Part III Getting up & Around...: After his back surgery, it took Robbin quite awhile just be able to sit up in bed. He had been in bed so long, immobile, that all of his muscles had atrophied and he had put on quite a bit of weight also. He joked about it a lot. I would walk in & half the time he would have nothing on but his hospital gown...hiked up around his waist! He would say 'Hold on let Jabba put the 'magic mushroom' away!' You can guess what he was talking about! He had a well known reputation as a nudist as I found out from stories I heard later at his memorial service. He constantly joked around & laughed about it...his spirit was unbroken. 3 or 4 times a week he had physical rehab at the hospital. The 2 rehab guys were known as 'The Alpha Males' by Robbin. They would come in & literally have to muscle him into a sitting position and then, with the help of a special board, slide him off the bed & into his wheelchair. Those guys loved Robbin & didn't even blink an eye when Robbin was frustrated and started spewing TORRENTS of expletives in all directions! The rehab room was down the hall on the other side of the building. I would sometimes show up when he was in the middle of his session. I would stand back out of the way & out of his view & just watch. It was amazing to see him working HARD just to lift his legs off the ground in a sitting position. The pain & effort on his face were intense. At this point he wasn't even close to walking yet or strong enough to stand. I would encourage him to do more. "the more you do, the faster you'll get out of here'. He would say 'Yeah, Yeah..I know I'm trying as hard as I can'. One day I overstepped my 'encouragement' & suggested that maybe he wasn't trying hard enough. He let me have it immediately. "Don't fucking preach to me! I'm doing the best I can!' I was only trying to motivate him but I guess I hit a nerve with my comments. The King still was 'The King'!! I took it as a good sign.... One day in November of 2001, I got a call from him 'Dude, I walked today!! I took about 20 steps on my own!'. That was a MAJOR accomplishment for him. 'Will you come down tomorrow? I want you to see for yourself'. The next day at 12:00 noon I went & watched as The King took about 20 more steps...with the help of a parallel bar setup. He was so overjoyed, tears were streaming down his cheeks. He said 'I am getting OUT of here man.... SOON!' . 'Panda Claus' and Christmas 2001': Early in December 2001 he started answering the phone 'Panda Claus...Ho HO HO Ho' in a very low 'Jabba the Hut' like voice! It was hilarious to hear....he did it EVERY time he answered in December. I thought he was just in good spirits and looking forward to the holidays....I found out differently. He told me 'I don't care about Christmas..it doesn't really matter to me, It'll be just like last year...alone in the hospital...big fun'. Despite his obvious depression, he was putting on the happy face when answering the phone...just so that he wouldn't bring people down during the holidays. Typical unselfish King. 'This Christmas will be different'....I thought to myself. He asked me one day around December 20th. 'Hey, I hate to ask but do you have a VCR I could borrow? I want to rent some movies, I'm sick of TV'. All he had in the room was a 9" (!) TV that got only 3.5 channels. Invariably he was stuck watching 'Oprah' or 'Judge Judy' type shows all day. It was funny cause he would sometimes be totally engrossed in Judge Judy when I stopped by. He would say 'Sshh....wait a minute this is almost over, Let me see what happens here.' Totally comical & very un-King-like!! I told him 'Well no...I really don't have a spare VCR...besides your TV doesn't even have an input for one'. He said 'Ok it was just a thought...I thought you might have an old one lying around'. I was lying to him...I had already bought him a 19" TV/VCR combo for Christmas. and I had put out the word to my family & Guitar collector friends. He started to get ALL KINDS of stuff in the mail, Movies, CD's, Xmas Cards/letters, A small Xmas tree, flowers....even some frozen chocolate dipped Strawberries shipped from New York! All from people he didn't know. He would say 'WHERE is all of this stuff coming from??? WHY are these people sending me gifts?? This is so wonderful...Do YOU know anything about it?' I would just look at him deadpan and say 'Nope...It must be your fans out there that love you'. He said 'But HOW do they know where I am??' The look on his face was priceless when opening these gifts...just like a little kid. He made me keep a list of names of everyone who sent something, no matter how small, so that he could send out thank you cards. My wife & I visited on December 23 and surprised him with the home cooked Steak & Baked Potato dinner he had said he was craving...my wife Tracy cooked it all up fresh & we left immediately so that it would still be hot when we got there. We took our 2 children, Erich 5 & Kayleigh 7 and they sang 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' for him. He was in tears...as they were singing. I talked with him late Christmas eve on the phone & he was soooo happy....just on cloud 9. Bobby Blotzer & his girlfriend (Misty I think?) had been there that evening to visit and had brought some awesome framed candid photos from the RATT days...you know those intimate/private shots of them just clowning around on tour!. Warren had also been by & they had had a WONDERFUL visit just laughing & joking around. Those 2 guys coming to see him at Xmas meant the world to him....more than any gift ever could. Just the fact that they cared enough to come & see him. I wanted to tell them that at Robbin's memorial service but i just didn't want to intrude on their privacy that day...It was tough enough for them. This was my most meaningful/special Christmas EVER. A Christmas I'll NEVER EVER forget. I never realized fully...giving is definitely a lot more rewarding & fun than receiving. I got my best gift ever just seeing him happy...happy like I'd not seen him since I met him. Another life lesson from The King....
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