Procter

Colin Bassett

Linda: thank you for your long letter and especially the news about Dorothea.

I just got back from a quick visit to IL. Dad has not been doing well. Has been getting steadily weaker since Thanksgiving.

Had a bad night on the 3/4 of Jan and Denny and Mom thought he might have fallen and broken his hip.

Took him to Procter where they did x-ray but no breaks. Very low on Potassium though and also slight fluid in one lung.

He has been in Procter since and they were filling him with IV Potassium and Antibiotic, also something to bring up his blood pressure which they felt was dangerously low.

I got there Sat. and he seemed pretty bad, but all organs seemed to be working ok, and he was starting to eat.

Mostly coherent, but dozing off quickly. More improvement on Sun.

Eating more.

Drs. on Mon. said Potassium up, lung fluid gone, via new x-ray.

Cardiac MD wanted to keep him 2 more days to see how he got along without IV.

Dad was out of bed and walking very short distance Mon. Very weak. Dad talking about going home.

Social worker discovered bed at Hearthstone? in Henry and that will probably be where he will go sometime this week.

Heart function less than 20%, otherwise all organs seem to be doing their job.

He has been coherent most of the time and completely on Sun. and Mon. No pain. Says ok to go to care facility if doesn't have to stay there very long.

Hope Dorothea is doing better, and all are well.

Maureen and Chris were in Bangkok at the time of the troubles, and that area of Thailand was physically unaffected.

The country is in some turmoil as you can imagine.

Glad to hear that Kiva was not near any problem area. It is a tough thing to do to be in the Peace Corps and we are proud of her.

Hope she can find something more in her field.

Keep us posted. All our love to you and your family and especially Dorothea.


Phil