Ich bin ein [Texas-Born] Berliner

In a recent comment on the previous posting, Paul’s friend Leonard Marcus expressed his concern that there had been no new posting to the blog since Paul’s birthday. I realize that others may share that concern, so I felt it appropriate to share my email reply to Leonard with you all to allay any fears that the lack of news may cause.

Here’s what I told Leonard.

My name is Perry Nelson and I am the administrator of Paul’s blog. I have been posting second hand information that I’ve received from his friends in Germany about his condition since his stroke. My primary contact, Dr. Stefan Kempinski, said in his last communication the day after Paul’s birthday that he was sitting up and had a lot of presents and flowers that day. Stefan had planned to take him out on his birthday for a meal away from the hospital, but when the day arrived, Stefan felt that Paul wasn’t yet up to going out so that event was canceled. In that same message, Stefan told me that he (Stefan) would be away from Berlin for the next three or four weeks so I haven’t had any further word since then. Stefan’s absence therefore accounts for why there hasn’t been any further posting on the blog so you shouldn’t infer anything ominious about the lack of later information. Unfortunately I myself don’t have any direct way to communicate with Paul.

I will continue to post to the blog as I learn other details and I am hopeful that the time will come soon when he will be able to carry on some kind of conversation by phone or gain access to the Internet and be able to communicate by email. If and when that occurs, I’ll let everyone know via the blog.