Margo update

Frost has killed the cattails down to the warm water zone

 Margo had her 11th chemo treatment Tuesday.  She has finished the research trial of amg386, the drug to stop blood vessel growth to the tumor.  She has one more chemo 1, then a few tests including an MRI scan too see the results from the research trial drug in combination with taxol, the normal treatment.

She starts a series of 4 new chemo treatments after that -- every 2 weeks through the end of the year.  This is a two day treatment, but short time each day.    Following that is another evaluation, surgery and recovery and then radiation daily for a month.

The nurse said she can no longer feel the tumor--it seems to have shrunk smaller and softer--almost disappearing--great news!  The scan will show more information in two weeks.

Trees are bare and the greens are rare

Looking through my frosty windshield

With voting coming up next Tuesday, I will be headed to Pine Island for the winter to join Margo. We do plan to be back and forth in nice weather and for Christmas parties!  As members of several history societies, a genealogy society or two, the local rock club, the writers group and more, we have many parties coming up that are fun to go to and watch everyone else have too much to eat and drink while we modestly nibble and sip.

It has been beautiful with these late fall days where the frost burns off with the sun and the temperatures get into the 40s -- could stand the whole winter like this (almost was last year).

Normally we had south for January and February to find a place that feels just like this weather -- 30s to 60s all winter.  This year looks like we will be staying close to Mayo Rochester for health treatment.

I am OK with my myasthenia gravis -- not great, but much better than a few months ago.  I am trying to get used to lower functionality.  That means more activities that are not hard work.

Scott was up for the weekend to help me cut some wood.  I did some chainsawing, but not a lot--just can't do things that require stamina.  Anyway as Garrison Keillor says, "it could be worse."

Spent Tuesday afternoon at Wild Mountain in Taylor's Falls at the St Croix Valley National Heritage update meeting.  The input of 11 previous meetings was distilled down to 4 themes for our evaluation.  The Festival Theatre had a group of school kids to dramatize each.  It was an interesting and entertaining meeting.  I helped a little as a table facilitator for some discussions.

The four tentative themes  are"  The Relationship with the Land, Our People, Natural Environment and Up North.  They are quite general and attempt to include the ideas presented earlier.   Other National Heritage areas are Detroit's Motor City, River's of Steel in the Pittsburgh area, and Civil War in northern TN.  You can read up on this at http://www.stcroixheritage.org/  and attend one of the upcoming sessions at Hudson (Sunday), Hinckley, and Shell Lake in the next two weeks.

Had a few hundred trick or treaters come through the Luck Museum on Saturday and one great nephew to the cabin earlier this evening.  Very quiet out here in the woods except for the coyotes howling, the geese honking, the trumpeters trumpeting and the owls hooting.