A few days before Christmas, we bridged miles of distance, thanks to the miracles of Skype and online video conference, to connect together as a family. Norm and Lynda were together with all four of their children for the briefest of moments. Elan and Sam plus Scott (Sarai's husband) and myself (Sam's wife) were all huddled around Norm as we focused in on the computer screen and the faces of Zack and Sarai in Alaska.
Thanks to an ending semester, Scott had ten days to volunteer as an assistant to Norm and Lynda, as Norm pursued some alternative treatment here in Scottsdale to combat his aggressive and once-in-remission Stage IV Glioma. Over the holiday, Scott and Sam were the main caretakers for Norm (when he wasn't in the hospital), since he has slowly lost all physical functioning. But his spirits are always bright, you can see the sparkle in his eye and a grin of gratitude and immense love shines through him everyday.
So back to our little family moment....Seated around our dining room table, with children sqwauking online and off, we overcame delays and challenges from being Skype-novices. But after punching every button, we finally saw and heard each other clearly. Some of us were in Arizona and some in Alaska. After Sarai and Zack (and Izzy and Marin) had a chance to talk with everyone, we talked with Jessica in Colorado for a glimmer.
I think the only one not in on the Skype-fest was Aaron. But my memory is a bit cloudy, because I was trying to block out the two-year olds:
A huge thank you to all who have tried to help us through the last 2 years, without your prayers and help we could not have accomplished this much. We decided that Norm's health was too precarious to continue with, or start, new treatments and brought him home from Arizona where we spent Christmas with Sam, Peggy and Elan,and tried to start new treatments, to Amagansett 1/13/11. His mother came to visit him 1/14, she was so anxious to see him after being gone for several weeks. We have not decided if we should continue with new chemotherapy or discontinue chemotherapy, not knowing what path we should take. Norm is very weak and speaks with a whisper. He asked that we fight for him to the end and that is what we are trying to do. With love, Lynda
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