Blah, blah, blah . . .

I know this is supposed to be Bob's blog, and I am really hoping at some point, he'll take over, or at least feel up to making more frequent appearances. I'm starting to feel like the opening act for Guns 'n' Roses . . . trying to appease an audience that's on the verge of a riot, while the headliner lounges back in the dressing room, partying with groupies . . . Me (clears throat): "a-hem . . . okay, for my next number, ladies and gentlemen, I'll be performing my grandmother's favorite song, 'Green Green Grass of Home' on the organ . . ." crowd's thunderous roar: "Boooooooooooooo! AXL! AXL! AXL . . . "

Before heading up to the hospital last night, I met my good pal, Kristina, for an early dinner last night. We met at Brasa, on Grand Avenue. Good grub. I ordered the pulled pork, deep fried yucca (sounds exotic and was quite deelish, but I still think it was just fried potatoes disguised with a fancy name), and collard greens. Kristina had breaded fish, beans and rice and cornbread. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals; portions were perfect, and price was very reasonable, too. I ordered dry rubbed chicken, with chips and guacamole to take up to Bob. It was nice to see Kristina, catch up, share a good meal. We got to Brasa early, before the dinner crowd; by the time we were saying our good-byes, the joint was hopping and people were waiting in clusters at the door for a table. We both give it two thumbs' up; give it a try, folks! There's also one in Mpls. Don't know if this is a local outfit or a chain; the website doesn't give much but all the meat is from local producers, which is cool.

I got up to Bob's room around 6:30 or so. Walked into his room and was met by his new roommate, a large man sprawled out on his hospital bed, kickin' back with legs wide open, hospital gown hiked up around his hips, displaying a traumatizing peep show all for god and everyone to take a gander. Wooooooaaaaahhhh!! Don't look, Jen . . . DO NOT look! I smiled at the ceiling and scurried past to Bob's bed by the window. I know it's hot in those rooms but wow. Is that necessary . . .??? Bob thinks his hospital records say, "Mr. Andrzejek is an easy-going fellow. Gets along well with anyone. Put the wackos with him . . ." Yesterday, there was another man sharing the room with Bob. Not sure what his diagnosis was, but everything he did was s . . .o . . . . o . . . o . . . s . . . l . . .o . . .w . . . . Took him four hours to pack up for discharge. When he left, Bob discovered all his very own toiletries in the bathroom lined up neatly, labels all facing forward. Dirty towels folded neatly in the shower. Bob's neat, but not that neat. Weird stuff up here on 7D, man.

I brought in a pretend candle for Bob to have in his room; it's very pretty—a purple glass bottle with the bottom cut out, sets in a metal base over a "votive" candle (battery-run). The "candle" even flickers like a real one. Bob loves candles but obviously can't have them in the hospital, so I thought this would be cool for his room. Gretchen had given it to me for my birthday back in November; I'd forgotten it at her house, so she brought it to the salon yesterday, along with a really cool book called The Cancer Poetry Project, a compilation of poetry written by cancer patients, edited by a woman from Minneapolis, whose husband is a cancer survivor . . . I brought that up, too, so Bob could see it, though he'll probably want to wait till he gets home to start reading it.

We had candlelight dinner; well, Bob ate while I sampled a few (read: dang near all) of the chips with guacamole, standing at his bedside table. He loved the chicken I brought up; however, even though the guacamole was not at all spicy, there must be something in avocados that irritate Bob's mouth because as much as he wants to, he just can't eat 'em. He had a caramel Rice Krispy bar for dessert, a special request treat brought in by his mom.

Bob pointed out some swelling on his right ankle (his "cankle," he called it. It's the only thing with any substance on his body at this point). He noticed it earlier, after taking a walk around 7D with his parents. Oddly enough, he realized he was actually walking on the entire surface of his right foot—heel to toe—with no pain, something he hasn't been able to do in months. When he got back to his room, after his parents left, he pulled down his sock to check his right foot out and realized it was twice the size of his left. He showed the nurse, who alerted the doc on staff. They ordered an ultra sound, to see if a blood clot was causing the swelling. I left the hospital around 8 p.m. and the ultra sound still hadn't happened. If it is a clot, it's just a matter of giving him a blood thinner to break it up. If it's not, it could just be from all the fluids that have been pumped into Bob over the past few days.

When I got home, Penny and Jim were still up. We watched a little coverage of the Olympics, then they both said their good nights and went to bed. Bob and I texted a few messages back and forth. The techs eventually came for him and did the ultrasound; no clot or anything was found. Guess it's just fluid build up that will eventually dissipate, like what had happened to his left hand the last time he was here.

Just got off the phone with Bob this morning, and good news, kids! He said he's got a good blog entry going and should have it ready to go this afternoon! Stay tuned, oh loyal fans! Have a great weekend! LOVE!