June 11, 2006

Hello family and friends,

A quick word from the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. First, thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers and good wishes. They are working!!

Dirk continues to do well, but as we all know there is a long way to go. He has good cognitive skills, although he gets a bit confused at times, and he has a wonderful sense of humor. He had the place in stitches commenting on the challenge of having to deal with two of me (he still has double vision.)

On the physical side, there doesn't seem to be any paralysis, but he is stronger on the right side than on the left. Starting yesterday he was able to eat solid foods and even brushed his teeth on his own. He continues to be on bedrest, which will change once we deal with the drain in his head.

He, of course, is still in ICU and is surrounded by than more bells and monitors than one cares to think about. He has what amounts to almost a full-time nurse and this week there's been a lot of family around asking questions and being a huge help to me. Key questions now are:

1. When can the drain be removed from his brain and does it have to be replaced with a shunt, which is permanent. This will most likely happen early next week.

2. When and how can we safely move him to SF. (please let it be soon- I miss home!!)

3. Most importantly, we need to find out exactly what happened and how to fix it. At this point there is too much of a "jelly mass" at the site of the bleed for us to be able to determine the cause.

We should know the answers to these questions in a few weeks and I will continue to keep you posted. My messages won't be as medical concise as Kiki's, whose support during all of this has been an amazing gift, but I will try to keep you updated on major issues. As Chris said, it is a bit disconcerting to get telephone calls right now b/c I jump out of my skin when the phone rings thinking that it may be the hospital. However, cards and emails (queens.org) are most welcome and I read them all to Dirk.

Thanks again for all of your support; please keep us in your prayers. We both send you our love,

Kelsey

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