Kathleen here.
I thought I would do an update on Peter and the rest of us on Peter’s site since I haven’t done one of these in a while and because it is now 10 weeks later.
He’s home and we are so happy to have him back. He is enjoying being back home.
He was able to navigate the house with minimal help when he got home and now he is pretty much able to get around on his own. This is a big considering we were talking building wheelchair ramps and the like so he could get into the house when we were first talking about getting him home.
The double vision is gone which he is very grateful for. He also got a new set of glasses, which he said he needed to get before we even left for our vacation, that have helped a lot with eye strains and the like.
His right leg is getting stronger each day. It is a slow process but he is making steady progress. He has to think his way through each step although the process is getting easier. We really don’t think about walking, we just do it. At this point for Peter, it is a matter of thinking about the knee going up and walking heel to toe and not to throw his hip out. Walking is a lot about thinking right now for him.
The right arm is improving. He has managed to get his right arm over his head. He is working the fingers with a number of exercises to try to regain control over them. The elbow is working better every day.
Today he went into the city on the LIRR for a business meeting that he needed to attend, which shows how far he has come in 10 weeks.
He has returned to his Tai Chi classes and he is bowling again.
Caroline is so happy to have her daddy home. She spends most evenings curled up next to him.
He has been working hard at his out patient therapy. He goes twice a week and then does exercises on the days that he is not in therapy. It is not easy and we have our good days and our bad days but we have days which is a blessing indeed.
I am doing OK. I am doing PT for my neck and doing a lot of thinking about what I need to do for my arthritis. I have been driving a lot to get people where they need to be on time.
We wanted to say thank you to everyone who had helped us. I don’t think I would be as calm as I am considering what the mail brings every day. We feel supported and we feel loved and that helps us so much.
So I am opening this up to Ask Kath or Caroline. Peter might participate if he is feeling up for it. Have at it. If I say we can’t answer a question, please don’t take it personally. There are certain subjects I would rather not talk about and I ask that you respect that.
• 
SO GLAD TO HEAR THIS!!! Keep getting better, Peter David. Thoughts and prayers, beaming your way.
Take care Peter and remember never give up. My Father went thru the exact same thing as you. Stroke on he left, paralysis on the right. PT takes time, but you will see improvements. PT and post Stroke treatment has come a long way with all the medical advances. Speaking may be difficult at first, but (like my Father) you will see improvement. God bless you & your family. I wish you the best.
–a Fan
It is good to see an update, and I’m glad to hear things went well for all of you at Farpoint. Please continue to keep us posted, and take care!
Every year I hear of more friends dealing with health troubles. Peter’s news was especially troubling to me. I’m not sure why! I worked on one of his projects once, met him once, and argued with him once — not much of a relationship. I guess, through his writing, I imagine I’ve come to know him, and have related to his stories about his creative process and his family. Today, the Davids have plenty to be thankful for! Every day is a gift, it just takes a crisis to bring that fact into focus. Therapy seems to be working. You are all in our prayers and in our thoughts. Thank you for all the updates!
So, Kath, what’s it like to be married to freaking Wolverine there? I mean, my mother’s stroke was much milder than his, and it took her a lot longer to get back to doing things.
Congratulations, PAD, keep up the good work! And know that everyone on the autism spectrum knows how tiring it is to have to think through processes everybody else takes for granted (for us, it’s social interaction, not walking, thank Tesla), and get some rest when you’ve had to think about it too much. We still need you around to tell us stories for a long time yet!
Honestly I think more Hulk than Wolverine just for the sheer tenacity he has shown at working to get better.
It is amazing how far he has come considering where he was once the stroke had done its damage. I learned that after the initial incident there are a series of “aftershocks” which manifest in various ways including going from able to move a hand to no hand movement while his body dealt with what was happening to him.
I am just happy for every finger wiggle and firm step.
Good to see.
🙂
Very glad to hear things are getting noticeably better. PAD has always been an inspiration to me as a writer.
No questions, I just wanted to express my happiness.
Peter, so glad you’re doing better.
Peter and Kathleen,
I wanted to write and tell you how glad I am to hear how much better Peter is doing. I have always been a fan of Peter going all the way back to his Incredible Hulk days and still to this day I still remember the immortal line: “Honey. I’m home.” in Hulk 377. You have your own Hulk there Mrs. David and remember, we are hear for you guys like Peter was there 16 years ago for me when my best friend died of cancer. It was New Frontier that helped through that rough patch and it also lead to a TNG RPG game that I ran for the next 4 years (the Excalibur made a cameo and well Calhoun and our crew tore the Prime Directive a new one and fun was had by all. Except our poor ship did not make it.) Thanks for all the fun through the years and I wish you and your family nothing but the best wishes.
Mike
Thank you for keeping us informed. Congrats Peter !
Peter’s work depicts dynamic power and hands-on change day to day in super-hero land. A characteristic he personally seems to be exhibiting. NO wonder his work reads so well, he lives it.
Best to you all ! fmb
Hooray!! Glad to hear about this. Great news.
So glad to hear Mr. David is recovering. I have been a huge fan for a long time. My dad had a stroke when I was about 12. I was very frightened and at the same time frustrated because so much of my mom’s attention that used to go to me now went to him. When I was 18 I left home and have not had any contact with my parents in ten years. Now reading about your experiences, I’m looking at it from a new perspective and thinking about contacting my parents. What do you think, Mr. David? After all this time, should I contact my parents or should I leave well enough alone?
You absolutely should.
PAD
I am thinking about contacting my parents. My father never fully recovered from the stroke. My mom probably resents that I haven’t been helping out in all this time and my little sister probably doesn’t remember me. Maybe contacting them won’t be good for anybody. Maybe better to leave things alone. Y’know it is what it is. But then… maybe I’ll regret it if I don’t. What should I do? Maybe I’m just not ready yet.
My advice, Todd? Contact them. They might be overjoyed to hear from you; if they’re resentful, they’re not going to get any more so just because you called/emailed/wrote/sent up smoke signals/whatever.
And either way, at least you’ll know. Then you’ll know whether or not you need to regret it – and you’ll definitely regret it if you don’t.
Have to agree, at worst you will be no better off.
Some regrets can never be fixed and thus should be avoided. This is one of them. Hey, good luck, hope it all works out.
Peter’s the reason I started writing. He’s got to hang in there at least until I can meet him!
It’s great to hear that Peter is working at getting back to full mobility, but most of all, that he’s participating in things that he loves to do, Kathleen. 🙂
I am glad to see that you are getting around better than expected. You definitely had our house on the edge of our seats. My wife was worried when she saw me, a 47 year old man, with my eyes tearing up at the news. You are still in our thoughts and we wish you continued success in your healing process. Keep getting those hugs!
Wade
Qapla’!
B-)
Glad to hear that you are making progress.
Peter: Time to get writing again. First efforts might not be worth very much, but there is value just in getting words on paper, then criticising them to discover what is a better arrangement.
No questions.
Just happy to hear of the positive progress.
Still keeping good thoughts for your family.
Thanks for the update. It was great to see you all at Farpoint and it’s wonderful to hear how well Peter continues to do.
I’m so glad to hear and thank you so much for the update! Will you and Peter do another writing team up? I love the Ghostbusters story you two wrote.
We are so happy for the good news. Hugs from Spain.
Peter
You remain an inspiration to many. Best wishes
I’m so happy to hear about the family and Peter’s progress! Thank you all for inviting fans your lives this way. It is a hard thing to do in general and I can only imagine more so with the public at large. I’m finishing Peter’s book on writing comics and it made me smile.
I’m 29 And I have been reading comics regularly since the age of 7. And, thanks to having older brothers who read comics, I have read almost everything Peter has written for Marvel and much of his DC work too. So my trips to the shop for his X-Factor book have become a part of a long tradition.
I’m happy he can continue doing what he loves, being with the people he loves and being my comic hero! My prayers are with you as you recover.
As a fan of ‘Original Trek’ (as I believe it’s called nowadays)I’ve read and enjoyed many of your novels, Peter – and am currently reading your ‘Battlestar Galactica’ story, ‘Sagittarius is Bleeding'(loved the ‘Bladerunner’ quote on page 381 BTW!).
I have a question about buying through the Amazon link: my account is with Amazon.co.uk. Will purchases made there still count the same towards your funds? Just wondered – I’ll hold off buying for a while as I’d like to help.
I wish you a speedy and continued recovery!
Just wanted to touch base and say well done and congratulations to PAd, and his beautiful family.
As much as PAD himself is an inspiration to us, his wife and daughters are too; dealing with what is a trying time and not only maintaining their equilibrium, but keeping us all informed so we can follow along with everything and show our love for such a wonderful family.
So, from the UK, and the rest of the world – thank you…
Thank you, Kath for the updates.
Thank you Caroline for taking good care of the old man.
But most importantly, thank YOU Peter, for not leaving us yet.
You, good sir, just added another string to the “living inspiration” bow you wield so deftly. Rest well, and I look forward to updates here, and in X-Factor recap pages ;).
So glad to hear about the steady improvement. May it continue.
Q: Where are the BID reprints? I’m going into withdrawl, man… I need my fix.
Hi,
Happy to read that you’re doing better.
I enjoy your stuff and just had a quick question if possible?
Do you know if marvel is planning on putting out more of your Hulk Visionaries tpb’s?
I have every one so far but noticed that one has not come out in a long while.
Thanks! and I’m pulling for you to make a full recovery.
gtc
I’m so glad that PAD is showing such improvement — and that the rest of the family is hanging in there in such a highly stressful time. Kudos to and prayers for you all.
Hi there! No questions, just appreciation that Peter’s recovering!
(OK, one question – I remember reading somewhere that Peter didn’t have the Marvel Universe figure of Spider-Man 2099. Has that been rectified yet?)
No questions here, either — just a belated “phew!” Glad to hear that Peter’s bowling again; I know how much that’s got to mean to him.
And thank you many times over, Kath — not just for keeping all of us in the loop during this whole scare, but for being there for Peter. I’m sure that thoughts of you and Caroline (and the other three girls) were one of the things that gave him this Hulk-like tenacity.
Glad to hear you’re doing well, PAD
Rick
Kathleen, I am so glad to hear that Peter is doing better, in fact, that all of you are doing a little bit better.
I thought of your situation while I was reading an article in Time by Steven Brill, about medical bills, and the ridiculous overcharging they do to make more money. For example, itemized charging for a surgical gown or a blanket that should be part of the routine hospital charge. One of my friends is going through this sort of hëll with a crucial surgery she had to have, and she too dreads the mail. Brill argues that all medical bills are actually up for negotiation.
Having gone with limited insurance during parts of my writing career, it occurred to me that you folks also might have a less ideal insurance situation… that maybe, like some of the people in the article, a medical billing advocate might be able to help advocate for you and slash the cost of these bills. I.e. if the bills are $80,000, you can get it negotiated down to half that or even 20% of that. There are a couple of resources mentioned in the article, which is called “Bitter Pill” and appears in its entirety at Time online.
So glad that PAD is doing so well. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to buy the Darkness of the Light and give it a try, and really enjoyed it. Now I’m about 80% done with the Heights of the Depths, and loving it… and I’m assuming that there will be another sequel (unless PAD somehow wraps everything up in the last 20%.)
So my question is, has PAD gone back to writing yet, or is he still too focused on his PT and such?
Best wishes for continued speedy recovery.
Doug
Hi Peter and Kathleen,
I just wanted to say how glad I am you are both doing well.
I was a Trekkie as a teenager but lost interest in Trek along the way, but bought Peter’s last three Trek novels to show a little gesture of support. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Peter has reignited my love for Trek, and I am looking forward to reading The Camelot Papers once I finish Blind Man’s Bluff in a few days. (Poor Morgan, I really like her but it’s not looking good).
Any chance of a new New Frontier Trek novel in the next few years or was your relationship with previous editorial in Pocket Books?