one day I did have a chance the (insert curse word of your choice) computer unplugged itself and died.

Here is one reason things were so crazy

Baby girl is okay. She was a trooper and had to be IV sedated to have an abscess lanced. She impressed the doctors and the nurses with how well she did. That's my girl!

Now that I got the important stuff over with, on to me.

I am doing really well. Only two more days and I can get rid of the brace. It's a "one size fits none" model and no amount of cutting or velcro will keep it on my leg. It likes to do a slooooowwww slide down my leg when I start sweating, eventually it ends up around my ankle and I have to unsnap it to get it back up. Big pain in the rear end.

In physical therapy I have been able to use the Elliptical machine. It gets less awkward the more I use it but I am still out of breath in 10 minutes, and I'm drenched in sweat. Which makes it fun when I move onto mat work and stick to the mat. Like today, with my poor sunburned skin. Yeah, not pleasant. Along with the Elliptical machine kicking my butt I am doing lots of new exercises AND agility work with the ladder. I was SO happy I didn't fall flat on my face the first time I navigated the ladder. Making a fool of myself is something I do very easily, I just don't want to do it there.

This afternoon I did some assisted pull-ups with my new pull-up bands. Unfortunately I am still a weee too heavy for the band to really help so I ended up doing a jumping/band assist combo. Ten overhand and six underhand. At least it's a start and the kids thought it was pretty cool.

Non leg related I am starting a "house reorganization" project. When we moved here I was on crutches so things didn't get done/put away the way I normally would have. Now that I can move around, am cooking more and seeing more of the house I have decided it's time for a major cleaning/organization project. I started on the kitchen today and will hopefully finish tomorrow. I have already warned the long suffering husband and kids to be prepared.