Back into extended care (the step before being sent home). Here's Mercy Van Vlack's latest update:
Ken Gale, Arthur Lewandowski, and I went to visit Dave Cockrum at the V.A. hospital Sunday. He was having trouble with his oxygen count, so they whisked him back into the horsepital last week, into another room. When Arthur and I got up to the room we immediately saw him sitting up and eating pizza Ken had brought. There was a mix-up getting the pizza, (Fumble in the Bronx!) so Ken went ahead and Arthur and I followed and said, "There you are!" Dave hadn't had a slice of pizza since last year and missed it.I hope our apartment hunting is over soon so I can go back and visit Dave. He's really an amazing guy.
Dave was chipper and cheerful and we had a great chat about Legions old and new. I brought a page of the Legionnaires stickers and we played; "Who the $#%@ is that?!" He got most of them, and really likes Sneckies's exotic new reptile look in the current comics (he has had a lot of reptiles as pets). Movie music, Monty Python, astronomy, old monster movies, Warner cartoons, Aurora models all grist for a comics community conversation. The language in the room got a little blue, after all, these guys were in the armed forces, and like to cuss, but one of Dave's roomies told the other roomie to cool it: "There's company!" Funny guyz.
The doctors keep threatening to send Dave home: "As soon as…." He's deemed fit enuff, really. Right now they're worried he's not getting enough oxygen in his blood, that his lungs aren't getting enough air. But on March 15, 1004, they moved him BACK to the Extended Care Nursing Home, and when he gets better he can go home. There's also talk about moving him to a South Carolina horsepital so as to be nearer his family and macaws, but only if his condition gets better. He'll get a lot more physical and occupational therapy in the extended care section. His blood oxygen has been normal today, but Dave feels the same whether it's normal or not, so he has to be monitored carefully.
The guy in the next bed was complaining that "visiting hours are over!!"… at 7:45 but he was quiet at 8:30 when we left Dave to get some rest.
Driving Directions: Arthur was kind enuff to drive us up to da Bronx for a visit with Dave, and the route we took was a bit impeded by the Third Ave. bridge out coming back to Manhattan, but we got there no problem (Fordham Rd. exit of the Deegan). Busy Sunday night traffic not too bad. Dave has gotten used to Diet Ginger Ale at the hospital and asked that people bring that instead of Diet Coke. I wish more folks would go visit him in the Extended Care Nursing Home. I hope they don’t put him back in with the screaming man. I hope he gets to go home soon.
As it turns out, Dave ended up in the same room he was in before, but the "screamer" is in intensive care. The other roomie there, whom Dave liked talking with so much, was sent home. Dave is pretty friendly and makes friends easily so I'm sure he'll get to know his new roomies.
He would really appreciate visits, as that helps the nurses give better care and gives Dave a break from the monotony of the Horsepital and the television. Soon he may be going to South Carolina and it's harder to get there on the NYC subway, so all you locals, go visit him! Some of the great artists out there need to know they are still cared about! We took the 4 train uptown to Kingsbridge Road, walked West past the armory several blocks, and entered at the left at the parking lot on Webb Ave., and he's in the second building wing on the left beyond the main entrance. Easier to get in without all the airport detectors that the main horseportal has.
Dave Cockrum
Extended Care Nursing Home, NA1A
Bronx Veteran Affairs Medical Center
Floor 1A, Room 10D
130 W. Kingsbridge Road
Bronx, NY 10468
Dave at hospital - 1-718-741-4303 Visiting hours are 10 AM – 8 PM
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