Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tuesday, May 21

 Sunday Mike had a lot of visitors: six at one time in his room. I had a call from Sheila Nickerson that evening and she told me that Mike was in rare form, regaling them with his stories. She also said that he had to have his catheter adjusted while they were there and she could tell he was in pain.

This morning he called early and told me he had had a setback in his condition yesterday, not having to do with his hip fracture but with his cancer. He did not go into detail but he will be seeing a urologist this afternoon to learn more. I will let you know more as I find it out.

Update: 1:25 PDT
 I just had a call from Mike's nurse at Park West. He is in the process of being transferred from Park West to the Emergency Room at Harborview Hospital (phone 206-744-3300). He is suddenly showing a lot of blood in his urine. I have called his nephew, Ben, who lives in Seattle. Unfortunately, he is in Los Angeles but flying back to Seattle late tonight.  I have also called Micaela Jensen in Seattle and left a voice mail for her. If there were anyone else in Seattle who could be with him at Harborview, that would be great. 



Update: 10:00 PDT
This afternoon, Martin and Sheila Nickerson were in Seattle and were able to visit Mike at Harborview. They said that his color was not good but upon seeing them he immediately perked up. This evening I was able to talk to the nurse. She said he was still in the emergency area while waiting to be admitted to a room. He has a urinary infection which they will be treating with antibiotics. She could not say whether his condition was strictly due to the infection or was also impacted by his cancer. I talked to him for a minute also. He was not happy with his setback but was entirely coherent. 

3 comments:

  1. I'm flying down to Seattle Thursday, and will be able to visit him on Friday.

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  2. Do you have a new phone # for him, Judy?
    Thanks.

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  3. Saw Mike yesterday (Wednesday) evening. He seemed about the same to me as when he first arrived a couple weeks ago. He asked a lot of questions about external stuff, like the IRS scandal and the industry I work in. He then began giving me an account of his career. He still seems a physically fragile but not, as I say, much more so than a couple weeks ago. He was in a somewhat dreary overflow room in the emergency ward which, despite the curtain, is noisy and impersonal. Overall he was better than I was expecting. He got word that Mark Regan will be visiting this weekend, which seemed to cheer him up. He is very brave and I very much admire his ability to maintain a positive attitude. --Ben

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