LAST DAY OF 2007
This is the last day of the year and the last week has been wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with our son, his wife, Mary Kathryn their dog, Dottie, MK's mother, Mary Carleton, their daughter, Ashley and her new husband, Ross. They really showered us with gifts. I now have more dark chocolate than I can eat. We got a great bird feeder that we had been wanting. I was skeptical when I saw the large ball of wires with a small cage inside that looked too small a weave for sunflower seeds, but when we put it up the finch loved it. Large flocks of goldfinch are coming through and I am filling the feeder every day. They fly into the large openings and out again and get the seeds with no problem. We got many more great gifts that we are still enjoying. And Mary Kathryn fed us well. Mark invited one of his friends from work to eat with us. He was alone this Christmas and we enjoyed making a new friend.

Then Wednesday we got a special treat when our daughter and all of her family came including our two great-grandsons, Christopher and Brent. Lou had picked a barn and fence from Lillian Vernon for Brent and his dad, Jim put it together for him and both of them really enjoyed putting their horses, tractors and farming equipment into the fenced corral. Again we got a lot of Christmas presents that we enjoyed with a lot more chocolate candy and cookies of all kind. Jim's wife, Mandy, made some great Ritz crackers with peanut butter filling enclosed in thick chocolate covering that were great. Lots of other dark chocolate desserts. They also gave me a little Bible hand held computer that I am learning to use. I used it in church Sunday when the preacher was reading the Bible verses from her PDA, I was using my hand held to read along.

Lou is feeling better as she copes with the chemo. She would be in great shape if her back would quit hurting. Last Friday and Saturday and this morning I walked with her to the mailbox and back. Only 2/3 of a mile, but better than nothing. My leg that was killing me started feeling better last Friday and is a lot better now. Hopefully it will completely recover. Pains come and go and I am ready for this to go away.

Keep praying that the next chemo on 1/9 will be the last and that Lou can get back to full speed in 2008. She said this morning that she has to start writing every day. This is the last day to receive novels for her to judge and she only got two last week. She reads about one a day. I finished Glenn Beck's AN INCONVIENT BOOK and have started a book by Henry Petroski, an engineer, that son Mark gave me for Christmas. Mark also gave us a picture frame that displays photos from a storage device and I am going to plug my camera card into it to see if that works.
We have had a great week and are looking forward to a great new year.

LATEST FROM LOUANN IN ALASKA

I promised to post Louann's last letter from Alaska and here it is:

Hello, Everyone,Well, this is my last "sleep" before leaving for the holidays. I'm flying out a little earlier than planned to be sure I take advantage of the good weather. Out here one has to take it on a day to day basis as far as the weather is concerned, and bush pilots cannot fly in the fog, the wind, the dark, or the wet, freezing weather. The opportunity came up for me to leave tomorrow instead of Friday, and I jumped on it. It means I will spend two nights in Anchorage but that's O.K.

We had our Christmas program for the village on Tuesday. The children sang and performed in a little play. Then Santa came and we had refreshments. I always enjoy having the people in the village for an event. It's the only time I get to meet people and feel a part of the community.

This time I met the new Moravian pastor and his wife from Bethel. I met the "Upi" (granddad) of most of our students (nine out of fifteen students). At the end of the program, we had the audience join us in singing Christmas carols. As I stood there singing, looking out over the children and our guests, I had this very surreal, storybook moment. Here I was singing songs that I had been singing all my life. The only difference was that I was singing along with my new Yupik students and friends of Twin Hills, Alaska thousands of miles away from home. Those feelings mixed with my excitement about going home for Christmas definitely brought the emotions to the surface.

I am attaching some pictures of our program and one of a beautiful December sunset.

Alussistuaqeataaarmek Piamteggen

(We Wish You a Merry Christmas)

Allussistuaqegtaarmek Piamteggen

Allussistuaqegtaarmek Piamteggen

Allussistuaqegtaarmek Piamteggen

Cali allrakuqegtaarmek! (And a Happy New Year!)

I wish all of you a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you again for your words and acts of encouragement. You really have been the "wind beneath my wings" if you will let me use that phrase. I don't know another one that quite describes your support in such an appropriate way.

I love you all, Louann

CA125 IS DOWN!!
We got the report today that Lou's Wednesday blood test report came back with a CA125 count of 27. I was hoping for less than 20 which is the upper limit, but maybe next time. It is coming down which is good.

Lou is doing well except for a lack of energy. Today we did some final purchases in Abilene. She got another plastic file box for her work at her chair in case we need to build a fire in the fire place. I now have wood delivered to my front porch and can have a fire when needed.
I got another email from Louann in Alaska and will post it in a separate post.

ANOTHER CHEMO COMPLETED
Today Lou completed her third carboplatin chemo round. Dr. Hancock said that even if her CA125 goes way down he will have her do one more and scheduled it for January 9 at 10:30. Her blood work continues to look very good with her red and white cells on the border but a lot better than last year when she took the same chemo and they dropped to the bottom. Dr. Hancock was pleased with that. When Lou told him that her hair has stopped coming out but still looks a little ragged he made the comment that "the hair always looks like a mangy dog" and Mary Kathryn suggested that he find some other analogy to use. When asked if she will have to continue the chemo, he said he had a lot of chemicals that he hadn't used on her yet, and that he might go to oral drugs. My plan is that she will have normal CA125 when we call Friday and can get off the chemo and go into total remission and continue her ginger for control. But I am not allowed to make medical decisions.

Mark and MK brought us ChickFilA sandwiches for lunch and visited with us before Mark had to get back for a 2 o'clock meeting. Mary Kathryn was there when we got there and spent the morning with us. Lou was through at 1 and we stopped at Borders to use the gift cards that they had given us for our birthdays. We spent them and $.15 to get out of the store. I bought a book on all the religions for my reference. Lou bought Christmas gifts with hers.

We got home at 4:15 and Lou is feeling well except for her back bothering her for the last 3 days. Tylenol helps her get past those pains. She has had little effect from the chemo except for feeling lousy the 3rd thru 5th day after.

Yesterday my cold broke and my appetite came back. I still cough when I try to speak but it is getting better, I can tell. We were fortunate to have clouds for the drive in and most of the way home which helps my driving.

ROYAL TREATMENT AT TEXAS TECH
The event was the graduation in 3 1/2 years from Texas Tech by our granddaughter, Vanessa Wilcox. A couple of inches of snow fell during the night and the streets were icy slick. But our daughter, her husband, and three of her children plus our "adopted" daughter, Valerie Sheppard treated us like we were royalty. They loaded our car, drove it around to the front door, picked up Lou's sister, Sue and drove us to the front door of the arena where a footman in the role of our grandson, Jon-Marc, led us to an elevator that had an operator, took us up to the seating where our granddaughter, Val, was holding seats for the entire family.

We then celebrated Vanessa's graduation and regent Lou said it was the best operation she had seen in college or high school. The Chancellor of TT is Kent Hance and in his talk to the students he quoted our great friend, Dr. Ken Davis, who was his English prof and told them that they should be able to frame their ideas in a simple understandable statement. Vanessa made a 4.0 her last semester but missed cum laude by a fraction of a decimal.

We also got to see a Cross Plains resident graduate. James Ross was an active Key Club member who used to attend our Kiwanis meetings and I was proud to see him get a diploma.

After graduation we went back to Ness' apartment to visit with her roommates, and enjoy a great meal and desserts that all the girls and Keith had put together. Keith had bbqed chicken that he brought and Kathy and the two Vals made everything from homemade marshmellows to potato salad, corn salad and all kinds of dessert. After the eating Ness opened her graduation gifts with help from David Taylor's two young daughters. There were a lot of photos made.

We left at 3 with the temperature coming up and the roads clear of ice. I bought gas at $2.779 which is the lowest I have seen for weeks. Driving up we had been in the fog all the way and saw three major wrecks on 84 about one mile from I-20. There was no ice although we saw a ice break a few miles south of Lubbock. But we got to town with no problem and had time to nap Friday afternoon, then used the high speed internet connection to check email. First time we had slept on Tempurpedic beds. I loved it but Lou again had a night on not sleeping well, which is her natural rhythm. Maybe tonight she will sleep well. We were impressed that the arena at Tech had bannisters to hold on to to go to our seats. The seats had a good back and Lou had minimum discomfort. Because we didn't have to walk very far and had someone on both sides to prevent falls, it was a royal day. We got home just after sundown.

GOOD DAY YESTERDAY
Lou commented last night that she really enjoyed the day. It was foggy and rainy but Ann Barton and Dawn Letson from the TWU Women's Collection Library came to look at Lou's files relating to TWU and women writers. They only carted off two boxes mostly about Lou's early TWU experiences and her files on Carolyn Gordon that she used for her Master's thesis. She is holding on to a lot of letters from women writers to use in completing her literary memoir. When she can get back to writing. Right now she continues to work on reading the novels that she has to judge for a Spur award. She says this is the last year of judging. She has quit judging for the Cross Plains Library literary awards and they are searching for someone else for that task.

The weather is interesting. We are thankful for the rainstorms that have come through all night and continue this morning because it lowers the fire danger which is very high due to all the undergrowth this year. I have ice formed on metal objects like the bird feeder in the back yard and the mailbox, but it doesn't seem to be forming an ice bark on the trees like it did Monday. We are really blessed to have our electricity, because I have failed to get firewood and have it ready. We could use a fire in the fireplace today. The temperature is hovering around 34 degrees. Looking at the radar the rain should end this afternoon and the temperature is supposed to warm up some.

My cold is still affecting my throat and causing coughing when I try to talk or when I get up and move, which is not too often. I stay seated at the computer or in my recliner most of the time. I think I am really just lazy. For instance, I have a little dab of firewood that I had planned to bring up to the porch before the rain came, but it is still out in the open soaked and not where I can use it very well. So much for plans with no execution.

COLD WEEK
The weather wasn't cold. It was very nice all week. I started the week with a cold in my head that is clearing up nicely. Lou complained of a cold on Thursday, but she says it is better today. Thursday we drove to Abilene and did our initial Christmas shopping in the mall. Lou was really tired by the time we finished. We ate at Old Spaghetti Warehouse in the mall. We then went to HEB where I recycled a trunk load of cardboard, newspapers and catalogs, picked up a prescription refill for Lou, and bought groceries to get us through till Christmas according to the bill.

Next Tuesday Lou will host Ann Barton and Dawn Letson from the TWU Library who will be examining her files and maybe toting a couple of boxes back. She plans to give all of her papers to TWU but is still using a lot for the memoir she is writing. Of course she is reading a huge number of novels for a Spur award and when she will get back to writing I don't have any idea.
Also this next week we will be going to Lubbock for Vanessa's graduation from Tech on Saturday. We are looking forward to that and maybe Lou will have gained some strength back by then. She is getting over the last chemo now.

We are getting Christmas cards and many of them are thanking me for this blog. Someone suggested that I post more often, but unless something is going on I don't post.

Lou thought I had a good column in the last Livestock Weekly where I described the Thanksgiving visit of Kathy and her family and their use of laptop computers downstairs. Jan Seale appreciated that I mentioned Alamo Heights listing in the Texas Monthly because she has a grandson going to school there.