November 3, 2002 - 8PM CST:
By the time we left my abba's room today he had taken four walks around the ward, was eating solids, and making friends with his neighbors. The physical therapist and the occupational therapist were by the room today. This is a really good thing because the occupational therapist doesn't come by until the physical therapist tells us that he's ready to walk on his own and start doing things for himself. This was the first time the physical therapist came to his room and she was (and we were) delighted to see that it would be the only time she would visit as he was already well beyond needing her. My Abba also was able to spend time sitting up in the chair next to his bed, which may not sound like much but it is a huge progress... not having to immediately go back to bed after a bit of exertion (in this case walking the length of the ward hallway) but being able to instead sit down and chat on the phone with his parents... this is a really a great thing. Thank you all again for your wonderful well wishing and prayers. Keep them coming. They help tremendously. My Abba was pleased to have the opportunity to hear an cassette recording of the dozens of voicemail messages left for him over the last couple of days.

Now... important news about visiting and talking to him on the phone. There was an executive decision made jointly by my Abba's caregivers and our family and my Abba himself, that visitors should be limited (for now) to a very small list (folks we've already or will very shortly be in touch with). His telephone will be turned back on tomorrow but we ask that you still refrain from calling him... at least until I give you the go-ahead. He'll begin calling many of you, but it is still crucial that he has some uninterrupted recuperation time.

To put this into perspective: my Abba loves you all very much and wants very badly to visit with each and every one of you. The trouble is (as the statistics for the site combined with the number of voicemails and e-mails he's received demonstrate) there are just too many of you... the current running total for the website is about 2025 hits since Friday with around 650 hits to this part of the website(the latest updates page)... There have been more than 150 e-mails, dozens of cards and about 60 voicemail messages... the hospital room with the attached amphitheater was unavailable and so to protect the other patients we need to unfortunately set some arbitrary rules. This does not mean you shouldn't plan to visit my Abba... this just means you should plan to visit him when he comes home from the hospital... which may be on the earlier side of this coming week... but we don't know when precisely yet. I'll update the web as soon as we do know more details.

Speaking of web updates - You'll notice that there are fewer and fewer updates at this stage of the game. The reason is, things move a bit slower now and so there is less to report. I will continue to bring you updates... but probably not until evening. I'll also continue to update his cell phone but again, not until evening. The worst is behind us and most of what my Abba needs to go through now is rest and relaxation to achieve recuperation. This means there is very little for me to report. Whatever I do have to report, I'll report it here. One thing that many of you asked was for his Hebrew name and name of his mother. To preserve some level of anonymity I've decided not to post that on the site and instead I'm responding directly to those who asked with that information. Feel free to share it with anyone you feel it would be appropriate to do so with. That's all for now.