LUBBOCK MEDICAL TRIP
Today we had a great trip to Lubbock. It started with rain clouds all around, but no rain fell on Halsell Hill. At least the clouds kept the temperature down as we drove. We met Dr. Ken Davis and granddaughter Vanessa at Manna, Bread and Wine for a leisurely lunch. Ken regalled us with ghost stories from Texas Tech. I liked the one about the dead chemistry professor who comes back to help students before final exam time. Been reported for 15 years. He and Lou also reviewed all the activities in the many organizations they jointly belong to.

The great news was that my urologist, Dr. Rex Reynolds, who 10 years ago saved my life from uremic poisoning by a prostate resection, looked at my kidney tests that alarmed my doctors in Abilene and pointed out that the tests haven't changed for 9 years and he sees nothing to worry about. I just stopped worrying!

So we had a good trip back and I am now continuing my eye drop routine. I even read the instructions. Time to drop.

SUCCESSFUL CATARACT SURGERY
This morning at 6:30 Kathy delivered me to Texas Midwest Surgery Center and by 8 we were are way back home. I had to go back at 1 for a check-up. My eye had a little scratchy feeling but I napped for a while in the morning and by 1 it felt great. When we came home Kathy made waffles for us and I am full from Mary Kathryn's food yesterday and Kathy's today.

At the 1 check up the eye didn't see a lot better but Dr. Teague showed me how the new lens was able to see colors much brighter than the other eye. There was significant difference. I came back home this afternoon and napped all afternoon to make up for getting up at 4:30 a.m. The only thing I hate is having to put eyedrops in the eye. Ugh!

Lou stayed home, got up late and made the bed that has a heavy spread to put on it and then today said that she is hurting less and feeling some better. She still hurts, just less. That is good news.

Tomorrow Lubbock and a session with my Urologist after lunch with Ken Davis and granddaughter, Vanessa. Kathy will serve again as chauffer although I was told I could drive tomorrow as far as eye surgery goes.

LITERARY SATURDAY
Yesterday literary giants came to visit Lou. Bob Compton, who edited the book page for the Dallas Morning News for years brought his neighbor in Garland, Bob Dunn who earns his honest living from Coca Cola but has a Texana library of his in Stephenville that is used for research by scholars. On the way from Garland they stopped in Comanche to pick up Margaret Waring who is also an expert on Texana and who knows how to find our house. Every time she comes she always overshoots and has to come back. This time they were deep in conversation and drove all the way to Admiral where Lou's parents are buried so they got the entire history of Halsell Hill. After an hour of conversation remembering all the women writers that Lou wrote about in HER STORY and their reminiscences of Bill Shearer and his wife Kathy, Bob Dunn reviewed Lou's library and said it looks like his in Stephenville. He was an interesting person who seemed to have a photographic memory of books. He could tell us where any book was in Lou's shelves after one walk through.

While they were here Mark, Mary Kathryn and Ashley came in. Mark regalled the Bobs with stories of his visit to Pakistan and his opinion on the Quantas jet hole in the fuselage. He also reviewed all the recent airliner crashes. Lockheed was called in on the one where the Airbus composite tail broke off taking off from New York.

Today I had the job of worship leader and Mark, MK and Ashley came to see our new church building. I spent SS hour working with our new treasurer to write her first payroll checks. After church we had a great meal with our daughter Kathy and her daughter Vanessa who came in this morning. Ike and Sue Neal also ate with us and visited. Before he left Mark helped me fill the deer feeders. The temperature was only 99 here. Mark called to say that when they dropped off Ranger Hill it got to 106 and was 103 when they got home in Weatherford.

Kathy is here to chauffer us for the next 3 days and has to go back to work. She is also working on her new home in San Antonio that they closed on Friday. She has to paint some rooms before they move in. And they have to help Vanessa move to a new location in Lubbock in a couple of weeks.

LITERARY PROGRESS
Lou is working on research for her 1980s memoirs. She is reading the files that she dug up with Kathy's help. She is also reading and sharing with me James Ward Lee's ADVENTURES WITH A TEXAS HUMANIST. One chapter is a well researched and written sermon, although he denies being a preacher. Lou thinks it was great. She says he also has small towns nailed. Even to the dialect. Tomorrow Bob Compton and a friend from Dallas that have an interest in museums and books are bringing Margaret Waring from Comanche to visit and look at Lou's books. Our son Mark, his wife and daughter Ashley are also coming in for a visit. Kathy will be back Sunday after buying a house in San Antonio this week. They are looking forward to moving out of their cramped apartment into a full size home.

I finished the first of Marc Otte's books under the pen name of Mark Henry and enjoyed it. It was set in the Montana, Utah and Nevada forest fires of 1910 and with the news about the myriad fires in California being set by lightning was very topical. He introduces a protaganist who is one quarter Scotch and three quarters Apache. At least his mother was Apache and his father's mother was Indian. He marries an Indian woman and has all the problems of racial prejudice that existed during the time of both white and Indian depredations. The book is HARD ROAD TO HEAVEN and it is a shame that it is out of print. I bought it on Abebooks for a dollar, so there are still copies of the used variety out there. His second book under that pen name is THE HELL RIDERS and I am about half way through it and it tells the history of the protaganist and his family. All of Otte's books are heavy with tracking. Marc is the Chief Deputy of the District of Alaska and tracking is a part of his job. He has trained under one of the best in the country and gave an excellent program on tracking a few years ago at Western Writers of America. His novels have a lot of action where the good guys win but only after getting beat up pretty bad. I have enjoyed them. The introduction to the second book is a short essay on how Marc grew up in Hamilton County and read about Texas Rangers and decided to go into law enforcement. It has an interesting vignette on an early encounter with a decomposing body and asking a Texas Ranger for assistance. It is worth the price of the book. The books were published by Pinnacle Westerns and only cost $5.99 originally.

Health updates: Lou is still hurting all day and night. Pain medicine helps a little but she still has pains. The good news is that she is able to walk every other day and has not had any more disks collapse in her back. I am healing from my abrasions and bruises. The black eye is almost gone. Monday Kathy will take me to Abilene for cataract surgery at 6:30 a.m. Then Tuesday we go to Lubbock for an appointment with my Urologist. Then Wednesday Lou will go in for another CA 125 test in Abilene. So another week supporting the medical profession.

LOU'S LITERARY PROGRESS
I have been focusing on my problems and forgot to tell about Lou's progress. Last week when Kathy was here walking with me every morning, she also spent the week helping Lou look through her files for her book and the TWU correspondence from her college years that she wants to give to the Women's Library. I think they spent most of the time looking at family photos that fill several boxes. She and Kathy both enjoyed the effort. She found more files on Texas Women Writers book and the 1980's literary scene that she wants to document. This week she is thinking about what she wants to write but most of her computer time was spent reviewing the Levelland High School reunions she was invited to but couldn't attend. Doc Sewell sends her about 40 or 50 emails a day with photos, 50's songs, stories and other emails from Lou's students. She sponsored the yearbook and writing at Levelland and made great friends of many of the students. Several read this blog diligently and even comment occasionally.

She is glad that the Rangers are back playing tonight.

GETTING BETTER
I was going to post up last night but Blogspot wouldn't boot.

We are both getting better. Two days ago Lou said that her back pain is "a little bit" better. I had to leave her home today to go to Abilene. I had several things that couldn't wait. I really needed my bent up glasses straightened out so that I could read better. I should have been wearing my sunglasses when I walked. I also had to get the dead mouse out of the pickup blower. It was really getting smelly and I drove in early so that I could keep the windows down. Of course when I got to the Toyota service my 50,000 miles meant that I also had to have the fluids all changed, tires rotated and balanced, etc. Took from 10 to 3. So I got the courtesy van to take me to New Holland to pick up tractor parts. The driver for this leg was a service manager who farms two places north and south of Merkel. We discussed farm tractors. He reads the Livestock Weekly and will now look at THE COWBOY AND THE COMPUTER column. Then to the mall to Sears Optical to get my glasses rebuilt. This left me with some time before noon so I wandered into Sears and bought a new pair of jeans and two short sleeve shirts (without any female supervision). It was still early but I was a hungry so I ate at ChikFilA.

The van with a different driver picked me up and I had them go by HEB to leave my prescription for antibiotic eyedrops that I have to take one day before my cataract surgery July 28 (at 6:30 a.m.). While waiting the van driver got a request for someone to come to Toyota and it turned out that she lived across the street from the old house that Lawrence Clayton lived in for years. She is retired from the Abilene Library so we had a lot of friends in common driving in.

The arm chairs let me get a little nap. I forgot my Mark Henry (Marc Otte) book HARD ROAD TO HEAVEN that I have just started and wanted to read. It is set in 1910 in Montana and has the Indian trackers that he created. The opening chapter has the Indians stopping a stage coach and I haven't found out what happened yet. I got my pickup at 3 and it had the air freshener smell that drives me nuts so I drove in 95 degrees with the windows cracked. I picked up my prescription and took my blood pressure that was high. So much for Lotrel 10/40. I bought Lou some special coffee and the filters we can't get locally. I also resupplied my large bandages. My left hand abrasion is still bleeding a little but tomorrow should quit (doesn't it quit after a week?) My eye is still a little black but the face abrasions are healed and my arm is almost healed.

I then took the time to stop by McMurry University and visit Melanie Long who volunteered to be the new church treasurer. We handed the job over to her Wednesday night. I forgot to give her the PO key and took the opportunity to give it to her and discuss the transfer. I really appreciate her taking that job.

I got home at 5 and Kathy came in at 5:30. She is going to Midkiff tomorrow (south of Midland) for a wedding where her daughter, Vanessa, is a bridemaid for a college roommate's wedding.

WALKING TO ER
Walking is good for you. Right. Not this morning. Kathy was planning to go home today, but first we walked for our two miles. It was a great day until we got about 1/4 mile from the front gate. A car was coming and we always step off the pavement. I stepped on the gravel edge that is about 4" wide and suddenly I was lying on the ground. I hit hard. I sat up and my left hand had all the skin off and bleeding. My nose and face was bleeding. I had a couple of tissues in my pocket to stench the flow. A pickup with a horse trailer stopped and a mustachioed cowboy help me stand up. He works for the Cunningham Ranch behind us. I walked on back to the house and started cleaning up. Kathy helped bandage me and we didn't have large bandages (I forgot that there is a first aid kit in the Toyota). We decided after breakfast to get a professional dressing on the wound. That was probably a mistake.

I couldn't find the number for the Cross Plains Clinic. Finally called the Callahan Sheriff's department who gave the number. A recording said to go to the nearest emergency room. I called the Sheriff's office back and confirmed that the nearest one is in Abilene. Kathy cancelled her plans and drove me to the Walk-In Clinic that is run by Abilene Diagnostic Clinic. They had me in the computer so I only had to fill out 5 sheets of paper. So far so good. Asked when I had my last tetanus shot and I couldn't tell them, they gave me a booster, with assurances that my arm will really hurt tomorrow.

The clinic doctor in his cowboy boots cleaned up my left hand and put a transparent bandage on. That looked ugly. Then he got mean and said that "older" people with head injuries and I was developing a large knot and black eye, had to have a CAT Scan to make sure that there is no trauma to the brain. He also explained that as we get older our brain gets smaller. So we went to the Hendrick ER. It is now about 11. The doc's bandage was leaking blood out of both sides and the ER nurse immediately pulled it off and had me soak my hand in pan of treated water. An hour later the doctor came in and ordered X-rays to check my ribs for cracks and a CAT Scan. I finally found time to take a 15 minute nap when they took me to X-ray. A few minutes later I had the CAT Scan.

We then waited for the doctor to look at them. He came in and said there was no problem which is what I had told him, but I imagine the bill is now over $3000, but I don't know. Finally the nurse came in and repackaged my hand which is what we went to town for in the first place. They all told me that I would hurt a lot more tomorrow and advised taking Tylenol. Wouldn't let me take Aspirin that I prefer.

It is now 3 p.m. and Kathy is starving. She loves Rosa's food and we got a take out to take home to Lou. Got home a little after 4 and Kathy cancelled going home today. She will go tomorrow. She has to be back to give TAKS tests to the ones who failed last semester. She will come back the next week to take care of the ancient ones. Lou is not too happy with me and I am considering applying for the stupid record. I look like I lost a really bad fight. I think I will skip Church tomorrow. I may not make the Library board meeting Monday.

Your prayers for Lou have seemed to be effective so you might add me for three days. We were distressed today by Tony Snow's death.

GREAT CT SCANS
Today we got the report on the abdomen and pelvic exams that Lou had made July 3. Both were very normal with nothing bad reported. It was compared to the scans run a year ago and a bowel abnomality reported then is now normal. So Lou feels a lot better today. She walked yesterday and plans to walk again Thursday and Saturday this week. She is trying to get over the stress of the exams and get her energy back.

I have been walking two miles everyday. Last Thursday I walked with Kathy and we picked up a couple of months of trash. Friday I walked with Kathy, Mark, Mary Kathryn and Dottie the dog. Monday I walked with Kathy and Valerie, yesterday and this morning with Kathy. Strangely enough I have had no pains and felt pretty good for the walks. We keep looking for feral hogs but have seen none although there are strange tracks and scat on the road.

I have started reading one of Marc Otte's books. I was able to order all six that he has written on ABEBOOKS. The signed one that I am reading was $10 the others were $1 with 4 more for shipping. They are all coming in from different stores and two have shown up so far. The one I am reading is about a couple of Mormon deputy marshalls in Montana chasing bad guys who escaped from prison and killed a highway patrolman. It is interesting so far and I am learning about the Mormon church services.

Lou and Kathy are going through Lou's files on the family and identifying old photos of her family that Kathy is helping her file. Lou wants to find some old files to use for her memoirs and Kathy is helping her with the heavy lifting.

FAMILY FOURTH

Our daughter and son and their spouses along with two beautiful granddaughters and a granddog came to celebrate the Fourth and fix a lot of great food. Each one came in carrying huge containers of food. Mark cooked pork ribs, Mary Kathryn fixed pork chops so we were celebrating Mark returning from Pakistan where they don't serve pork. Kathy brought a great pimento cheese mix. A lot of great desserts. Mark & MK had a new ice cream freezer they had to try out with a new chocolate recipe. Came out great and we still have some around.



Mary Kathryn got special early approval to pick peaches at the Childers Farm in Cottonwood and they got a lot of great peaches. Ours aren't yet ripe on our trees in front but the squirrels are harvesting them and eating them on the upper porch, or maybe the raccoons. We see a raccoon come in every afternoon and I have to run him off. Or her. We still have the fox, but she hasn't brought her pups out this year.

Kathy came in Tuesday and went with us Thursday for Lou to have another complete CT Scan. They did three different scans ordered by Dr. Hancock. While Kathy stayed with Lou, I went to our doctor's office to pick up my new prescription and test results that show my kidneys are going south. I will FAX it to my urologist for his recommendations when I go to Lubbock July 29. Kathy says she will be here and I am fairly well decided to have cataract surgery July 28. She will drive us to Lubbock. When Dr. Hancock gets the results of Lou's latest CT Scan he may want to see her before her scheduled meeting in September.

Today my two beautiful granddaughters went to Sunday School with me and were the stars. Vanessa told about her mission trip to India last summer and got a lot of questions. Kathy and Lou came to church and I got drafted to be worship leader when the scheduled one came up sick. Keith has been working himself to death mowing and trimming the yards. He kept working this morning but came in and staked out a table for us at the Staghorn. Church ran long because of special services to celebrate Independence and communion. Vanessa went on back to Lubbock to work an 11-7 shift tonight at the hospital. Keith went back home this afternoon, but Valerie and Kathy are staying. Kathy will be here all week.

BETTER NEWS ON CA125
Dr. Hancock's office called on the CA 125 results. Seems that the Abilene test went to a different lab that has different limits and the 39 is just a little above their good value of 38 which may be better than the previous test was at the other lab where they were 29 above their normal of 25. So that is the better news. Lou said that she can now quit worrying about the test results. They ordered another test from the same lab in a month.

We were just talking about how intelligent our great grandsons are. Christopher was listening to every word I was telling Jim about the traffic on highway 206 that carries traffic from the DFW to Coleman and San Angelo and has the huge tube that form the stands for the wind turbines. They are made in the Dallas area but are shipped to the Coleman airport where they are painted and then trucked back through town on their way to I-20 to go to the wind farms. Jim said that they saw several of the trucks going through town this morning when they went shopping in Cross Plains. Brent is only 3 years old but is already a good listener and a great con man. He really like his book about Cowboy Small and his horse Cactus and can quote every line in the book. Lou thinks that Chris will make an engineer and Brent will probably make a good lawyer, or cowboy. He wears his cowboy hat and boots everywhere. Chris likes to draw and left me a drawing labeled CAT- ALIEN of a multi-headed cat. I asked if it came in a flying saucer. He said it did but didn't locate it in Stephenville. They left about 2 and it is really quiet around here now.

Our daughter Kathy is coming in tomorrow and will be here when Lou goes for the CT Scan Thursday. That will give me a chance to go to the Ford tractor dealer to see if I can get some tubing for the Ford tractor that Jim worked on. One of the old tubes was leaking diesel on the engine. He forced some smaller diameter tubing on but needs the right size to fix it properly. He and the boys and I filled all the deer feeders before he left. They really helped out around here. For supper tonight I had some of the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. Mandi made a family recipe that made the cake and icing from scratch. Now my daughter-in-law, daughter and even Lou make a great chocolate cake but this had to be equally good. I even had some frozen yogurt to go with it just as if it were my birthday.