Thanks guys. For the record, I thanked him immediately for telling me about the phone call before I asked him to elaborate. Then later, I thanked him again and said I knew it was hard for him to tell me and probably very scary. I also thanked him for answering all my questions about the phone call, validating again that it was probably very hard for him to do.
Just wanted to throw that in there before it got to be a focus of debate... there's SO much to recount-- I had to leave out some details. Otherwise, I'd be voted off the boards for excessive posting in a unanimous decision!
Not to mention, my head is swimming.
I want to leave this out there for more feedback before I respond in more detail. Thanks again.