Friday night (March 11th), around midnight, Fred Patten had a stroke that left the right side of his body paralyzed. He managed to call 911 and was taken to Daniel Freeman Hospital in Marina Del Rey.
We visited Fred briefly Saturday but got shooed out when he got tired. His vision is blurred, and he keeps his eyes closed since his eyes keep going in and out of focus -- like a roller coaster ride you can't get off. His speech is also blurred, but pretty understandable. Right now there's no point in bringing him books. He does welcome visitors, and the ICU doesn't insist that only relatives may come -- but may be busy with doctors running tests on him or get tired.
As of today, there is little change, which is actually a good thing - any radical change at this point would almost certainly be bad news, so slow, steady improvements are the best things to hope for at the moment.