Gay continues to update Joe Haldeman’s condition daily (see this article and Joe’s SFF.net newsgroup).
On Saturday 24 October, Gay posted:
Joe was in much better shape this morning. He was already up in his wheelchair, about to wheel himself out of the room when I arrived. Escaping, he said. We went down to the cafeteria for coffee. He was in good spirits. In the afternoon, Steve Leigh dropped by and Joe did most of the talking for over an hour. He rested a while, then got up in the chair again for a spin around the hallways. He ate dinner sitting up, then collapsed for the night. He’s been practicing his handwriting, trying to get his muscle tone back. Here’s the poem he wrote:
The pancreas, a curious beast
Has functions hard to scry.
It sits around for sixty years
Then tries to say “bye-bye.”
Yesterday I forgot to mention the two therapy dogs we met in the hallway. They helped both of us to feel better. A beautiful little shelty and a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. Joe really enjoyed petting them both.
We here at SFScope are thrilled to hear of Joe’s progress. At this point, his improvements no longer strike us as “news”, per se, so we will leave the further updates to Gay and the newsgroup over there. Best wishes, Joe and Gay.