It was pouring pretty hard by Friday evening and the traffic has come to standstill as it is usually the case with LA drivers. I picked up Sophie and Olivia from their art class at 6pm in Pasadena and by the time we got to Kaiser parking lot on Sunset was 7p. My friend Soni Kim, who's known Bill for many years took two hours to get to the hospital from Long Beach.
Bill beamed as we filed in. He had lost his voice but clearly recognized us. I was shocked by how emaciated he looked. In fact every time I visit he gets thinner at an alarming rate. Bill's very sweet nurse Henry looked up in the computer his nutritional status: Bill has lost 9.3kg (nearly 20 pounds!) since Jan. 26th while on a 2000 calorie daily intake. The nutritionist remarked that the patient was "mildly" underweight. That would be an understatement. To me, he looks like a concentration camp survivor. How does this happen when he is supposedly taking in 2000 calories a day??? I am really worried.
The girls lined up two chairs in front of the TV and watched Cartoon Network happily while the adults talked. Bill complained of pain in his legs and asked us to take his boots (designed to increase his circulation), which the nurse did. We tried to smuggle artificial tears for Bill's dry "scratchy" eyes but Henry somehow caught us in the action. He left a note for the doctor on call to order the artificial tears.
Bill said he was happy. Was it because he was on morphine? No, he said. When I asked him to explain, he said he will later. I suspect that it has something to do with the support and care he has received from family, friends, students, and colleagues. I think he knows he's loved.
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