The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 4

A 4 The Sun Sunday, Feb. 10, 1985 Schroeder William Schroeder Valentine (Continued from A-l) their age, the paper yellowing at the edges. And the 1940s formal wear of the couples holding hands in the middle of lace-ringed hearts is easy to date, but Reba said the cards are as appropriate today as they were when George Ross bought them. "I think love has its own language and it hasn't changed any," she said. The Rosses don't claim the purchase of valentines is the secret of their marriage, but the cards didn't hurt it either, they said.

"If they (couples) gave a little bit more thought about how they feel about each other instead of thinking about what they can squabble about, they might stay together longer," George said. After 45 years, Reba said she has come to expect a valentine under her pillow on the night of Feb. 13, but she never has been able to stop the tears when she sees it and reads the message inside. The valentines mean more to her every year, she said, because her husband's health is poor. In 1970, after a near-fatal stroke, George, who is 66, added a few words of his own to the bottom of the valentine.

He wrote: "P.S., I almost left last October, but realizing how much I would miss you, I decided not to go." George said he chose Valentine's Day instead of Christmas or any other holiday to give his wife cards because "I suppose that's one of those love things, you know, Valentine's Day is more for love than Christmas or Easter." The sentimental streak in George's personality came as a -surprise to his girlfriend and her family in 1939. "When I told my mother I was getting married, she said I was going to be awfully lonely because he was so shy," Reba said. "All this from a shy guy," she laughed, showing off her cards covered with red hearts, smiling Cupids, ribbons and lace. "We've had such a happy marriage," Reba said. During their 45 years together, the Rosses have traveled to 49 states, participating in trapshoot-ing competitions.

George is a champion of the sport, which has shooters fire at painted clay disks or "birds" released from a small trap at a speed of about 60 mph. The cards are testament to the friendship, love and companionship that has been woven throughout their marriage. But it may be the humor as much as the sentimentality that has helped them endure the years. George's reaction to his wife's display of the valentines was to quip: "I told her she'd get in trouble for keeping all those scraps of paper." And her response: "I really just stay with him to get a valentine card every year." Reba said she decided to share her valentines so people will see "it's not too late to be sentimental with each other." and angry but appropriately so under the circumstances." Mudd said it was often difficult to judge Schroeder's poor communication because he responded more to some people than others and would not talk to some people at all. His greatest rapport is with his wife, whom the doctors commended for the strength of her support.

But at times, Mudd said, "the strain shows." Progress over the last two weeks has been hampered by a temperature that reached 105 degrees at times and may have been a result of a reaction to one of the drugs he is taking, or to the flu DeVries and some other staff members have suffered, or both. Yet the doctors are alert to the possibility he may have an infection related to his more than 30 blood transfusions. That setback has delayed the timing of the plans for Schroeder's move to an apartment that is being prepared for him and Mrs. Schroeder. Their stay there is intended as a step toward their return home to Jasper, DeVries said.

DeVries's team has been progressively weaning Schroeder from the dependency of the hospi-tal and giving his family the needed confidence to live at home and know help will be available if needed. Over recent weeks the level of nursing care has been reduced and the family has taken more responsibility in caring for him in the hospital. Mrs. Schroeder and some of He is more alert and his mood has improved since the stroke, but the lack of significant neurological improvement since Christmas is "discouraging," Fox said. "The prognosis for much neurological recovery is certainly guarded and not good," he added.

Schroeder usually whispers, but he sometimes speaks up, and he uses his head or hand signals instead of speaking or communicates by writing on a pad. Dr. Lawrence R. Mudd, a psychiatrist whose role in Schroeder's case began in the patient-selection process and then extended to treatment for the depression, said he and the patient "are not carrying on any involved conversations" but rather speaking a few words about the weather and other everyday things. Most of Schroeder's comments come in response to questions, although he will initiate conversations, Mudd said.

The psychiatrist's daily routine often includes eating breakfast with Schroeder and his wife, Margaret. Yet, DeVries said, "Sometimes he surprises you with very coherent sentences." One came at Christmas when, according to the surgeon, Schroeder said: "Thank you for giving me this day." But for someone who was so in charge of his life and so exuberant with the new lease on life provided by the implant, the communication block is perhaps the most important problem. Schroeder is embarrassed, Mudd said, and at times he is "frustrated, irritable, (Continued from A-l) had visits from people he has not seen for several years and he knows them. As a result of the stroke, even if Schroeder did not have an artificial heart, he "couldn't function on his own and would need custodial care," Fox said. For instance, he could not balance his checkbook and see to routine financial matters.

Schroeder has lived for 77 days on an artificial heart. Dr. Barney B. Clark was kept alive for 112 days with the first permanent artificial heart. Although both men suffered neurological complications, their surgeon, Dr.

William C. DeVries, said he planned to evaluate the device's merit on the basis of the seven cases for which he has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. He said he was interviewing candidates for a third implant and would carry it out as soon as someone met the criteria. Meanwhile, officials of the Hershey Medical Center of Pennsylvania State University say they expect to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration shortly to implant a different model of an air-powered artificial heart in a human. Because many stroke victims regain significant functions months after a stroke, Schroeder's doctors said earlier they needed several weeks to better evaluate the brain damage.

set to leave hospital their children are learning how to operate the drive systems that power the heart. They are also learning how to prevent infections by keeping clean the skin around the hoses in his upper abdomen that carry the air that powers his mechanical heart. Although the Schroeder apartment is near the hospital, the move will involve much insecurity because the chance of sudden death would be much greater if the heart failed there than in the hospital. "If you want life outside the hospital you accept the risks and a different set of contingencies," DeVries said. "The Schroeders want Bill to achieve his goal of going home despite his very severe communicative abilities." YOU SAW DT DIM (PLUS ALL THE BEST IN BOLD, BRASH SOLIDS, TOO) At Harris', we have all the news that fits in prints: Graffiti prints.

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