Memo On His Way Back To SLC

Utah Jazz center Mehmet Okur flew out of Istanbul today on his way back to Salt Lake City. Memo's father's situation stabilized enough yesterday so that a tracheostomy (procedures on the neck to open a direct airway through an incision in the trachea) could be performed. Tomorrow the doctors plan on doing a gastrostomy (a surgical opening into the stomach to create an artificial external opening into the stomach for nutritional support or gastrointestinal compression) on Abdullah Okur. Memo was assured by the doctors that his fathers situation had stabilized enough for the two surgeries. Memo's father gained consciousness on Thursday. Memo's trip will last approximately 15 hours.