From Alex Pournelle, Dr. Pournelle’s son:
“Jerry had a small stroke. He is recovering well at a local hospital. Prognosis is good, though they’re running more tests and he’s expected to stay at least another day or two.
“He felt well enough to call Mom [Mrs. Pournelle] from the hospital.
“Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. More updates when we have them.”
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UPDATE – 19 December 2014
“Update: Jerry continues to make much progress. Even in the last day the differences are marked. He has moved yet again to a long-term acute rehab assignment for speech/throat and physical therapy, where he will stay at least through the holidays.
“In a twist of fate far too strange to put into fiction, Jerry ended up in the exact same room as did Harlan Ellison a month earlier, after his own stroke. Harlan related this in a call today to get an update on Jerry. Harlan, by the way, sounds completely recovered on the phone—another good sign.
“We expect Jerry to start updates on the website presently, but they will be short at first. He’s re-learning to type, now just with one finger ‘and a claw’, so patience is appreciated.
“He called after the transfer, to say it was 17 minutes by car from the one facility to the next. Not the sign of someone out of touch with his surroundings or the passage of time.
“His cognition appears little affected. He keeps answering the many ‘do you know where you are?’ questions straight, but he’s sorely tempted to start embroidering the truth…”
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Sounds like he will not need it, but make sure his doctors
are current on the latest highly effective stroke amelioration
treatment; Removal of blood clots from brain arteries.
That’s a fantastic update, and Dr. Pournelle and his family continue to be in my prayers–it’s just that my prayers are happier now. Godspeed, and thanks! 🙂
There are few people I have never met that have had such an impact on my life. I and my family have enjoyed your words of wisdom and the clear perspective you bring with them. Godspeed on your recovery Dear Sir.
You are in my prayers.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, and the best possible Christmas and New Year!
Love your books. A description of Inferno still gets college kids to go “what I need to read this”. I hope you feel well soon. Merry Christmas.
Good Luck. Sir. You are in my prayers (If there IS a God, I suspect he’ll get a chuckle at them coming from an Agnostic. 🙂
Jerry:
I’ve enjoyed your work ever since I first read Mote when it came out. Please get well, I look forward to more commentary at Chaos Manor in the future.
May God Bless you and keep you and your family.
Jerry,
You’ve inspired me ever since I read a Step Farther Out in its first edition, and I hope that you stick around quite a while longer. Be healthy and be well
Thanks for the update.
My best wishes and hopes to all the Pournelle family.
Jerry, I believe you’ll be much improved in short order. In the meantime, at least, a suggestion.
Although knowledge of the product is, I know, nothing new to you, I heartily recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional. Multiple sclerosis left me mostly unable to make effective use of a keyboard and mouse in April 2000. Since then I’ve used generation after generation of Dragon Pro to do everything on my computer, to steadily increasing effect. Along the way, I’ve tried the other speech recognition options and platforms, but all are woefully inadequate by comparison.
/Bruce/ [aka Slasher the (former) Cat Basher]
p.s., Watt Catt, the robot cat I was given at the BIX beta testers party you hosted in 1985, will be 30 next year. He’s under the coffee table in the living room, still up and running.
Prayers for your speedy and thorough recovery.
Jerry,
We are praying for your quick and complete recovery. You’ve enlightened me, delighted me and challenged me to think deeper and differently for a good long while. We look forward to your return to these pages when you run out of Buffy and Firefly (and when Mrs. Pournelle allows it).
Jerry you have been an inspiration to me for many years. I do trust that you will recover quickly and I look forward to many more years of your words of wisdom and penetrating analysis.
If you’ve had enough binge-watching Buffy, I find that you can’t rewatch Firefly too many times.
Julian
Adding you to our prayers as are so many others I expect. Get well soon and relax. You’re always with us.
Please get well soon, our prayers are with you and your family
Prayers for a quick recovery.
Dear Dr. Pournelle:
Of all the authors whose work I have followed over the last 50 years, you are my favorite living author. I hope, with all my heart, that your recovery is rapid, complete, and that you will continue to write new works for a long time to come.
Best wishes and warm regards,
Laurence Wright
Stay with us. You have been our inspiration across the decades, and we love you. We will all pray, and wish fervently to Great Ghu, and beseech the FSM for your speedy and functionally complete recovery.
Remember, the first President Bush asked the nation to pray that our soldiers would not die, and that prayer was mostly answered. So we know that aggregate prayer makes a difference with God. We are all praying for you now Hopefully He will take notice.
Ed
I am sorry I did not write many years earlier to say thank you — your fiction and non-fiction had a profound influence on my life. I went from being Jesuit (a good thing) to a programmer (another good thing) partly because of you. Heck, I watched your kids grow up through Chaos Manor!
I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Thank you again.