Update on Ginny's condition

Thursday June 5th 2008
Kira and Linda arrived in Rapid City yesterday to find mom fiesty! The weather in Rapid is dreadful...rain and flash flooding, but the good news is that we missed the hailstorm. Mom looks well, albeit pale and wan. She is taking care of all her daily cares and last night she was up later than I was! This am she awoke earlier than did her daughter or granddaughter.

Status report: Doctor visit. Weekly questionnaire. All activities are ongoing. No pain. No discomfort. Mild fatigue. Answer to the question, what is the biggest problem this week? Mom's answer-- I am sad that Hillary is OUT.
Answer to this question: Sexual Difficulties? Yes...I'm not getting any.

So you can see her humor is totally in tact.
Her white blood cell count is now down into the normal range, meaning the chemo is doing its job. Her platelet count is 5000, which is so abnormally low (normal is between 150,000 to 300,000) that the Dr. Schroeder says it is amazing she is not having major bleeds. We will monitor her for bleeding and we had to stop her bungy-jumping habit. If she does begin to bleed
we will attempt to manage via transfusion. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, she is amazing us all.

Ona and her Love

Priceless

BEAUTIFUL! Goodbye to Norway!

Did I mention there were PRAWNS and wonderful treats?

Final photos

Last Day of the Trip

There was wine
Again Tor was our fearless guide and captain
This ski jump is for Dr. Mark S. who is my mom's oncologist and went to Oslo with me when we were in Band in High School. He has fond memories of visiting this jump.
This is a JELLY FISH and they were all over! I was assured by the cardiologiost (Tor) and theotolaryngologist that they don't astng, so I jumped in. We also knew that if Jelly Fish are out the water temp was at lest 20 degrees C.




This is Marie and she dove in right away and swam for quite a while. She is a true Scandinavian woman.

What a day. Ona took me to Bygdoy, which means island by the sea. This has been my favorite place to run. It is next to the Queen and King of Norway's "country home" and it is on the Fjord. I typically run about 2-3 miles there. Today I ran out to the sea, around the beaches and then I took a path back to Skyoen, which is the dock where Ona and Tor have thier boat, so in total it was a 5-6K run. It was lovely! Ona took the car and then met me at the dock. There were a few times where I was on some back trails and became a little worried, but a nice Norwegian man told me to follow the signs that said Kjersi or something and that kept me on course Here are some more photos of the Fjord. Tor took Ona, her colleague Marie (who is their oto surgeon) and me on a delightful boat ride through the Oslo fjord. We went quite a way out, parked the boat and then we all jumped in and went swimming in the North Sea! It was salty of course cold but very envigorating. Look at our day!

Norwegian Folk Museum

Mama...here is a real Stave Kirke and some of the Men I have picked up here in Norway. I tried to get my own men to travel with me but....

A walk in the park

A beautiful Rapid City Day followed three days after an 18 inch snow-storm in (wait for it) MAY! Sue and Bob took over 36 hours to get to Florida to visit Chris and I got to Rapid City after an adventure myself. Well it was all worth it as mom and I got to spend several hours in the sunshine strolling through Canyon Lake Park. Note to self: take every opportunity possible!

My mom

We recently learned that my mother has an incurable form of leukemia and that it is quite advanced. Her oncologist, who is a dear friend of mine advised me that she has days to weeks. I am here in Norway and I have an obligation for a few more days but I will get to my homeland of Rapid City as soon as possible and stay there as long as possible. In the meantime

And in the Fjord
I see the blue sky, the water
The trees
I see my mother’s eyes
And I feel her presence
Her will, her determination
Is in my blood driving me to seek
Beyond the ordinary
To strive to touch
All that seems untouchable
And to answer “yes”
To the question
Did you do your best?

End of a beautiful boatride

We passed a cruise ship
An omnious looking submarine with French sailors
Got cheeky with the Frenchies
Saw some Bali-Wood dancers in rehearsal for a film

Took in some more beautiful coastline

A Fine day for a Boat Trip

Ona her fiancee' Tor, and I went down to the Fjord today and geared up for a beautiful ride. The boat is Tor's and it has a lower cabin with a small kitchen, bedroom and even toilet. The day was wonderful and we went along the Oslo coast. here are some of the sights.

Tor is a very capable captain
I figured out how to get to the front part of the boat without falling off.

This is the new Opera house in Oslo. It is built to look like a ship and needs no stairs as it is all ramp! The ramp comes right down to the water.

Norwegian Wood

A beautifully productive and exercise-filled week. Rip-roaring bike rides into the University of Oslo (man the bike trails are awesome yet congested...with bikes Who knew?) Yesterday a 50 minute run by the Fjord and today a hike in the woods. Two papers are well on their way, a meeting with yet another one of my academic crushes. What more is there to life?

Simen has his 19th Birthday

So Ona makes him the best brownies for breakfast and he sleeps in. The fire-cracker candle is a nice touch, don't you think? He then got up and secured a summer job for himself. A good kid!

Norweigan Colleagues from Universitit !Oslo

Present (couter-clockwise)

Solveig Alma Lyster; Charles Hulme; Linda (me); (hiding is Erna Horn), then Eva-Signe Falkenberg, Marianne Klem, Ona BoWie, Kjersti Roland, Kari-Anne Ness and then Bente Hoqtvet. I LOVE OSLO!

Simen Graduates! Russ Outfit in Norway

The tradition of Russ is famous in Norway. Students in thier last year of High school plan for THREE years for a two-week party called Russ. They split into groups, buy a van or even a buss, choose a name for their group, choose activities and commision a band to make up a song for thier group. They spend thousands of Norweigan Crowne for the event and learn to work in groups.

http://russen.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=34

In this link you can see Simen in his local newsapaper partying it up!

http://www.aftenbladet.no/russ/article634681.ece

San Diego Conference CI 2008

Nice People, Nice trip. Son A., Shelley, Ginny, Linda, (Alex in back) Ann and Monika.

One

Puppies!

Thank you to Julile and her man for the photography of Rudy and Stella. What great baby-sitters they were. Hugo, on the other hand, threatens to bbq our dogs..... (smile)

New Home

This will be our new home. The Spencer family is officially moving to Geneseo, NY this summer as Linda accepts a job wt SUNY Geneseo as an assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders. I beieve I have the best family in the world, as they have been supportive and very brave in accepting this adventure. Here are some photos of the new digs