Not great news about Norman. The biopsy results show that he has stage 3 cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes. The more immediate problems are that he has developed pneumonia for which he is on antibiotics, needed a blood transfusion, is on oxygen, and has fluid build-up in his body.

Rather than his coming home this week, looks like he is in for a siege. He will see an oncologist about treatment options as soon as possible.

BRAYDEN

This is a video I made after visiting the Abbott Family as they waited for Norman to go into surgery. To play it click on the right arrow that is on the bottom left of the blank square. Then click on the four arrows to get the thing full screen. Make sure the sound is turned up on your computer.

I misspelled Kaitlyn. This is the correct spelling.

Anyway, Caitlin had to be nearly pried off the wave runner. John, Jana and Ellie went fishing a couple times after Caitlin went to bed. John got a fishing pole for father's day but I don't think he got to fish much what with baiting hooks and taking their catches off their lines. Ellie caught the most.

This weekend Groves and Mad Dog are here and Doug came down this morning. He wants to catch enough crappie for a fish fry next weekend. Goldman will be back tomorrow or Monday. Fourth of July is a big event and display.

I probably won't finish this post because lots has been happening. It's such a relief with the results of Norm's surgery. Maybe I can convince him and Margaret to come see me here at the lake after his convalescence. It took me a long time to spell that word.

My first weekend here Scott and the boys came from Louisville. As you can see by the pictures, each of the boys brought a friend. Beth came from Kansas City. Groves and Mad Dog were here. The boys love the boat and riding the tube behind it. Swimming in the pool and in the lake was also a great occupation. Groves would drive the boat when Scott got tired of dragging hem around. Since there was four of them and only three could ride the tube, they were good about taking turns in the boat or on the tube. At least, I think so. I sat on the sun deck and watched them.

After everyone left except Mad Dog and me, Mad Dog BBQ pork steaks we waited for Jana, John, Ellie and Caitlin. John was hungry and did justice {as we all did} to his pork steaks. They stayed until Thursday which wasn't long enough. Both girls loved the wave runner and the boat. Caitlin [who is 2} I"LL FINISH IN ANOTHER POST> MY CAPS LOCKED AND I HAVE TO REBOOT>

Margaret called at 6:15 to say Norman's surgeon said the surgery went just fine and the outcome is extremely positive. The surgery took about two hours, the cancer was contained and removed, and Norman will be back to norman in four to six weeks.

I went to the hospital this afternoon to find a big party going on. Margaret and Norm were surrounded by their kids and their grandkids, and everyone was talking, visiting, reminiscing, just waiting for the four o'clock hour. Norman actually sang about just how he longed for water, and I taped the performance. With some luck, I should be able to post the tape here.

Any way, so far so good. We think Norman dodged a bullet today.

Norman has been cleared for surgery. It is scheduled for 4:00 pm today.

[This is a whole lot like the Marshfield Mail Newspaper. If you haven't been reading earlier entries, you have any idea what this is all about!]

Sabrina, the middle Abbott daughter, called this afternoon with a health update on Norman. The CT scan looked good so no metastasis. Today he is having other tests, heart, blood, etc., to make sure he is strong enough for the surgery to remove the growth from his colon. If everything is a go, he will have the surgery tomorrow.

Sabrina said the surgeon called this kind of cancer "the silent killer," and Norman was lucky to catch it early enough. For all you Dear Readers age 50 and older, have a colonoscopy. Not only does the test catch this kind of danger early, it also can prevent cancers because precancerous polyps are detected and removed during the test.

More when we know more.

We want to let all the family know that Norman is in the hospital, Barnes-Jewish in St. Peters. He had dizziness and low blood pressure on Monday while visiting Stephanie and Dan. Stephanie called his physician who said he needed to go to the emergency room. From the ER he was admitted to the hospital. So far, tests indicate he has a mass in his colon which may or may not be cancerous. When I left the hospital today, he was about to have a CT scan. With the scan results and a biopsy in hand, the physician in charge will outline treatment options. That should happen tomorrow or Friday.

Norman had a CT scan about a year ago, so there is good reason to believe that this condition, whatever it is, is in the early stages and for that reason quite treatable.

Margaret, daughters Stephanie and Sabrina, and daughter-in-law Lynn were at the hospital most of the day. I will post more when we know more.

These photos sort of place themselves, so labeling is difficult. John, Ellie, and Kaitlyn in the water. Ellie and Kaitlyn feeding the ducks. Maddog and Ellie walking up the road.

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CAITLIN, JOHN, JANA, JANA AND ELLIE

I'm going to start this post but may have to finish it in two parts. I had five young men this weekend who got a lot accomplished (mostly Doug with Ding, Groves, Goldman and Mad Dog as helpers and gophers). They played cards until the wee small hours of the morning. When I played Bingo with my pals at BJEC last week I won a deck of cards which I brought with me. After some playing with the old deck, they guys decided to count the cards. They had been playing with a deck of 51! My winning came in handy.

Their major accomplishment was the installation of the stairlift. I thought I was going to learn some new words. Doug had never installed one before. We had country music on the TV. He is taking blood pressure medicine, and when I ask if his blood pressure was okay these days, he replied, "It's pretty high right now, what with this country music and the stair lift". Needless to say, he and his helpers did a good job. On Sunday morning Doug and Groves put the wave runner back in the water and on the lift. Doug had done some major work on it this winter. He did catch a 3lb. 7oz. bass, so I think that helped calm his blood pressure. Also, he got to ride the stair lift first!

Goldman is still sleeping {snoring). He sleeps in the dungeon in case I need anything in the morning. Everyone is more comfortable since I ride downstairs in the lift. I always get up first. It's raining this morning with thunder and lightning but is supposed to clear up. We had a torrential rain yesterday morning, but it didn't last all day.

Scott, Beth, Brayden, Jalen, Mad Dog and Groves will be here this weekend. Each of the boys is bringing friends The Hollensbes can't come so they will have other kids to play with . Goldman is going to St. Louis for his sister's 50th birthday party. John and Jana and the girls will get here the19th through the 23rd. Chase, my neighbor's son in Springfield who was just a boy when Den and I lived there, called me Saturday evening. He is now a professional photographer. He will come see me sometime toward the end of the month. I called Leslie Sunday after Doug caught the bass. Sam (Leslie's husband) loves fishing so I'm hoping they come up soon.

Pete called Saturday morning with his weekly call. He had had his first cataract done so now he says his bad eye is his good eye. Nancy had gone to Spokane to help Caitlin get settled in, and Merri had come out and cut their grass. Pete had already talked to Joe and said he's been busy at the RR Museum. .

This afternoon Sue and Goldman departed for an extended stay at the Lake. The car was so loaded with the stair lift parts that Sue had to sit in the back seat. As they left, Goldman, the wit, said, "Driving Miss Daisy to Daisy Road." [Sue's lake house is on Daisy Road.] Goldman is going to finish his historical novel, and Sue plans simply to enjoy her home.

Rose was invited to speak on a panel before about 100 people at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in April. The event was part of an exhibit, "Dreamscapes," and the discussion was about ways of approaching dreams. In this segment Rose speaks about Carl Jung and Jungian Psychology, her specialty. I believe the Pulitzer has other segments from the evening uploaded, but this one was all I could find:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxP6oXHo8sU

Amanda, Erica, Sabrina in a run

We have news about the "Little Abbott Family," which is our designation for Randy, Lynn, Erica, Amanda, and Connor, to distinguish them from "The Big Abbott Family." Connor, as our dear blog readers may know, is a student at a prestigious boarding school in northern Missouri. He will graduate in one more year with two years of college credits. He has been accepted at Yale to attend an intensive day on the application process for admission. He and Randy are traveling to New Haven, CT, later this month to look over the campus and attend the seminar for application. Randy said only 30% of the students who apply for this seminar are accepted. He also told us Connor (with a whole lot of help from his mother) is looking at six universities, one of them Rice in Texas where he has already been offered a full-ride scholarship. Connor is quite the scholar!

Not to be out done though, Erica and Amanda are doing their thing too. Erica has a summer internship at Hussman where her Auntie Bebe (Sabrina) works. She goes to Spain for the fall semester--also on scholarship. Sabrina told Rose that she has introduced her niece to almost everyone at Hussman very proudly. Furthermore, Sabrina has been at the company so long she knows everyone! Amanda has raised the funds for her trip to Uganda. [Thank you to blog readers who contributed!] She leaves in mid-June. All three, Erica, Amanda, and Connor, are excellent students and have had jobs since they were old enough to work.

Sabrina has been training for a 10K race which is scheduled for tomorrow. Erica and Amanda are going along and doing the 5K section. Chris and Rose, slaggards that they are, are going over to Forest Park to watch. I am headed to the Lake this afternoon with Chris Groves. The home owners meeting is Sunday afternoon. It is a very important one because of the extra expense and decision-making prompted by the installation of the new dock. Weather promises to be perfect, that is, HOT.

Last evening I went over to BJEC for dinner and bingo with the friends I made while there. Sabrina once came for dinner and bingo, and everyone fell in love with her. They always ask when she is coming back. I won two games of bingo last night. Brayden is getting tired of my winnings--stuffed animals which I give to him.

Chris and I had dinner Tuesday evening at J.J.'s in St. Charles, one of his favorite places. After dinner we did a reminiscing tour around St. Charles. He has a hard time believing we lived in so many places when we were kids. He has a lot of fond memories of the Madison/Kingshighway Street years. Years ago, Joe would laugh and say that the way he found his way to visit was to look for a place with every light on. Still the case, Joe!

Brayden continues to excel at baseball. He plays shortstop and simply loves the game. So does Scott. Jalen, the artist and musician, has other interests at this point.

Danny Cullinane, who was at the lake last weekend, brought me a balance bracelet. This thing is some kind of magnet contraption made by Danny's company, Rawlings, that is supposed to help with balance and mobility. Two things I need! Last night at BJEC I ran into my two favorite physical therapists who were pleased with my progress. I showed them my bracelet and told them it seems to help.

We have ordered a chair lift for the lake house. Turns out the St. Louis company that gave us a bid last January wanted to tack on several hundred dollars because of the distance. We decided to order from the same company Margaret and Norm purchased theirs, and Doug will do the installation.

I need to correct something I misstated here. Brother Pete is having cataract surgery, not a colonoscopy. Pretty dumb mistake, huh? I think he had his surgery this week. Janet had her second cataract surgery last week and was very pleased with the results.

I know Donald and Vita were planning a trip to Europe about now. We hope they escape the E-Coli danger!

After a holiday weekend of three days, i'm sure there's lots of family happenings the country. I'll try to update some that I experienced and others that I heard about. Groves, Goldman, and I arrived at the lake Friday evening. Some were already there whereas Scott and the boys had farthest to come so were last to arrive. Oops! I forgot Danny Cullinane. He had to attend a wedding ((his daughters were flower girls) so he didn't get there until Sunday morning. He and Doug are fishermen and I believe Doug caught more than Dan. Josie and Brayden spent quite a bit of their time fishing, too. We figured Doug had 'limber legs' after driving the boat around with the new round 3-person tube and three kids at a time on the tube or just riding them around in the cove and main channel. The new dock is completely installed and the old one is gone. That's certainly an improvement.

I came home Monday with Scott and the boys. They dropped me off and still had a long drive to Louisville. Groves and I are going down tomorrow for the weekend and it's the annual homeowners' association meeting. Tonight I'm going back over to BJEC for dinner and to play Bingo. There's lots more news but it's time to go to dinner. I loved the FeLLin album.