Update on my Mom

Dear friends and family,

Elke made it through the holidays wonderfully. She enjoyed spending time with the family and nephew Peter and family. We took some photos of the family on New Years eve which we will upload shortly.

For those of you who haven’t heard, she has been having an extensive amount of fluid building up in her abdomen. Last week they put in a permanent drain so we can drain the fluid at home. For the past three days she has spent most of her time sleeping, only getting up to use the restroom but this evening she sat at the table for awhile and we had a great time. She is not eating much solid food and is now enjoying milk as her beverage of choice, it was formerly ginger ale.

Although she is not interested in having visitors, she has requested to speak with Barbara the minister of the Unitarian Church in Kensington. Barbara will come to the house on Tuesday morning.

Despite all this she has been incredibly calm and positive and asked Michael to pick up a painting from the studio that she is concerned about finishing. Apparently the painting says, “He did what he loved”.