CA125 IS DOWN
The doctor's office called this morning before I could call them saying that Wednesday's CA125 was down to 322 from 355. Not much but in the right direction although a long way from 20 which is the goal. Lou walked yesterday and today and has felt better than last week. She takes pain pills and is having a little diarrhea problem which is better than constipation usually resulting from vicodin.

She is planning to go to Houston Thursday for the TWU Regent's meeting Friday. Our kids are coming in Friday night to prepare for Sue's BD party Saturday at the Baptist Church and the Lord's Acre at the Methodist Church. They will get here before we do.

We had both houses and the garage sprayed for wasps. The AC at the Halsell House kicked off with a booster capacitor installation and saved buying a new one for over $1600. So we are ready for the crowd.

Keep praying that the CA125 keeps going down.

ANOTHER CHEMO DAY
We met with Dr. Hancock with our daughter-in-law, Mary Kathryn, today. His decision was that the chemo treatment is being effective based on Lou's report of her symptoms. We won't get the new CA125 until Friday but Lou went through another chemo with a steroid/nausea plus a flu shot. After the chemo we were able to get to Macaroni Grill by 1:30 and enjoyed a good meal. We left by 2:30 and got home at 4:20.

Lou handled it well and a 6 oz. Coke handled her thirst on the way home. We had a beautiful day with average traffic and I am grateful that I have good health. We have been blessed and hopeful that this round of chemo will reduce the cancer. Dr. Hancock told Lou to make more use of pain medicine and offered to prescribe some steroids before she leaves next Thursday for a Friday Regents meeting in Houston. We will be driving back from Houston Friday night with a big day Saturday when we have the Lord's Acre at the Methodist Church and a birthday party for Lou's sister Sue at the Baptist church in the afternoon. The Lord's Acre auction will have some of MK's fancy jackets that she was working on during Lou's chemo. A lot of nurses and patients admired her work at the clinic.

We will have a lot of family coming in that weekend. I called the AC man to get the heat pump repaired at the Halsell House before next weekend. The exterminator is coming tomorrow to take care of the insects on the HH chimney tomorrow.

We thank you for your prayers for Lou. They are a great comfort.

GOURMET WEEKEND
Another of our gourmet chefs came this weekend when our daughter-in-law came in Friday night. Lou has been hurting a little less each day but still hurting and she appreciated seeing her son and his wife. She made great breakfasts with special muffins each morning. Saturday night their daughter, Ashley and her husband, Ross came in after they got off work. They both worked Saturday. They needed a break from their stress in FW and Dallas. Ashley works at Dallas Children's Hospital during the week on her required internship to complete her Child Life certification program. Then she works at Cook Children's Hospital in FW to hold her job and make a little money to balance the non-paid internship. Ross works 12 hour shifts as a nurse in FW.

This morning I taught SS and Mark, MK and Ross joined me for church. I appreciated Ashley staying to visit with Lou this morning. It really cheers up Lou to have family visit. MK invited Sue and Ike to come out for lunch. Again a gourmet meal. For breakfast she made a great egg casserole but included biscuits and gravy at Ashley's request. Also for Ashley at lunch she made gingerbread cake for dessert with a hard sauce made with butter.

This afternoon Ross and Mark got out my new Stihl chainsaw and cut almost enough oak firewood to last for the winter. I was amazed at how much they did in about one hour. We had some dead red oaks that made good fire wood. They wore ear plugs and Ross wore chain saw chaps to protect himself.

Lou says she will take some more pain pills tonight. I went to Abilene Thursday to get a new bottle of pills. I took the pickup because I had a really small chip in the windshield that the glass company said was no problem but they filled it with epoxy. I had it washed and this morning Mary Barton told her husband that I had a new pickup. It pays to have it washed once a year.

Tomorrow Mark flies to Orlando for a company 3 day meeting. MK will take her mother to Bryan to visit her brother, Robert, who is having prostate problems. They will come back Tuesday. Wednesday she will go with us to Lou's appointment with Dr. Hancock to see what new solutions he will prescribe for Lou. I will report on that Wednesday.

BOONE PICKENS LOSES OSU'S GIFT
When I reported on Picken's book I wondered what happened to his gift that he invested in his fund and it doubled in size. Today I got the following news release that answers my question:

OSU project put on hold by donor's losses.
The AP (10/23, Hines) reports that, two years ago, "oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens gave a record-setting gift of $165 million to his alma mater," Oklahoma State University (OSU), "for athletic programs and then invested it in his BP Capital hedge fund so that it would grow even more. But now the fund has dropped so low amid the national economic downturn that university officials won't say how much is left and the fancy athletic village it was supposed to pay for has been put on hold." OSU spokesman Gary Shutt said, "Construction on facilities in the athletic village area will begin when the economic climate improves. ... We are exploring all options as we consider our future plans." The athletic village "is expected to include a new indoor practice facility, stadiums for baseball and softball, and venues for baseball, tennis, soccer, equestrian, and track and field." However, work "on the west end zone project of the football stadium, named Boone Pickens Stadium after its benefactor, continues and remains on target for completion in 2009.

TODAY UPDATE
Tonight Lou ate a more normal meal. At night she always eats some fruit, apple and grapes, an Activa, a couple of crackers and cheese with her calcium pill and a couple of ginger capsules with a glass of milk. Normally she drinks a glass of red wine, but when she is taking a lot of pain pills she skips the wine. Lou thinks all of these problems are what the chemo sheet said could happen: nausea, indigestion, upset stomach, pain, etc. The pain pills alleviate but cause other side effects. She has been taking laxatives that are working and she says today is better than yesterday.

We have heard from our granddaughter Ashley who is working free from dawn to dark at her intern position in Dallas. She and Ross will come out Saturday night to visit Lou. Her parents will come in Friday night for the weekend. Hope that makes Lou feel better.

I am using my new Dell computer and fighting it all the way. Why do new machines have to give you problems. It has Vista and I can't find any way to change the screen size. The AOL will not let me print directly to the default printer. And it won't find all the settings in the settings folder. I am getting emails OK and am able to work on the blog. So I shouldn't complain.

ROUGH DAYS FOR LOU
Lou has had a couple of really bad days. She attributes it to the effects of the chemo lingering into the week. She says that today is better than yesterday, but she has not eaten anything today to speak of. She ate part of a slice of toast for breakfast and a little more at lunch but only ate about half of the slice.

She has been nauseous for the last two days and had enough pain that she has been taking one to two pain pills every 4 - 6 hours. She slept fairly well last night after taking two pain pills. This morning she had a little fever but it is gone this afternoon. This morning she laid on the couch for most of the morning. I spent an hour mowing with the Ford tractor.

We got a really nice email from Jeff Singleton who says he has been unable to comment on the blog. I know others have had the same problem. Keep trying, we appreciate hearing from all of you and really appreciated your prayers.

LITERARY AND CHEMO WEEK
This has been a great week. It rained which is always a blessing. Tuesday Judith Keeling brought the new director of the Texas Tech Press, Robert Mandell to visit with Lou. They came about 2 p.m. with a hot peach cobbler from Abilene. We shared that with coffee and had a good visit on the status of publishing in Texas. They had a meeting that night at the Abilene Country Club with Bill Wright who had invited Don Frazier and Bob Page to discuss a book using Wright's photos. Wish I could have heard that conversation. We got 1.4" of rain Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday was infusion chemo in Fort Worth again. We met Mark, Mary Kathryn and her mother, Mary, at Joe's Pasta and Pizza on Hulen Avenue for really good pasta dishes. Lou had baked Zita and I had spinach lasagne. MK then went with us for the chemo session. It went well with the steroids helping out. Lou was feeling good enough the next morning to walk to the front gate and back. She has a red nose but was able to walk again this morning. It has been a beautiful day but we both wore heavy coats. I think my thermometer down in the creek bottom is off. It read 32 this morning. We had 53 up at the house. No wind so it was comfortable.

Lou is reading C. S. Lewis MERE CHRISTIANITY along with her morning Bible reading and we discussed that as we walked. We need to get our atheist friends to read it. He was an atheist and discusses their viewpoint in the book. She is also reading PALACE COUNCIL. She got to discuss it some with Judith who gave us the book. I am almost through with TWELVE AMAZING ORPHANS by Jim Dent and Waring was right it is a great read particularly as we face a possible depression once more.

The bad news came this morning. The CA125 is up to 355 and Dr. Hancock will change the protocol next visit. We continue to need your prayers.

LITERARY COMMENTS
Looking at the last post and even after editing, I can't get the photos where I want them. Lou has started reading PALACE COUNCIL but promises that tomorrow she will write on the memoir. Today we went to Abilene to get Lou's Evista prescription and ate at China Garden where the special is still less than $5. Just about the right amount of food for us. I then bought gas for $2.959 at HEB, recycled paper, plastic and glass and picked up a few groceries we can't get in CP. Lou is doing better today than yesterday. I told her she would be better every day until the next chemo next Wednesday.

I just finished Boone Pickens THE FIRST BILLION IS THE HARDEST. I reported on it before and wonder how many billions he has lost in the last week betting that oil will go to $150. It got to $80 today. The local oilman I met the other day who is holding two months of oil that he can't sell until he can get a plugging unit to plug a well on the lease must really be hurting as the price drops. Boone is a blow hard. He talks about one divorce and one new wife, but Lou tells me that the Texas Monthly article said she was his fourth wife. He also brags about supporting Oklahoma State with millions of dollars of gifts that are generating more millions. I was amused that he gave them $165 million that they invested in one of his funds to increase the value to over $300 million. I wonder if they still have their funds in his hedge fund that has lost billions last week. He pushes his plan to decrease the dependence on foriegn oil by pushing his company that fuels cars and trucks with natural gas and his development of wind turbines to make Pampa the Wind generation capital of the world, but will allow no turbines on his 24,000 acres because they are ugly. He is developing his ranch for a wild life hunting ranch. He really ticked me off with his support with millions of dollars to support his wife's campaign to prevent horses from being slaughtered for food. That is something else I don't agree with him. He has a chapter on giving to a number of causes and wants to give where it will challenge others to give also. He has given millions to hospitals, schools and other charities. He started out a Methodist, but I don't know whether he supports them financially.

I have started TWELVE MIGHTY ORPHANS by Jim Dent. As Margaret Waring told me it is a compelling story. It really hit home today as Dent told about the 1934 state championship game in Corsicana where December 26 trains from FW, Amarillo and Houston came in a snow storm to the small town without a large stadium. The Masonic coach lost a coin toss to have the game played at a much larger stadium in FW. It was during the middle of the depression and prohibition was producing a lot of bootleg whiskey. Amon Carter with his jar of moonshine and cigars was there. There were so many people that the game was played with drunken fans on the field. They even stopped the game for 50 minutes when one of the temporary stadium seats collapsed. No one was killed or even hurt much so the game went on. Corsicana won on penetrations in a 0-0 game.

The description of the reactions to the market drop was much like today when Texans thought they were bullet proof because they were the energy center of the world at the time. Ranger, Eastland, Desdemonda were oil booms at the time. By 1934 even Texas had soup lines and poverty. Conditions at the Masonic Home were terrible but the Masonic football team dominated high school football during this period with every Mason in the state, and every town had a large group, followed the team. I am looking forward to reading rest. I am at the point where the orphans have found boxing as a competitive sport for them. Five boxers shared one pair of tennis shoes and one mouth piece. I am about half way through the book.

KORBELL PHOTOS

Here are some photos of the Korbell visit.








Lou with Cheryl

Lou with Charley


Me with Charley.

C&C COME CALLING
Charles and Cheryl Korbell drove all the way from their home in San Antonio with stops in Llano to pick up BBQ and in Brownwood to pick up tortillas for fajitas. Along with slaw, potato salad and two kinds of beans plus a bunte cake we had a great visit remembering old times at A&M where Charley picked up the title Colonel due to his rank in the Corps of Cadets.

We actually met Charley's older brother first when Lou was in an English class with John Korbell. He became a visitor at our home to study and escape from the Corps activities. Then he told Lou about meeting this great girl named Bonnie in Junction at a drive-in. He would call Lou and say "you won't believe this, but". One day when Bonnie had gone to school in New York, he called with that statement and said that Bonnie's father, Jack Bowman, had called him and told him there was an airplane ticket at the Houston airport and he wanted to see John at a hotel in NYC the next day. When John protested that it was finals time, he ignored the protest and John made his first air flight. When he got to the NY hotel the father dismissed Bonnie and grilled John until the wee hours and finally said he would do. John flew back but had a tough time with the finals. John was in the last class of engineers that were permitted to take five years and obtain two degrees, one in English and the other engineering. We were invited to the wedding reception in SA and were impressed with a millionaires home with the trophy room that contained an elephant foot waste basket. Later John and Bonnie came by our home in Austin on the way to John's active duty tour.

Lou was teaching and one day substituted for another teacher. When she called the roll she asked Charles Korbell if he was John's brother and he jumped in his seat wondering how she knew John. Charley started coming to the house and one day told us that he had met this wonderful girl, Cheryl who was going to SFA and needed a place to stay on weekends. We loved her and Lou felt sorry for her parents when we were the ones that she came to the door with a bouquet of roses for being named the Corps sweetheart. We got to know her for 3 years before Charley graduated and went to work. It took Charley a couple of years before he asked for Cheryl's hand.

One thing that C&C started when Cheryl stayed with us was a practice of leaving sticky notes hidden everywhere with sayings on them. After they left today we started finding notes. On the bathroom mirror was one: Remeber "Life is not about things but about people" and ya'll are #1 Love, Colonel. Another one in the kitchen window said: I still love toast and jam in the morning thanks to you. The Col. Another on the fridge said: Ya'll saved me a ton of money on hotel $s and food. With a smiley face signed The Colonel. Another appeared under Lou's computer mouse saying: Thanks for staying up for my sweetheart. The Colonel. Another said You and Charles have had a profound impact (as role models) on our lives. The Colonel. Then a couple from Cheryl:Your home and Halsell Hill are just beautiful! C&C and the last one that we found:We're keeping you both in our prayers! Love, Cheryl and the Kernel.

The day was perfect and we are looking forward to our son Mark and Mary Kathryn coming this weekend. (Mark just called to say that he is fighting a bug and if it isn't an allergy he won't come and expose Lou.) The weather is supposed to be nice until next week when it will finally turn a little colder and we will need to plan to get some firewood in. Lou was rejuvenated by the visit. When we went upstairs to look at Lou's books she was short of breath and had to sit down for a minute. She says this chemo is one of the strongest that she has had but she hasn't had any nausea or other effects except a loss of energy. She didn't walk this morning. She is feeling better today than yesterday so maybe she will be better each day as the chemo wears off. Your prayers are being heard.

AUTHORS AND LITERATURE
Last night was Meet The Author night in Cross Plains and we had Mike Cox talk about his books on the Texas Rangers. His grandfather was a newspaperman who worked with the Texas Rangers who were always at the scene of the news stories. He told about his grandfather traveling with the Ranger companies who went to enforce martial law on Borger in 1927 when it was a lawless oil boom town. Their first act was to remove 1500 prostitutes who were operating there. He told his stories about the good, bad and ugly Rangers.

When Jeff Singleton visited he told us about his encounter with James Mitchner when he was researching for his book TEXAS. Jeff had known most of the A&M athletes when he was in school because his brother, Jim, was on the football team. Another athlete was Billy Bob Barnett, who played both football and basketball. He played basketball more like a football player and almost caused a riot during one game.
After graduation Jeff got into the commercial real estate business in the metroplex. When Billy Bob started his famous tourist spot in Fort Worth, Jeff worked the real estate part. One day he got a call from BB saying some guy named Mitchell or Mitchsomething had called to ask for an interview and would Jeff come help him. Jeff went and James Mitchner arrived in a limousine with a secretary for the interview. Billy Bob was in Jeff's words a functional drunk who had started the day with his breakfast drink of grapefruit juice and vodka. Mitchner interviewed BB from 10 to lunch and then continued with the secretary taking notes of everything said. Jeff left about 2 and didn't know how long it went on. When the book came out one of Billy Bob's quotes were used in the book. I can't remember the exact quote.

Lou didn't make the meeting last night. She is low on energy and shouldn't be around the public. She missed seeing both Mike Cox and her friend Margaret Waring who came over from Comanche. Mike said he understood Lou's problem with chemo. Fifteen years ago he was diagnosed with esophagal cancer with a death sentence but chemotherapy made him a cancer survivor.

Cox will tour the Library and the Howard House today before returning to Austin to get another book in the mill. He broke all speed limits to get to his appearance last night driving from Austin to CP in 3 hours. But he got here at 6:30 and sold some books before his 7 p.m. talk. He sold a lot more later. His first volume on the Texas Rangers has sold out of the first printing. He second volume is due out in 2009.

REJUVENATING REUNION
After a really bad day with pain all day and even last night where she took a number of pain pills, something she has never done before, today at noon a long lost friend rang the door bell. Unexpectedly Jeff Singleton, who can't get our AOL email, skipped the Internet and came to the house. I can't remember the last time we saw him but it was at least 30 years ago. Fortunately our daughter Kathy was here and she was also a good friend of Jeff's.

I had to leave to go to the funeral of a long time church member, Lois Garrett,98, and missed hearing most of the catch up repartee. I will have to pick Lou's brain to tell me all the details that I missed. Kathy was here so she can fill in what Lou doesn't. Kathy had to leave about 3:30 but I got to visit with Jeff and Lou till he left about 5.

I had to run off a great blue heron from the koi in our fish pond this afternoon. Don't know how long it was there. I hope it didn't find any or all of the koi.

Mark and Mary Kathryn got back safely from New York City but need to catch up on their sleep. They had to get up at 1:30 to leave on a 3:30 plane this morning. They will come out next weekend to help assess the septic tank.

In the meantime we got another great notice that the Kernel, Charles Korbell, and his wife Cheryl will come visit Wednesday. Hopefully Lou will begin to get over the chemo shock. They say that the third day is the worse and it was bad Saturday. Today it is a little better and hopefully it will get better each day. While the chemo kills the cancer it messes around with a lot of good cells just to be aggravating. But your prayers help make it better.

LITERARY UPDATE
I forgot to report on the latest book I am reading. I can't remember when I read a book that is on the best books list, but my son, Mark, gave me Boone Pickens' THE FIRST BILLION IS THE HARDEST. I told Mark that I agreed with the title and have already given up on the first and have started working on the second. While Lou is getting chemo I have a lot of time to read and got through his investment game where he almost lost all the money he got from investors and then went long on gas futures when gas went from $2 to $10 and made a couple of billion. I got home Wednesday afternoon and read in WSJ where Boone had just lost a billion last week and said he has lost more. So much for gambling. I am now into his argument for his approach to solving the oil shortage. Still have some chapters to read.

Lou had a tough day today. We didn't walk because I had a septic tank man coming at 9. He told me the same thing the last one told me and I am going to get my Professional Engineer son to help me because he can still practice. My license is suspended until I get professional development credits that I don't have the time and money to get. The problem is that we had our septic tank pumped after 15 years and found that the system isn't draining. The pumper said his brother is now using a different drain field. When I had him come out he said that the inspector would be required and that he would require me to replace the entire septic system for a cost of over $6000. I then researched the TCEQ regulations and found that the system had to be subject to an inspector or a registered PE. Since Mark's license is still good and he had experience with septic systems when they lived in Aledo, I am going to work with him to get a drain field installed that will handle what little sewage we generate. We will see how the battle with the government regulators plays out.

Lou took a pain pill before our daughter, Kathy came in and is feeling better as she goes to bed. She had pain in her back all day that is not in the spine but on both sides. She thinks it is chemo problems showing up. Hopefully the pain pill will let her get a good night's sleep. We had a friend email Lou today to say she had read the blog and we should rename this place Holy Hill because of all the prayers directed this way. Sounds like a winner to me. Thank everyone for your prayers.

Our daughter ran into an old friend, Jim Singleton, at the Aggie game last Saturday and this week we were able to hear from him and his brother, Jeff, by email. Jeff is reading the blog and said he was adding his prayers for Lou. The only problem is that his email provider blocks AOL emails. I may have to use my HughesNet email for him.

NEW CHEMO PROTOCOL
Today at 1 p.m. Lou met with Dr. Hancock who said in the light of the rise of the CA125 that he would prescribe a different infusion chemotherapy. This one is gemcitibine known as Gemzar. It will require infusion every two weeks with checks on her blood to watch the immune system and the CA125 results. Lou said she would start today. It took about three hours to get the prescription filled and for her to have the 30 minute infusion. She finished at 4:45 p.m.

Our daughter, Kathy, came in from San Antonio last night to be with us when we met with Dr. Hancock and we appreciated having a chauffeur. We were all very hungry having only eaten some snack food so we headed for Boo Ray's in Weatherford. Lou had talapia, I had jalapeno catfish and remembered to order a half order. Kathy ordered a salad and grilled vegetables. We enjoyed a good meal and headed into the setting sun for the drive home. We got home before 8.

Mark called us three times today. This morning he was sitting in the airplane on the way to New York City for a vacation with his wife. They have tickets to a show and plan to see the sights. He called again to get the diagnosis and then as we got to the house to make sure we got home.

This cheomtherapy will only work with your prayers supporting the therapy. He said that it has few side effects except for lowering the immune system. He said that it won't make her lose her hair although the end effects of the last oral chemo might still cause some hair loss. Lou has a good attitude. Kathy and I read a story by a 41 year old women who had stage III ovarian cancer and after two long chemo treatments has been cancer free for 21 years. The article didn't tell what her prayer support was. I ask for yours.