Where do we start? It's October?

Hummmm? To answer one of the most asked questions these days---Yes, we know Sarah Palin. Yes, Fred and I have both worked with her as mayor and governor. She is smart, articulate and approachable. She takes her job of serving the people very seriously. Yes, we are strong supporters.

Health update on Fred. As most of you know he started chemo in March and finished up in July. We did not get much out of that course of treatment except some of the bad side effects. I will say that chemo did bring the numbers down for a very short period of time... I do not see us doing chemo at this level again.

As the summer wore on Fred's physical and mental strength continued to wane. One thing that he wanted, was to spend some time with our children and grandchildren , plus our parents. I presented the idea that we go to the lower 48 for the winter and call it our quality of life tour. Fred retired from the Army a year ago June and all we have done since then has been medicine related. It is time for us to just enjoy life for awhile.

There was one problem with my travel idea and that was that Fred was in terrible pain. A year ago July, Fred had a tumor on his spine radiated to shrink it. He felt that that tumor was growing again and causing pain in his back and down his right leg. It was time to investigate how we could relieve this pain.

To make a long story short, we flew to the DC area a week ago. Our first stop was to see the radiation oncologist (October 6, 2008). The Doc asked if anyone had ever suggested neurosurgery to relieve the pressure on the nerve in Fred's back. We said no, and that we where willing to consider it. Well, here we are 4 days later, October 10, and Fred is recovering from the back surgery he had done yesterday. He is already walking much better. The last 10 days his pain and mobility had gotten so much worse. The surgeons were pleased with their ability to relieve the pressure on the nerve stem. We plan to have that area radiated in a couple of weeks, so that the tumor will not grow back.

Looking forward. Our camper trailer and suburban are in Idaho and we plan to return there to start our winter travel. All of our kids and grandkids are getting together for a few days at Thanksgiving in Boise, ID. I think that will be a great start to our quality of life tour. Who knows we may be in a town near you.

Carrie will be wrapping up her photography training in a few weeks and starting her new career. She plans to spend some time traveling with us this winter.

Once again Fred and I have felt God's guiding hand on our lives. We want to thank each one of you for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We are so blessed.