Friday update

I just got this email from Pat Mabley which I will post in full:

Hey Tom. You can post as much or as little of the following as you deem appropriate.

Just got back from hospital. Wayne is more alert today and thus more agitated. He clearly wants to talk but, of course, can't, and the nurse will not let him attempt to write. When I assured him that his cats are being cared for and that Tom Joe has taken over his courier route, he seemed relieved. His physical condition is this: there appear to be no exit wounds. His face is not bandaged, nor is it mutilated. His mouth has been wired shut, and the eye that was injured has been sutured shut. The injured eye is grossly red and swollen; they are waiting for opthalmologist/surgeons to return from vacation to evaluate him and then, evidently, remove the eye and perhaps reconstruct the orbit. The left side of his face and head is very swollen. I'm not sure if he knows what happened; it's not my place to tell him anything about that. He is in the neurologic intensive care unit and is not allowed visitors; the only reason I have access is that I happened to be the one who called Jean, his sister, first and offered my assistance. I'm trying to help her gather up documents for social services/disability/SSI, essentially to prove that he is indigent and (we hope) eligible for benefits of some sort. The best bet, according to social workers, is for him to be declared legally blind, at which point he would become eligible for disability and perhaps other services. Worst case scenario is him being released to nowhere; that is appalling but possible. I welcome help/input from anyone who has experience with social services. I am certainly not trying to take charge but am doing what I can at this moment. I am quite willing to communicate via e-mail, but I don't like talking on the phone. Jean is planning to go back to Connecticut tomorrow, although she has not firmly made up her mind. I'll be going to the hospital daily while he is in intensive care, and then others can begin visiting.