"Up"

It came to me in the middle of the night: I woke up and went to the bathroom, and on the way back to bed it was suddenly clear. He wanted me to help him get up. That's why he kept grasping my finger, to use it to point up. He wasn't pointing to the television, he was pointing up. And I thought he was grasping at his gown and trying to remove it because something was uncomfortable. Now I think he thought it was a blanket, and he was trying to pull it off the way you would getting out of bed.

I like the idea of making a big Yes and a big No. I've already created an alphabet chart to use, and I'll print out the "yes" and "no" in huge letters before I go. Of course he can't get up, but if we can communicate a little better it may ease his frustration.

I've been following Laura's advice, cycling through all of the things that I think would worry him, especially his beloved cats, his companions. Thank you *so* much, Laura and Jonny, for tending to them. I have two cats here, and we call Dad's cats (and my brother's dogs and cats) their cousins.

I got good news last night that his plane has been retrieved from impound and transported to the hangar at Flabob airport. I'll let Dad know. Last night when we were trying the hand-squeeze method of communication, I told him that we had all established these virtual, on-line relationships. I told him that I had "met" the folks out at Flabob. I said "Jim Pyle," and he squeezed my hand. I said "Jan Buttermore," and he squeezed my hand. I said "Roger," and he squeezed my hand. These are all his buddies from the airport, and it was great to let him know that we are all connected. Jim invited me to come out to Riverside on Sunday for the January meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Assn. I'm going to see if I can do that. I'd really like to see them all. The only problem is that I'm getting pretty tired -- at night I crash pretty hard (no pun intended) when I get home from the hospital.

Carole, Dad's temperature is still 38.4 c. They started him on a different antibiotic yesterday. I don't know whether that was just a guess, or if they got some information from the cultures they are growing. I think it might be too early for the cultures.

It's very early in the morning here in Los Angeles. I'm going to go visit him, then drive out to my client in Santa Monica, and stop at the Wednesday morning farmers market out there to stock my refrigerator with fresh healthy food. I'll post again tonight.