It was a shortie but goodie!

When Sue and I went to Jeff's room at about 2:30 pm, Jeff was asleep
and we were met by his dad Byron and his uncle Jim.  Carolyn had gone
back to work (which was a good sign) because she did not work the
entire month of February, spending most of her days with Jeff. Byron
and Jim are both retired.

So, we had a chance to chat with them a bit about Jeff.  Both
indicated Jeff has been continuing to improve.  Byron said Jeff could
now sit on a chair next to the bed, and Jim said he heard Jeff say
"sherbet" -- which was the first word Jeff had said in a long time. :-)
Jeff still can't talk because of the ventilator and congestion in his
chest.

When I asked about the AlphaSmart keyboard Richard said he was going
to bring, Bryon and Jim said almost simultaneously that Jeff refused
to use it, and everyone was surprised and couldn't understand why. I
asked if Jeff had received Viv's panda, and they said Jeff had been
playing with it already.  :-)  Along side of the panda, there was a
rubber shark and a furry cat of about the same 6"-size as the panda.

About that time, Jeff woke up, and sat up on the bed, unaided by
anyone.  He was experiencing a bit of trouble breathing and with the
congestion in his chest.  Jim knew exactly what to do -- connected
Jeff briefly to the suction tube, and Jeff coughed a time or two, and
seemed to be okay.

Immediately Jeff leaned over to the clipboard at the foot of his bed,
pulled the pen out, and wrote in block letters,

                     BAD DAY FOR COMPANY

Sue said later she thought Jeff wrote that because all four of us were
standing there and just looked at him and he was probably embarrassed.

So I hastened to assure Jeff that I'll not read all the posts and
greetings this time, and just leave it there for others to read it to
him later, but I had to tell him about Viv's return today, about
what she said about kissing Jeff at the Choo Choo NEDfest, and about
her panda bear.  :-)  Jeff let out a big smile, but wrote,

                  I WILL SELL GEARS AND SPOT

I was obviously puzzled and asked him what he meant by "spot".  It was
then that he wrote
                          CAIV04

and something about GIVE BACK (I think he meant giving the money back
to me).  Without going into any details, I hastened to assure him not
to worry about anything and that Carolyn has taken care of it.

With that, I gave him a thumbs up and he smiled in return, and we said
goodbye to Byron and Jim, till another day.

In retrospect, I think Jeff still doesn't know that his "spot" (berth)
had been withdrawn and funds given to Carolyn to spend on his behalf.
When he heard me read what Viv said about seeing him at the Choo Choo
NEDfest, he probably thought it was the CAIV02NEDfest, and the first
and only thing he could think of (as indicated by what he wrote, now
that I pieced them together to make sense) was to release his berth
"spot" to someone else and that he realized the reality that his
diving days are over, at least for the near future, when he wrote he'll
"sell gears".

As for the CAIV04, it's either a typo (writepo? :-) or a Freudian slip
or a suggestion that he may shoot for a NEDfest in 2004!  Or there is
the remote possibility that he thinks this is already 2004.  :-)
Carolyn said Jeff had no idea how long he had been hospitalized.  Poor
guy!  Whatever it was, it was good to see him being able to communicate
once more, in writing, without much effort, and very coherently!

From what I've seen today, Jeff seems to be putting up quite a fight
to put himself back on his feet (when the first word he could utter
was a HIGH CALORIE food item, "sherbet"!  :-)), and he certainly made
a dramatic improvement within a week from moving out of the ICU when
the doctors had given up on him!  I wasn't the only one who noticed he
had already put back a bit of color in his face.

At the rate he has been going since moving to a regular room, he just
may surprise EVERYONE, by making a full recovery, should his doc find
him a good liver to successfully replace his worn out one.  I am
pulling for him every inch of the way in his struggle, as I am sure
all of you do as well!

-- Bob.