Tribute to Carolina ÖdMAN African Network of Women in Astronomy
A little tale of kindness Dr Carolina Odman
The consistency of the serum is delicious and it smells wonderful. This gets much better absorbed than other barrier creams that my oncologist has recommended, so I can actually use my hands dring the day and not grease up everything. Also, barrier creams feel hotter than Avene’s cream.
Maybe, unknowingly, she did form a music band after all, just with all of us friends and family in it. We have come here as a large family to bid farewell to our Carolina Johanna Ödman. When I look at this gathering, I see grief and deep loss.
Her singing was so amazing that the band offered her a job on the spot. She declined out of respect for the original artist, else she would have been a rockstar as well! I am sure she has told almost each one of us at some point that we were a ‘superstar’ or a ‘rockstar’ when we did something she really liked.
Therapy
She was part of the local computer club in Aubonne called Ghostbusters, that pirated games, and was later named Club Infomatique d’Aubonne, or CIA. Some of her colleagues will recognise where her interest in ‘dot astronomy’ and hackathons clearly grew from. In the morning, after rinsing my feet in the epsom salt antiseptic water and gently patting them dry with a towel, I use a high % urea cream.
About products for hands and feet
“Fill it up please, unleaded.” – a sentence said a million times each day in South Africa. This is one of those automatic, anonymous interactions that passes by us without registering anywhere on our consciousness radar. She was at home while talking about science funding in EU meetings with world leaders.
The chemotherapy I am taking is called Capecitabine. It is quite manageable compared to others, in the sense that it is oral, so can be taken at home, and I tolerate it well. I am not crippled by nausea and thus, this is the perfect maintenance treatment giving me a nearly-normal life. One side effect that I have quite strongly, though, is called hand foot syndrome. It’s medical name is palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia.
During the day, I sometimes put a couple of drops of Living Nature Manuka oil, which seems to help. After filling up the tank and washing the windows, I handed over my credit card to the attendant, and he saw the state of my hands. ” He asked, half out of shock, half out of concern. “No,” I explained, “it’s a side effect of chemotherapy, I have cancer.” Immediately, he turned into the most caring kind person. “Oh no, thats terrible, I hope you are OK. There was another man who came here a few days ago and he was also on his way home from chemo.” We had a little chat, one of those where a random someone’s empathy warms your heart and sets the mood for the day.
Light behaves differently based on its color, which is also why the sky is blue and sunsets are red. The atmosphere scatters blue light in all directions, while red light passes more directly, making it more prominent during sunrise and sunset. A rainbow is one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena, often symbolizing unity and diversity with its stunning range of colors. It has captivated human imagination for centuries, partly because its end remains unreachable. I recently witnessed the birth of a rainbow in a spider’s web spun across some succulents on the ground, and it left me in awe. What stays with us is her constant ability in finding beauty in things we have learnt to take for granted.
In the morning, after rinsing my hands in the epsom salt antiseptic water and gently patting them dry with a towel, I fist put a generous layer of retinol serum. It’s meant for the face but my hand skin is currently way more fragile and sensitive than any healthy face. Also, there is a study about retinoids (the higher concentration prescription version of retinols) that appears promising.
In my observation, small water droplets suspended in the spider’s web acted like tiny mirrors, each reflecting a miniature version of the world. These droplets played a critical role in Dr. Carolina Odman the formation of a miniature rainbow. As the droplets blurred out of focus, they began to refract light in different colors.
She once saw a tweet from a student who needed assistance to go to Germany and she moved mountains to make sure that the woman student from a rural community could reach her dreams. But we know that she did a lot more, quietly, and without fanfare. She was a founding member of the African Network for Women in Astronomy and a serving member of its board. Their condolence message reads “She is the embodiment of Nelson Mandela’s well known phrase ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done!