So, let me start on my soapbox… err.. I mean begin this review… by asking a question to you:  what makes you like a movie?

Is it the story? the acting? the plot? the music? the drama? the exhilaration? the emotion? the suspense? the cute guy (or gal) in the lead role? the special effects?  The pace? All of these things?

Well, for me, I like a movie to have a a good plot, good acting with characters that you can come to like and feel like you know.  I also like the movie to have a soundtrack that makes you fall in love, and the movie needs to have a build up to a climax.  That’s pretty general, I know, but these are common, basic story telling necessities.

So, last movie we saw was War Horse, and that was my pick.  This time around, we saw Red Tails, my husband’s picks.  I’m not opposed to WWII movies.  There are many that are good that I like very much, like Saving Private Ryan.  I’ve also seen the Tuskegee Airmen and thought that was a good movie.

George Lucas put together a $100 million movie for Red Trails, which tells the story of African-American fighter pilots in Italy in WWII, part of the Tuskegee project.

The movie is enticing, if you like war movies, with realistic aerial battles, and a theatrical trailer that could really draw you in.

Well, the trailer was the best part of the film. Who ever did the marketing for this movie did a great job.  Unfortunately , there was nothing great about this film.  The aerial battles were good, and I assume they were realistic.  Apparently, the massive budget for this film went totally into the special effects, because the story, the acting and the nearly non- existent soundtrack were completely lacking.

There were scenes that felt like they could go on at least for a dramatic pause, and were just chopped short and all of a sudden the film cuts to something entirely different.  There was  no consistent storyline, no dramatic build up, predictable outcomes, and very, very poor acting.

One guy I couldn’t understand a thing he was saying, and the lack of emotions every one else portrayed really spun this movie into a dismal downward spiral.

There was a love-romance going on between one of the fighter pilots and a young Italian woman… throughout the movie, this was the most-emotionless, un”built-up” thread of events happening.  These people were supposed to be in love, and yet they had all of the emotion of a turnip rotting in a field.  I take that back…. I’ll bet if you time lapse that turnip and add dramatic music, you’d get a better story than this bazillion dollar film with uber-super ultra director managed to make.

There was tons of opportunity in this film to add drama, intensity, passion, and create a movie that you sink into.  And none of it came together.  Seriously, if you added a narrator, it would have been like watching a documentary on the History Channel.  No, I take that back, too.  The documentaries have a soundtrack, drama, and narrators that actually uses emphasis and enunciation when they speak.

Even my husband was bored to death with it.  Just goes to show that just because you have a name like “Lucas” and $100 million to make a movie with, is not a guarantee that you’ll turn out a good flick.  Everyone in the theater near us, as we were walking out, all had similar comments.  One guy said something to the effect of an amateur production could have been better.  I agree.  One woman in the audience muttered “that’s disgusting” when the interracial couple kissed. Really?  You’re that shallow?  Or maybe she just meant that it was disgusting that she spent $10 to go see this crap fest movie.

This was not worth seeing.

My leg is doing better and better every day, which is great.  The incision is slloooowly healing over where it split apart.  I start 7 weeks of radiation therapy on Tuesday, 1/25.  I’m a little nervous about that, but it should go well, and the treatments are very short.  It’s just going to stretch on through late March, so it will be a lot to deal with.

I entered a radio contest through US99, a Chicago based Country radio station.  The contest is to sing the National Anthem at a bull riding rodeo on Feb 3.  I was selected as one of the top-3 finalists! Yay!  I’m still in shock, but the contest isn’t over.  The girls that are in the top 3 are now being voted on by the public!

http://us99country.radio.com/2012/01/19/listen-to-the-three-finalists-and-vote-now/   

Please visit the website and place your vote, for me! I’m Amanda, the top name.  And I thank you.  I would love to have the chance to sing at the rodeo!  How cool would that be!!?

In the form of the horses, I don’t have too much going on.  After being confused for April, January finally caught up and Winter is upon us in Northern Illinois.  We’ve had snow, ice, sleet, and temperatures have dropped below 10 during the day. 

Someday, oh someday, I shall move to warmer climates.  Maybe.  I did live in Georgia for almost 2 years, and while that was warmer in the winter, it was way too hot in the summer!  Somewhere in between, maybe, like Tenessee could be good.  lol.

Anyway, my horse-cicles are doing just fine.  I don’t know about them, but I am so ready to get back to driving!  The weather calls for a little bit of shaping up this weekend, and I plan to do some ground driving with them and trick work.  Luke is eager as ever to do tricks, and I’ve gotten Luke & Chewie to Spanish Walk in synch for several strides.  But then Luke gets jealous of Chewie and pushes him away.  lol.

I need to work on them separate, and if my leg holds up my plans are to ground drive the minis tandem (or have hubby do that), ground drive Chewbacca and do tricks individually, and ground drive Luke and do tricks.   I don’t think I’ll do all that walking this weekend, but if the weather holds out, maybe during the week I can squeeze that all in. 

I also want to attempt (eh, hem..) to teach Luke to piaffe on the long lines.  I think he can learn it, I think I can teach it.  So we’ll see.  I tried to teach Spyder to piaffe on long lines, and she tried many times to kick my head in.  But Luke is quite forward and understands collection, too.  It may take months, but we’ll see where I get.  Plus, Luke is a nice pony that doesn’t hate me like that mare did.  lol.

As far as Dixie is concerned, I have made a decision.  Dixie is/was in purgatory after last year’s run-in with a truck.  We didn’t get hit, but it was her single worst drive ever, after she had been doing uncharacteristically well for months.  She’s a diva, and a pain in the butt, and she really does not like going out on the road, alone or in company.  She does OK many times, but most of the time, she’s a fight and a challenge, and when she ran me in front of a truck, I just stopped working her on he roads period.  

This year’s outlook for Dixie is to drive her tandem only.  I have no plans of ever taking the tandem out on the roads for many reasons.  Jesse is still green, and occasionally wants to “bolt” forward (if you can call scuttling 2 or 3 strides bolting), and is not road ready at all.  Plus, since he’s not mine, I would not want to take him on the road and risk anything.  Additionally, with a tandem, driving by myself, that’s 2 horses, 1 cart, and 1 person + speedy traffic.  That just sounds like a recipe for disaster should something go wrong.

So since the tandem will stay on the barn property, Dixie’s new job is to be a wheeler and never a single horse hitch again.  That frees me up to concentrate on driving Chewbacca, Luke, and Jesse single, and Dixie still will get work when I crack out the tandem, ideally once a week.

And, boy oh BOY do I have some big plans and awesome reasons to get all those horses working.  Not only because it’s fun as heck and I simply love driving them all, but oh the horse show plans!  How they are rolling in, and the year is barely 3 weeks deep yet. 

Firstly, I attended the driving club’s first meeting of the year.  I volunteered to be CDE navigator for 2 club members.  That means, if they want me to do it for them (since I have no experience, it will be interesting to say the least…), I’ll be the one standing in theback of the 4 wheel carriage, balancing it, and literally navigating the driver through the cross country course, around the obstacles, and all the while, keeping a pen and paper handy to write down speeds and times.  Easy, right?  lol.  Let’s just hope I don’t fall off the carriage.  You get points deducted for that.

In addition to the numerous driving shows planned for 2012, there are 2 that have me in a twist!  The first is of course, the Columbus Carriage Classic.  I’ve been talking about this show before.  I am actually hoping my husband will attend it with Luke, even if for only 1 of the 3 days.  It is a 2 hour drive from us.  This is a big, formal, fancy show.  If driving had an A circuit (it doesn’t), this would be an A show.  They are more than ready for this, and I have said to my husband (somewhat jokingly, but kind of serious, too) that if he shows this show and brings home blues, he can officially retire Luke from showing. 

Unlike showing hunters, where you have local open shows, B shows, A shows, and up from there to AA and AAA and then FEI, so you always have room to move up, and even if you don’t, and just stay at the same level, odds are, you will have new competition eventually because other people will move out of your level and new people will come in…. with driving, you have the open shows and the ADS shows and that’s it.  Of course, there’s FEI level competing if you have the money and ability to travel all over the world to compete. 

 If not, you have a few select, small local shows that offer driving classes.  Many of these shows do not have “driving judges”, rather they just have their English or Western judge for the day judge the driving classes.  These shows, while fun and great exposure and experience, and cheap, usually don’t require any of the formalities of the ADS shows, in terms of attire, turnout appearance, or even showing through all of the gaits.  The ADS shows would be the “A” shows of the driving world, and they are further apart, more expensive, but formal to the hilt with their 200+ page rule book.

Luke has been shown at the local level for 5 solid years.  This year, it’s time for him to move up.  If Chewbacca is ready for Columbus, I’ll take him too.  Where I left off in the fall, Chewie still needed to establish 3 different trots, and more flex.  Where I plan to pick up in the spring is to teach him those things, and start to practice speed & agility in the hopes of doing a CDE.  Columbus falls somewhere in between, and if he’s ready, it would be fun to go.  We will see if we can make this happen with either (or both) horse. 

I’m working on my driving outfit already!  Getting all the pieces, have a hat, got a jacket & pants, and have a lap robe coming.  I’ll get new gloves and a new whip at the Midwest Horse Fair, and all I need is a shirt and a ribbon to doll up the hat and my outfit should be complete.

The other show this 2012 that has me all up in a tizzy is going to be held at this place.  Ahh… Lamplight.  Lovely Lamplight.  If you visit that website, you’ll see a drawing at the top of the page of the place.  That is only part of Lamplight’s facility.  This is an A circuit venue that I’ve been to many times to spectate and take photos and watch the Grand Prix jumpers & Dressage horses in all their glory.  They host 3-5 day long hunter & dressage shows, USDF regionals, top Grand Prix’s, and even major horse sale auctions.  They have I think 7 or 10 arenas, 5 barns, hundreds of stalls, a cross country course, and the place is just amazing.  Ever since I first moved here and saw Lamplight with mine very own eyes, I wanted to compete there. 

This year, Lamplight is going to host its first ever driving show.  They’ve never had one before.  Ever.  It is tentatively planned for May.  The weather should be great, and I can only hope that a place like this venue pulls in a great turnout.  I’ve already told my husband to keep his dates clear, this is one show I am NOT going to miss, and I don’t care what’s going on.  If I have the ability I may even take Jesse, and show both Chewbacca and Jesse, as well as have my husband show Luke.

This is going to be awesome!!!!!!

And, 2012 is turning out to be the good year I told it to be to me.  Another possibility is that my husband may be able to demo with Luke at the MidWest Horse Fair, too!!  The driving club has been asked to provide demo horses & drivers for a clinician at the fair, Muffy Seaton, a world champion driver with many many many credits to her name.

There are a lot of variables to consider about doing this, but he’s been saying for years he wanted to “show off” Luke there, so we’ll see.  Working against us is the weather, of course.  The Horse Fair is the 3rd week of April.  The weather is still sketchy, and it is very inconsistent year to year if I can actually have the horses driving by this point, let alone ready for a massive, massive event like this.  Cost is a factor, too.  Although the clinic wouldn’t cost anything, there are fees for stabling & fair admission, and of course, hotel for 3 days, hay, gas, and food.  My husband and I would have to decide if we want the Horse Fair to be our “vacation” for the year, because we can’t afford to do both.

As much as I would LOVE to see him demo Luke at the Horse Fair, we are both leaning towards not doing it, because we want to take a real vacation this year.

We are tentatively thinking about taking a road trek across the country to Viriginia… the same weekend as the Horse Fair, lol.

So, lots of big plans.  Only problem with big plans is that you inevitably end up with conflicting dates and not enough money.  ha!  But those are small problems.

Wow!  A lot to say for nothing happening!  2012 – be good to me.  lol.  I’m eager to get radiation started, so I can be done and move past this whole cancer thing.  Alas, though, I am waiting on results of yet another CT scan that I had done yesterday.  My doctor is suspecting that I may have a tumor in my abdomen, and I’m awaiting word back on that.  Keeping fingers crossed.

Please keep you fingers crossed for me, too!

But, it is one of the many good things that have been taking place already this year, and it’s only been less than a week!

Warm weather abounds,

horses are feeling good.

I spent some time enjoying the weather and the ponies at the barn today.

My drain has finally been removed and today was the first time in 5 weeks I’ve driven my car!

I’m so glad to be free of that drain.  It was very annoying.  Of course, now I have a hole in my leg the size of a #2 pencil.  It will close up, I’ve been told… eventually.  My leg feels so strange without the drain.  I must have gotten used to it.

It was a very good day today, and I loved being with my ponies.  It was all I could do to resist the very strong urge to harness up and go for a drive.  But I don’t think my leg is quite up to that, and husband refused to partake.  lol.

However, since I have my husband doing all of my walking for me, I also put him to work today on day 3 of tandem training the minis!  Yep, I got the husband to tandem these 2 around the farm.

He drove them like I told him to, and everyone did great.  I’m very proud of all 3 of them!  Even Dixie was operating on cooperative terms.  Amazing.  I told my husband that my biggest area of concern right now, is getting the horses to understand that they need to go straight.  And as you can see, they are very straight.

It really went super well.  And since I couldn’t walk well enough to keep up, I just snapped pictures and did some video.

Oh, and amongst the pictures I took, was this one… came out strangely out of focus and overexposed, but I liked it.. thought it was kind of artsy.  What do you think?

Oh, and I also have seen a couple movies recently.  Quick review…

Contagion.  Well, all I can say about this movie was that the only thing contagious about it was an acute case of boredom.  Even Kate Winslet, who survived the icy waters of the North Atlantic, couldn’t survive how boring and dull this movie was, and died halfway through.  Depsite the “all star” cast, this is a definite DUD.  Do not watch.  I give it 2 thumbs down.

Although, I do have a review of another movie that I watched the other night.  Tucker & Dale versus Evil.  This movie is like Mr. Bean meets Friday the 13th.  A couple of very nice, although dimwitted hillbillies and a gang of lunatic college kids mix together for blood, guts, gore, and non stop hilarity.  If you don’t mind bloody movies and people dying in strange and yet oddly hysterical ways, this is a must see movie.  It was hysterical, and I am hard to please with comedies.  Tucker & Dale, you rock.  Funny from top to bottom.  A+ on my ultra-awesome movie review list.  It’s on Netflix….

I go back to work on Monday!  Woot! Starting to get back to normal, although I may forget how to do my job after being off for 6 weeks.  Radiation starts soon, too, and I am being told I have a 50/50 chance of needing chemo.  I’d like to avoid it if I can, but I guess in the scheme of things, I’d rather lose my hair than my leg or my life.  So we’ll see.

More updates later!  Enjoy the warm weather if you’ve got it!

In light of recent events, I am not going to do this.  Suffice to say 2011, especially the last 6 weeks, was one hell of a year, with major positives like training Chewie to drive and enjoying 4 solid months of driving him all over the place, and a fun win with Luke and my husband at a new horse show, to major down turns as we all know.

My leg is slloooooowly getting better, and boy do I mean slowly.  After last week’s blow-out and hospitalization and following infection, I am still not better, although as I told my husband today, I am becoming a “proficient limper” so I am mobilizing around a little better.

Today was “my day” and I went to the barn to see the horses (twice actually), and saw War Horse, and dinner and frozen yogurt.

It has been raining allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day.  While the year is not quite over yet, what a way to ring out the old year… with rain. rain. rain.   The horses are soaked, and rather miserable.

I think Dixie was the most miserable of them all because she doesn’t keep a blanket on.  Well, I do have 3 blankies for her, but if *somebody* would stop pulling them off and sideways… eh hem.  I digress.  She’s wet, but none the worse for wear.

Chewbacca and Luke came in for a warm bran mash, and even Dixie had a little although she’s too fat so I rarely ever give her one.  I was trying to give Chewie a kiss.  Chewie gets a little gushy about kisses.  He tries to act like he doesn’t like being kissed, but I know deep down he does.  lol.

And uber pookey pony at the year’s end, too.  All wet, at least from the neck up.

War Horse was a very good movie.  It was quite a little bit like Black Beauty, the horse switches from owner to owner, and the story is somewhat about the life of the owners and how the horse fits in to their life.  It was incredibly poignant and I was in tears more than once.  I love Black Beauty (I’m talking the most current re-make, done in 1994, starring Doc’s Keeping Time).

War Horse made me want to go back to the barn and give my horses a big hug.  So I did.  I’m a little muddier for it, but I love my horses very much and really was compelled to let them know that.  I think Black Beauty has a lot of replay quality, but I’m not totally sure I’m compelled to see War Horse again any time soon.  Not because it wasn’t a good movie, and not because it was too sad.  Maybe because it is 2 1/2 hours.  Long movie.  But it had war scenes on par with Saving Private Ryan.

I won’t spoil the film.  It takes place during WW I and the horse, as said before switches owners several times.  What the horse experiences throughout the film is amazing, and I can’t help but wonder what my own horses experienced in their lives prior to me?  Obviously I don’t think Luke and Dixie saw many wars, lol, but I wonder what their owners were like, what their lives were like.  Chewbacca, I have papers, and a fairly-tractable history on, but Luke… ?  And Dixie?  Both unpapered, and came from who knows where.  Luke I was told was Amish-bred and sold at auction once or twice.  What the heck did he see in his life before we got him from his less-than-stellar-strangle-carrying former abode?  I can’t imagine.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yea, War Horse.  So overall, the movie is filled with an incredible story, wonderful acting, and lovely horses everywhere.  It’s also filled with war time misery, the unthinking concern for the work horses of the war with only a few who truly care about the animals, and many, many, many dead horses.    Over all, I don’t think War Horse cuts it as a kids movie in any way.  Black Beauty at least, although getting me to ball my eyes out at least twice, still is kind of light and kid-safe.  War Horse is not.

Of course, there are also unrealistic scenes of things horses really don’t, couldn’t, or wouldn’t do, but hey, it is a movie.  The scene that got to me the most was the barbed wire scene.  I won’t spoil it.  But having had a horse run through a single strand of barbed wire, suffice to say, I don’t think Steven Spielberg ever saw with his own eyes what barbed wire really does to a horse.  There was more than a fair dose of poetic license with that sequence, but during it evoked a scene reminiscent of the story of the WWII soldiers that laid down arms on Christmas.

I am looking forward to 2012, although my list of goals for 2012 has taken on something of a new form.  I just want to be well enough to drive my horses and look forward to competing Chewbacca, Jesse, driving Jesse and Dixie tandem, and getting my husband and Luke to their first major show.  I just want to be well, and have 2 legs to be well on.

I doubt I’ll be up to see the ball drop, usually never am.  But I hope you all the best for 2012 and will enjoy seeing your resolutions!  What do you want to accomplish in this upcoming year?

Have a good one!

Yep, I’ve been hospitalized for 3 days.  Now I feel like a cancer patient.  I’ve never been hospitalized in my life, never been in so much pain, and never been on so many medications all at once.

This is my leg on Wednesday when I went to the hospital:

You can obviously see how red and inflamed my skin was.  You can’t tell in the picture that my whole thigh is also extremely swollen.  It is about 50% larger than it should be, and my skin was buuuurrrrrrrning.   Oh it was so so so painful.

The doctor felt I had internal bleeding and he put me in surgery immediately.  So inside of 3 weeks, I’ve had 2 surgeries.  He removed the drain and put a new one in and drained blood.  But the surgery did not resolve all of the issues.

Actually, they really don’t know why I’m experiencing this type of complication.  He said internal bleeding, especially this late in the game, is extremely rare, and he’s never seen the swelling & pain I’m experiencing with removal of sarcoma.

Leave it to me to have some mystery complication.  It’s my bad luck times 2 this time around.  So they kept me in the hospital Wed, Thurs, and Friday.  I finally got discharged very late Friday evening, just in time to be home for Christmas eve.

I’m still swollen and in pain, but it is less, and being managed with 7 different medications.  Yep, 7.  I’m on 3 painkillers, medication to protect my stomach, antibiotic, and nerve medication to help take down nerve pain.  This is fun.  What a Christmas.  The doctor says I’ll be conscious enough to remember Christmas, but with how I feel, I think I’d rather just sleep right through.  I’m very dizzy, and out of touch, and it’s hard to concentrate, and I can’t walk or use my leg at all at the moment.

What makes me the most unhappy?  I can’t work the horses!  LOL.  The minis were doing soooo awesome and I was looking forward to working them every week for the winter.  I was also hoping to take Luke & Chewie out for  a rare winter-drive, since the weather has been so phenomenal.  I was just waiting to physically be able to get into Chewbacca’s cart, but now I can’t walk.  I was also hoping to go back to work next week.. forget that, now too.  Oh, and driving a car is out.  And my radiation treatment will have to be delayed because nothing can be done until my thigh is better and the drain is out.

So I guess the whole “push myself to get better and strive for health” mentality didn’t work so well.  Now I’m one hurting horsey and I need to remain on bed rest until further notice.

I think I need someone to hand walk me, cold hose my leg, and change my standing bandages twice a day…………

Three hours later, I could barely walk, and I still went grocery shopping on top of it.  I am in SO MUCH pain this morning I can hardly move, and my thigh feels like it’s on fire.

I had my radiation therapy consult yesterday.  The plan is that once the drain is removed, I get a CT scan of the area so they can plan out their treatment strategy and define the exact area where the radiation will be concentrated, and make a mold of my leg so I remain still during treatments.  They expect to start 35 radiation sessions on January 9.  It will be delayed if the drain isn’t removed by then.  I was hoping to get the drain out before Christmas, get back to driving, and return to work, the barn, and normal life.

After a taste of normal barn activities yesterday, now I’m not so sure I’m anywhere close to ready for that.

Anyway, part of my normal barn activities yesterday included working both minis in hand tandem for the 2nd time.  It is going really well.  I think I may actually be able to do this.  Who’d of thunk I can actually almost kind of train a horse? (let alone 2 at the same time).

LOL.  Fortunately the minis are both extremely good.  It is never recommended to do any kind of tandem work alone for obvious reasons.   But some of us don’t have the luxury of helpers, so we’re making do.

Dixie is actually the problem child, there’s a big shock, right.  Jesse, up front, is being the bold little leader I figured he’d become and is doing great.  He is attentive to voice, and listens well and is proving to drive tandem just as well as he drives single.  Dixie of course has a mind of her own, does nothing well, and is doing generally about as well (or lack there of) as expected.  She is figuring it out, though, and with Jesse’s reins going through her bridle, it’s leaving her with less options to veer sideways, mill about, and basically be a pain in the patoot.  Eventually she’ll be in the shafts, and won’t have the option of moseying sideways, but for now, she is making do with ground driving and actually started to listen for the “whoa” command- something she really has a problem with.  They both whoa’d long enough and steady enough for me to fish out my cell phone while holding 4 lines, and snap a picture.

This will be fun, fun, fun, when they are all trained up.  But their training, for now, may be put on hold until I can walk again.

And, I asked the oncologist what should happen on the chance that this cancer returns to my leg.  She said that more than likely, I would not be able to undergo a second round of radiation.  More than likely surgical removal of the tumor, like they did this time around, would not be enough, and thus, that would leave me with the option of removal of my leg.  My whole leg, because the tumor is so high up in the thigh, they would take the leg from the pelvis down.  There’s a fun thought to have floating in my head now.  All I can think about is how would I work the horses if I am missing a leg…..

I’m sure hoping it doesn’t get to that.  Well, back to bed for me now.. Need to rest my leg.

Ow!

Fun times.

But the real fun is at the barn.  Stupid me didn’t have my husband snap any pictures, but I will remember to have him do so on Tandem Training day 2.

So for Day 1, I harnessed up both Dixie & Jesse and my husband and I ground drove them out in the arena.  The session lasted all of 5 minutes.  We went around about 3 times.

My husband drove Dixie and took Jesse’s reins.  He was going sooooo well this summer, but the last 4 weeks or so that he’s had off have caused a slight regression.  Jesse has a minor tendancy to want to bolt.  He goes about 10 feet and stops and continues on like nothing happened, and then, out of the blue, off he’ll go again.  It isn’t bad, and consistency this summer pretty much stopped it.  But it is part of the reason he is my leader and Dixie is my wheeler.

Dixie is older, smaller, slower, and generally less responsive to pretty much anything you do.  Dixie is as Dixie does, after all.  Jesse is half her age, 4″ taller, much more forward, and though he’s not a brave leader, his confidence is (or was around Sep/Oct) improving.  He’ll make a great leader, and he won’t be in a position to run on top of Dixie, which I think would so happen if I switched them.

Anyway, so in hand, I took all 4 reins and ground drove them both.  It went perfectly.  Once they figured out they were supposed to stay in a straight line, they did it and did it well and even maintained a good distance between them.  I even tried a partial circle.

This is going to be so much fun.  My tandem training will be rather inconsistent over the winter, but I hope to at least work the pair 8-10 times between now and March, weather dependent.  I think come late March or April, they will be really ready to hitch tandem, and what a time saver it will be working 2 horses at once.  LOL.

Now I think Chewbacca needs a partner, and I need a new vehicle.  One cool thing about driving, versus riding is you can have more than one horse going at a time.

Too fun!

I have a new vision now, and new goals…

This is real beauty.

Can’t wait to get back to driving.  Never be this good, but I can have goals.

My leg is doing better.  Drain’s still in, but I’m walking 90% normal.  I’m going to start in hand tandem work with the minis this weekend, weather permitting.  Should be pretty nice tomorrow, so we’ll get a start on it.  First session should be all of 5 minutes.

I hope to have the drain out around Christmas, and weather permitting, I will be looking to drive both Chewie and Luke in the winter.  Something I never usually do.  I’m just really eager to get back to normal life.

So sick of being in the house and not able to get out and do things I usually do.

Oh hum.

I had a 10 day recheck yesterday and the incision is looking good and so is the drain.  It’s definitely doing it’s job, and is not ready to be pulled, so no driving for me until this thing is out of my leg.  It’s still pumping out about 9 times the amount of fluid it should be before it can be pulled.  Looks like I’m stuck with it at least another week.

Awesome.

And next week, I meet with the radiation oncologist to discuss what’s going to happen for the next phase of treatment.

The tumor was apparently a very very bad one.  Actually, not to put too find a point on it, it would have killed me.

After the surgery, they sent the whole 3.1 cm mass away for full biopsy.  Initially, the needle biopsy identified the thing as a pleomorphic spindle cell grade II sarcoma.  What that means is that it is a mis-mash of random cancer cells (pleo = many , morphic = shapes), and it was a mid-grade tumor (grades 1,2,3).

When they removed the whole mass and got a more definitive biopsy, they realized it was actually a grade III, the most aggressive grade.  It would have happily spread, given a little more time, and gone to my lungs or lymph nodes, and I would be in a life or death battle.

Not every day you find out something like that.  But, the doctors do assure me they strongly feel they got it all.  This is a type of tumor that can come back, so I’ll be monitored heavily for any new lumps and bumps over the course of the next five years.

Otherwise, I am sooooo ready to get the heck out of the house, go to the barn, and maybe take a little vacation, too.  After all, there are only so many games of Bejeweled I can really play in one day.