Part IV 'King for a day' December 2001 was a month full of hope & progress for Robbin. He was finally feeling better and his physical rehab was going very well. By new years day he was sitting up on his own and much more alert & peppy largely because the doctors had backed off on his medication. On New Year's day he said to me 'This year is gonna be the year of 'The King'....the year the King comes back...I'm gonna show people I can still do it!'. I fully believed him...he was so full of confidence and energy all of the sudden. He had even written 2 new songs.... If December 2001 was positive for him....January 2002 was a month of contradiction, confusion and sorrow for me. From January 4th -7th I had a friend in town from Chicago...of course a RATT/Robbin fan! He was looking forward to seeing the King after speaking on the phone with him a few times and sharing Christmas gifts/cheer with him. Robbin liked him already....just talking to him on the phone....and was looking forward to meeting him. He asked me New Years' day 'When's Sully Comin?' I picked him up at the airport the night of Friday January 4th and LITERALLY while we were leaving LAX my cell phone rings....It's King...'Are you guys comin' tonight?' I said 'Well, it's late, we'll come tomorrow so you can get some rest'. He said 'NO!...I want you guys to come tonight and watch a movie with me' The first thing he says to Sully is 'Hey man, glad you could make it....You don't own any of my guitars do you?' Sully, bewildered says...'Uhh... no'. King says....'Good. I like YOU then!' ...while shooting me a mock scowl!! We talked & joked for about an hour until Robbin fell asleep in mid sentence around 12:00 am....we quietly left. The next day was supposed to be a fun day....a memorable day. Robbin & I had gotten permission from his doctor to go out on pass!!!! We got a 5 hour pass. We had it all planned out: we were going to 'El Compadre' for lunch and then to the movies to see "Lord of the Rings'. He was soooo looking forward to seeing that movie on the big screen...he had read all of the books and was a HUGE fan of that series. He was also looking forward to getting outside that hospital for the first time in almost 2 years. I asked another friend, Brad Kelley, to come with me & Sully just to make sure we had enough help getting Robbin and the wheelchair in & out of my vehicle safely. I was in a great mood because I recognized that this day was a big step in his recovery. He was going to get a taste of the outside world again. I was not ready for the 180 degree turn the day was about to take... We arrived at 11:00 am and something is definitely wrong....Robbin was incoherent and sweating PROFUSELY. He wasn't making any sense and kept asking for his father. I had left the room to talk with a nurse & Sully comes running out of the room saying 'Get somebody QUICK...he's passed out & turning blue!!' Within 15 minutes the nursing staff had administered CPR, pumped his stomach & called 911. The paramedics were there immediately....They rushed him away to Cedars Sinai Hospital as the 3 of us were standing there in total shock. We stuck around to see if we could find out anything about his condition but they wouldn't tell us anything. We 3 decided to go to 'El Compadre' anyway & have a few beers for Robbin....but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was just not right. What just happened?? He was fine last night.... Robbin was at Cedars for a week....He was not eating at all in the hospital and looked pale, withdrawn & groggy. He lost 20 lbs. That week. He told me that someone at Hancock had 'accidentally doubled up' his medication and that is what caused his problems. I was skeptical, I suspected something far more sinister had caused the meltdown...but I kept it to myself. I went to see him on tuesday and brought with me his 3 new Epiphone guitars that had arrived that monday. I thought they would cheer him up & maybe he could play them a little to pass the time. He seemed uninterested, apathetic and very down. ''All I want to do is sleep. But I keep having horrible dreams so I can't even do that' . His nurse there was WONDERFUL...I wish I remembered her name. She was so concerned about him and was physically beautiful on top of that!! I think she was 25 or so and had absolutely no clue who RATT was!! As always...He had a nickname for her ....'Florence'....as in 'Nightingale'. After getting back to Hancock Park he seemed energized & started in again on his physical rehab with a passion....sometimes. For the rest of January, visiting him was 'like a box of chocolates'...I never knew which Robbin I would be getting. The determined energetic, hopeful Robbin, or the groggy, sleepy, grouchy Robbin. He had started drinking again but even that couldn't account for the sometimes dreamlike state he seemed to be in. Then I found out that a few of his old 'friends' had started visiting him again. People from his past that should have stayed in his past.... for his sake. Later that month, we had planned to order Chinese food in & watch the Superbowl together at Hancock Park. That morning just as I was getting ready to leave home, he calls....'Dude, I'm sorry...I'm at Cedars again.' Basically it was a repeat of what had happened on January 5th. Something was definitely going on.... February/March and Light at the End of the Tunnel: During these 2 months he made solid progress, physically, and was getting stronger & stronger. One day in February we finally got to go out on our Pass. I was amazed when I walked in...he sat up and got into his wheelchair by himself...effortlessly. He was dressed in streetclothes, shaved, hair pulled back into a ponytail & ready to go!! We had a GREAT day, we went for lunch at 'El Compadre' and when we got there he had another surprise for me....he said. 'I'm going in there on my own 2 feet...get the crutches' I thought there was NO WAY he was ready for that.. 'Are you...sure???' It was 60 long feet from the back parking lot to the tiny table...but he made it!! Immediately the 2 guys 'Flaco' & 'Chiquito' that had served Robbin since the RATT days came over...'Chiquito' says 'Robbin...you look soo good, you look clean, It's good to see you'. He said 'Gracias me amigos, Dos Cervezas...por favor!' After we had ordered Robbin told me a story about those two guys...'You know, when I was really down & out and didn't even have the money to eat McDonalds...me & Rosie (his black labrador) would show up at the back door & beg for a taco or something....they never refused me. I love those guys.' Now I understood why he was so in Love with that place. We ate a fantastic meal & had a few more 'Cervezas' and even a few shots of Tequila....At one point I said 'No, no...no more...I have to drive'. He ordered them anyway and ended up drinking them both! He insisted on paying the check...$20 food bill & $40 alcohol!! He left a crisp $100 bill and we left quickly. We had just cashed his Royalty check from 'Wicken Music Publishing' and he had a few bucks in his pocket...He was on top of the world. He didn't have a lot of money but his generosity ruled over all....It almost seemed like a tonic for him to be able to give. In March he started talking about getting an Apartment and began looking thru the papers & literature from some local places. He said 'What I really want is one of these quaint local 'cottage' type houses...just a 2 bedroom...but I just can't swing it without a room mate, do you know anybody??' He ended up settling on a 1 bedroom Apt. in a local landmark of sorts...the mid-Wilshire district 'Park La Brea' complex...He said 'Reasonably priced & reasonably fashionable, fit for a King!' He made several more attempts at getting a roommate, including a friend from Seattle, but it just didn't work out. He would say 'I've got to find a roommate...I can't live alone'. We started going out on pass regularly, looking for new furniture and furnishings for the place. We bought a set of beautiful black leather couches and put them on hold...waiting for the day he moved in. They were 'Just like the ones I had in my house'. He had me on the hunt for some small oriental rugs to use on the hardwood floor in the living room area. He was scheduled to move in on April 1st...my birthday!! |