Relief

Dad's friend Kathy is here for 4 days, and even spent the night in the hospital by his bedside until 5:00AM, helping him finally to sleep. He was chipper and rested when I arrived at 6:30AM, and I sat with him for a couple of hours while he got up (by himself!), sat in the chair and ate breakfast. He's stronger now, though still quite debilitated. But every day brings something new. This morning he brushed his teeth while sitting up in the bed, and asked for a comb. He dictated the following message to his blog readers, and will post himself when he is able:

"I am in an intermediate stage of recovery. I have no pain, and everything works." At this point his voice started cracking: "I want to thank everyone for their good will. I really appreciate comments from people I haven't seen in years. More blog posts from me will follow. I am too tired to do much, but am getting stronger every day and following the prescribed steps for recovery. Thanks again to everyone. I am very lucky."

I returned a voice message from the Murrietta police officer who responded to the accident, and he told me about the State Parks Ranger who was shopping in the mall next to the field where Dad landed. This Good Samaritan made sure that Dad was immobilized after he mentioned that his neck hurt. I have the man's name and am trying to track him down to thank him.

Dad was deeply upset about the news of the two Cessna's that collided in mid-air near Corona yesterday. He is quite familiar with that airport, and is afraid that he might know the victims.

Kathy just called from the hospital: Dad is now cleared to drink liquids, and has requested that I bring in fresh orange juice in the morning!