82-year-old powerhouse

Just back in San Fran after a lightning trip home. Tim's dad had a massive heart attack two weeks ago and was on life support in the ICU when we flew back to Auckland expecting the worst, a horrible nervy, bumpy flight past Hurricane Flossie(then menacing Hawaii) with an unwanted Sydney stopover, making for nearly a 24-hour trip with minimal legroom and salty, lardy nonsense for dinner. Tim's passport had expired and while we managed to get out of SFO--Orange Alert be damned--we noticed our mistake in Sydney, as did security personnel who rang North Shore Hospital to verify Tim's story.
Tim's dad looked awful the first time we saw him (tubes from every orifice, pale yellow color, unconscious) and strangely small under his warming blanket and shiny metallic shower cap. But each day brought amazing progress. Soon he was breathing on his own, sitting up, drinking cups of tea, recognising family, remembering names, speaking in full sentences. Now he's just about back to normal and he gets tremendous satisfaction from hearing how he cheated death the day he went out for a new letter box and collapsed at the hardware store only to be miraculously revived by CPR-certified staff and a defibrillator salesman who happened to be in the store for a demo. When he hears that he had quite literally stopped breathing and was unresponsive on the concrete floor, he cackles with the joy of coming back to life. He is an inspiration.