On Sat. Nov 1, 2008 Hal accidentally fell and hit his head. My mom, after seeing that something was wrong, called 911 and Hal was taken immediately to St. Mary's hospital. After receiving a CT scan, we found out that he was bleeding on the top right side of his brain, which was accumulating and shifting his brain to the side. The excessive bleeding was a result of a blood thinning medication, Coumadin, that he was taking for atrial fibrillation, which he had been experiencing for the past few months.

Upon arrival to the ER, he began to lose consciousness and was put on a ventilator. It was determined that he needed surgery to remove the blood that was accumulating on his brain. Dr. Zegehye, a neurosurgeon, performed the surgery and reported that it was successful and he felt that he had removed most of the blood, but some remained which would be reabsorbed on its own. After the surgery, Hal was admitted to the ICU. He has had several CT scans post-operatively which indicate no new bleeding or swelling. The nurse was able to remove the drain from his head, he remains on a ventilator and is slowly recuperating. He is currently able to follow commands (e.g., "wiggle your toes", "give thumbs up", "squeeze your hand"), is opening his eyes and indicating that the tube down his throat is uncomfortable, and the nurse said she could have sworn that he gave her a look of annoyance the other day when she was asking him to make some purposeful movements; now that is the Harold Pollack we all know and love! We of course want him to be more awake, indicating that forward progress is being made, but the more awake he becomes, the more aware he is of what is going on. We are sure of he could talk right now, he would say "Get me the f#!k out of here!"

Linda, Carrie and Tracy are visiting everyday when allowed and speaking with the nurses and doctors on a regular basis. We know he knows we are there, and we are letting him know that everyone is asking about him as well as sending love and prayers.

We are going to try and update this blog every day to let you know of his progress. My mom appreciates every one's calls and wants to let everyone know whats is happening without feeling overwhelmed with having to give updates to everyone individually. There is a lot going on and we are trying to figure out how to deal with everything while staying centered enough to go and see Hal and focus on him and his recovery.

You can post a response to each days post if you would like to share your thoughts or feelings.

I have so much confidence in my dad and his strength and love that I know he is doing everything he can to get better. We have a lot of hope and feel like things are going in a slow but steady rate towards making a recovery!