Overdue Update

After living in South Florida for the better part of twenty years, I can identify with southern boy Mark Twain when he said, "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." It's been sweater and jacket weather every single day. Even in the middle of the afternoon, the temperature rarely rises much higher than the sixty degree mark. A cold winter day in Florida is rarely as cold as an average San Francisco summer day.

Monday is still our big day; Ali will be discharged.
The incredibly efficient Nurse Kathleen has rescued us from being drowned
under a deluge of state and local government bureaucracy. The cogs of the inter-office machinery has threatened to slowed our departure. But Nurse Kathleen and Hospital Social Worker Stephanie have greased the wheels. They've trained, prepped, informed, and provided us with services and resources for the next phase of Ali's recovery that commences when we leave Monday afternoon.

Hospital Social Worker Stephanie spearheaded a meeting that included experts on Ali's recovery from head to toe. Literally. Neurologist, speech therapist, gastro-intestinal specialist, nutritionist, physical therapist, social services and general medicine were all represented. Head to toe. Hospital staff are treating us like heroes that have rescued Ali. They want us to know that we have their full support.

I apologize for the amount of time that passes between posts. Internet availability at the hospital has been dismal over the past several days. This post and pictures come to you from a little coffee shop a short walk away from the hospital where, with coffee, you get free cream, sugar, and wireless Internet access.

We've settled into a routine here. Aaron went home Wednesday and I moved into the hospital room with the charming and beautiful Susan. And Ali. We take turns holding and loving on her, I run five or six miles through Presidio Park every other day (there's a cool trail that winds down the hill toward a beach on the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, just west of the Golden Gate bridge), walk to Starbucks, do laundry at a coin operated laundromat, and eat food from the hospital cafeteria.