BIG AND SMALL VICTORIES – AND GREAT FREAKIN’ PIZZA!

7:40 pm. I know I haven't written for a few days, but I've been busy. Last Friday was my best day here! My schedule was booked and was in my chair for the majority of the day and I wasn't hurting that bad so i was stoked. Oh, and I didn't throw up so that gets extra bonus points. Actually it's been about a week since that has happened so things were starting to look up. On Friday I had worked on car transfers from the chair to the car so that I could go "off campus" on Saturday. You have to be cleared by both your OT and PT therapists.

So since I passed the test Polly and I decided to go visit our friends Nicci and Diane. I was a bit slow getting up that morning, but once I did I felt like crap! I was so set on getting out of the hospital though that I kept fighting being nauseous. Well, the nausea won this time and Polly and I ended up staying and watching movies and relaxing, which was probably a good thing.

Sunday started off a bit on the iffy side, but then took a turn for the waaaay better side. Our friends Jenn and Anne drove down from Fruita, CO where they had just had a fundraiser for me on Friday at their pizza place called The Hot Tomato... The fundraiser went off and I really wanted to go, but it was just too far away. There were 5 bands playing and raffles galore. Elke Brutseart of Team Giant had collected jerseys from a ton of top pro's to auction off at the event. I'm pretty sure there was a Greg Minnaar jersey, Sam Hill, Sabrina Jonnier, Vanessa Quinn, etc. So you get the point. Some of the fastest pros around. The event was amazing and the girls told me all about it when they got to Craig on Sunday. It was almost as if when they showed up I just felt better so that was awesome. The weather was kinda crap and raining, but it felt so good to go outside for a bit. The girls came with a huge igloo in tow and were gonna make pizza's. Suweeet! I was so happy to start feeling better because I just couldn't do two days in a row.

So Jenn was flipping pizzas in the air and we were all just sort of relaxing hanging out. Let me just say that those pizzas were some of if not the best freakin' pizza I've ever had. No let me rephrase that and say THEEE best pizza I have ever had. So that was our Sunday and it ended up being awesome. That's what I needed. Another relaxing day.

Today (Monday) started off super good. I actually ate breakfast! That rarely happens so I was pumped. My first class of the day was my weight lifting class. The music was good and it just made me want to really push myself. Yup, that's what I did. Push myself a bit too hard. That's my problem. I'm here and that is all I want to do is push myself, but there is a fine line and I learned it again today with how far I can go. I ended up with a fair bit of back pain and at the end of the day I was stuck with 7 different needles to give me an IV for the pain. Finally the seventh one worked and it was pain be gone. Thank gawd!! Day over and can't wait to start tomorrow and make that day a lot better.

Okay well I am getting pretty tired and my back is started to act up again so I gotta go. I have a ton of new pic's from Anne Keller to post and I'll try to do a few tonight, but if not i'll try tomorrow. My days here are extremely busy and believe it or not I have very little time to myself. I promise I'll keep trying to update the blog, but if I miss a few days I miss a few days.

Before I go I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Missy Bynon or "Bean" as we like to call her. My fundraiser that she put on this past Saturday went off without a hitch. She worked her ass off and I want to really say thank you to Bean and Polly, and everyone single one of you that showed up to show support. I LOVE all of you, miss all of you, and thank all of you!

See you all soon,

t
Editor’s Note: Tara Llanes is recording her progress in rehab at the Craig Hospital in Denver as she continues to recover from the spinal cord injuries she suffered in a mountain bike race in Colorado on September 1. Below is the latest update she has posted to her MySpace page. She’s been blogging about her recovery since September 23rd. All of her blogs, new photos of her recovery and many, many good wishes can be found at:

http://myspace.com/mtbtara

Her family, friends, and supporters are urging those folks who want to help contribute to a special fund set up for Tara’s recovery to visit:

www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com