Christmas Letter

Dear Friends,
As Christmas approaches, I'm still recovering from a rousing family Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife from Los Altos, my niece and her family from Sacramento, my nephew and his wife from Kalamazoo, and his daughter and her baby from Houston, plus, of course, my own kids. Tim and Amy drove over from Dallas (sans children), and Mark flew in from Denver, and, of course Andy, Kim, Jacob and Emily drove down from Little Rock So 18 of us, including 3 toddlers gathered at my house! Fortunately, Tim did most of the cooking—thanks to years at the Lair of the Bear, he cooks a mean turkey. Thanksgiving Day was gorgeous and we took the California contingent, the first to arrive, for a boat ride. My lake is drawn down in the winter and as we rounded an island we managed to get ourselves grounded in the mud, requiring that Tim jump out and pull us to deep water. We decided that this was to be "our little secret" (Andy is somewhat anal about his boat). Andy arrived after dinner Friday night ( he was on call until late) and became suspicious of our giggly response to his questions about the boat ride. He sneakily extracted the boat ride incident from my 3-year-old great-niece, who doesn't yet understand what "our little secret" means. In this family, she will need to learn.
I am in the middle of my third month/round of chemotherapy. I am supposed to have 3 weekly treatments and then one week off. Since the first round on this schedule, however, I have been unable to tolerate more than 2 weekly treatments, and then need a couple of weeks off for my white blood count to recover. (I have chronic neutrapenia, low white count, from the first round of chemotherapy in 1997-98.) I had treatments each of the last two weeks, but now we'll wait until after the new year to begin again. I'll have another PET scan after Christmas to assess how I am doing.
I think I am responding well to the chemotherapy, because the tumor in my neck muscle has visibly receded, a good indicator of progress. The new drug, Avastin, has proved to be a little disappointing, and not as benign as expected. I think it has been critical in reducing the tumor, but it has raised my normally low blood pressure, so that I seem to only tolerate one dose of this drug each month. It also seems to effect my vocal cords, and my throat muscles. All in all, minor side-effects, considering the alternative.
I will be driving over to Dallas (only 4 1/2 hours from here) to Tim and Amy's new home for Christmas. I'll take my new van, Isadora II, and use if for my bedroom —it's really comfy. Still trying to sell Isadora, the original, but she doesn't seem to want to leave me. Several done deals have fallen through for every reason imaginable, like hurricanes. My driveway looks like an RV lot.
Emily (now 7) has agreed to ride to Dallas with me. Andy, Kim and Jacob (9) will fly. Amy's children are 9, 8 and 6, and the five of them all have a great time together, as demonstrated by some good times on my lake this summer.
We have had some pretty cold weather this month, in the low 20s some nights, and I'm trying to adjust. My body and my sinuses do not like it. I'd rather be swimming in Chacala Bay, as you may guess. I am still very much on board for Cambiando Vidas, our nonprofit in the village. The Learning Center and Scholarship Program thrive—we sponsor 27 students from middle school through University. I currently putting together another newsletter for our donors. For more info on our programs, please go to www.chacala.org. newsletter.
My book is selling slowly, but I am getting very rewarding responses from readers. I have had some signings and readings, both here in Hot Springs and in California when I was there last August. I am so grateful for all the prayers and well wishes that have come my way in the last few months. You all have supported me in every way imaginable— I have not felt alone for one moment. I am so blessed to have such an amazing friends—so much healing love. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
May your Christmas and holiday season surround you with Peace, Love, and Joy and Healing at every level. Savor the moments—they are so precious.
Love and Blessings, Ann