April 27, 2003
Came home from hospital around noon. Great to be outdoors and not have an IV stand to drag around. It’s the little things: I can walk, I can see, I have a house, someone who puts up with me. Thankyou God.

Actually I’m still an outpatient and will need to return tonight at 7:30 to get a stomach injection (not as bad as it sounds, I got my first before I checked out and it didn’t hurt at all. Needle goes straight in. Amazing). And then I return in the morning and again at night, for five days. It’s a forty minute drive, one way, but I get to sleep in my own bed. Seems like a fair trade. The blood clot is still a mystery and three doctors are trying to figure it out. They are ordering all sorts of tests and I’m going to have to endure a colon-rectal exam (they knock me out with that “no memory of it” drug, which is kind of scary when you think of them entering the “Hey, that’s an exit!” territory).

Speaking of Exit Terriotry, the first doctor who looked at me, put on one of those gloves and told me to roll over on my side. He also warned my wife not to look, but she did. After the probe, he asked me if I had been taking Pepto Bismol and I said yes. Evidently, the proof was in the pudding, so to speak. Later, when I had my own room, another doctor came in and started asking me questions. As he did he started to put on the glove. I couldn't help it, and said, "Are we going some place with that?" And he laughed and assured me he was only going to listen to my heart. That's what they all say.

Thanks for all the thoughtful, supportive and funny E-mails. No Eric, the next issue of True West won’t be delayed. My staff is on top of the whole deadline deal and it goes out the door to Kansas City tomorrow. Going to be a very strong issue.

While in the hospital, I read most of “Jeff Milton: A Good Man With A Gun,” by J. Evetts Haley. Milton was a fascinating guy. Backed down John Wesley Hardin and John Selman. Shot it out with numerous outlaws. Really a tough hombre who lived to be 85. He finally married at 57 (his bride was 40) and one time she noticed a scar under his chin and said, “Jeff, who shot you there?” And the old gunfighter said, “A man who is not alive.”

"The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer."
 —Victor Borge