Day 1

I saw Al this morning for a few hours--I skirted the visiting rules for a while--but I got booted at 12:30. He looked good. Last night he was still a little green, but today he had his full color. When I arrived the physical therapist was instructing Al on how to get out of bed. He stood up, clutching a pillow on his chest, and turned his feet to sit in the chair. He was drinking a little bit, but not ready for solid food.

We talked a bit, but he doesn't have the energy or the desire to talk much. He was practicing his breathing exercises and with a dose of pain medication he was able to take deeper breaths, thereby inducing a cough which cleared the fluid in his lungs. Pneumonia is the riskiest part of this whole thing.

He said he felt like he was in limbo between sleep and awake. Mostly I just watched him sleep and kept track of every facial twitch to make sure he was okay. He did crack a smile when I told him that Troy Smith was our new go-to-man for the 49ers.

The Sandra Bullock-look-alike In Flight nurse, Sonia, has been visiting with Al since his trip up. She checked on him last night and today because she has been worried since she picked him up. She even calls me to check in. She brought him a hat with the Life Flight helicopter on the front and "Stanford Life Flight" on the back. Al will wear that one when he comes home.

I had to leave and came home to pick Samantha up from school. I was happy to do something normal. But now I'm finding it very difficult to be home alone with him at Stanford by himself. I feel the need to physically see him and touch him. It's so difficult, but not as hard as not sobbing in front of my kids.

My brother is coming down tonight to help out and distract the kids. I'm thankful for that!

Stanford hopes to move/downgrade him to Level 3 ICU tomorrow.