BALTIMORE (NBC) - A scientist who suffered a stroke at the South Pole says she hoping for a full recovery.
"The prognosis is good, that I'll probably recover a significant majority of that back, which would be great, especially if I can drive," Renee-Nicole Douceur said during her first public appearance Friday.
That light moment was a stark contrast to two months of dark uncertainty in one of the most isolated and barren places on the planet.
In August Douceur, the manager of the National Science Foundation's research station on the South Pole suddenly developed tell-tale stroke symptoms, vision and speech problems.
She had to wait for weeks until the next cargo plane could whisk her away, first to New Zealand and finally to Baltimore's Johns-Hopkins University Hospital.
More rehab and recovery lie ahead.
The avid adventurer says she has a lot she wants to do, but for now skydiving is off the list.
"It's not on the top of my radar screen," she laughed.
Douceur is expected to be discharged on Saturday and says she'd some day like to go back to the South Pole.
NBC