Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Brooke - Tuesday, 8pm

It's the end of another long day at the hospital, but today was better than yesterday. Brooke's condition remains critical as his lungs continue to give him trouble. They are working hard to get the lungs clean and are making progress. They expect to do his tracheotomy tomorrow in order to remove the intubation tube from his mouth, however he remains dependent on the ventilator. This will enable him to better communicate and give him a big boost. In terms of his mobility, he is able to shrug his shoulders with vigor. His face remains incredibly expressive and wonderful. The best news is that his spirit was much better today. He enjoyed his visitors, smiled at stories and continued to endear himself to his nurses. In typical Brooke fashion, he is very interested in, and has many questions about his condition as well as what's going on in the rest of the world.

9 comments:

Jim Poulton said...

Thanks, Sara, so much for keeping us informed about Brooke. We're glad to hear his spirit has improved, and that he's shrugging his shoulders! Brooke and Peggy have been friends for some time. Please convey our love and support to both of them, and our fervent hope that Brooke has a full recovery. He's been a beacon and an inspiration to all of us.

All our love,
Jim and Donna Poulton

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about Brooke and Peggy non-stop since Friday. This blog is a god-send for those of us who can't be there to convey our love in person. Thank you so much for sharing your news...I'm sending my best wishes to all of you!

Love,
Becky (Gesteland) McShane

Patrick Zwick said...

Seeing Brooke's wonderfully expressive face this morning fills me with hope. We all stand by brave Peggy to do whatever we can along the road to recovery. They are two of the finest human beings I know and deeply loved.
Patrick

Steve Trimble said...

I've been thinking about Brooke and Peggy constantly ever since we heard of Brooke's accident. As David Kranes said in the Tribune story, Brooke is a "life force," and so it's hard to believe that this disaster happened, but it's also easier to believe that the man we all know to be a Force of Nature will recover.

We really needed this blog. There are too many of us out here who care--and the round-robin of e-mails and calls hasn't been very efficient. Thanks so much for creating this update site.

We send hugs and love--and we will be distilling Torrey redrock sunshine for you at Thanksgiving next week and channeling that healing energy your way as fiercely as we can.

Chris Horner said...

Dear Brooke and Peggy,

our hearts are with you. Ellie wants to let you know how much it meant that Brooke spent three 80-minute periods in her middle school classroom a few days ago, helping 13-year-olds with their essays! Chris is glad he ran into you both at the recent opera showing and was able to hike with Brooke a few short weeks ago. Please let us know if visitors are or are not a good idea given Brooke's current condition. Of course we'd love to see you.

Chris Horner & Ellie Brady

Greg Donovan said...

Thank you for posting this information--I've been keeping up on the news about Brooke through Terry Hummer. Both Terry and I were students of Brooke's in the late 70's. I continue to value all that I learned from him, and his teaching inspires and improves my own teaching.
I send my grateful and concerned best wishes to him and my hope that he's doing better soon--

Greg Donovan,
Virginia Commonwealth University,
Sr. Editor, Blackbird

Unknown said...

Hi Sara,
I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Mike; I live in the house to the west of Brook and Peggy. If there is anything I can do here at the home front please let me know. I would love to be of help.
Thank you for this blog,
Mike E.

Carolyn said...

I have been thinking about Brooke and Peggy constantly and am so glad to get up-to-date news of Brooke. Thanks, Sara, for making this possible. Please give Brooke and Peggy love and best wishes for recovery from their neighbor in both Salt Lake and Torrey.

Bernard said...

We have just heard, from Pat Hanna, about Brooke's terrible accident. We are very distressed to hear of it, and offer Peggy and Brook our love, our warmest sympathy at this difficult time, and our hope that he will make a full recovery. We remember with such pleasure our last meeting in SLC, in 2006.Our son David, now in his 40s, still remembers how much he enjoyed Brooke's lectures on Shakespeare in the 1980s, particularly one on "Troilus and Cressida".
(from Bernard and Dorothy Harrison)

Bernard