While the cat's away, Summer 09

	Melting in the Texas heat
	With Nephew Jay before "The Toilet Affair."
	Niece Jordan. Beautiful and talented.
	Gina picks up the last shift.
	BR models his present from Toronto.

Fortuna has started the road to recovery

After 10 hours in the operating room, Gina has started her recovery. The doctors say they were able to remove essentially all of the tumor. Occupational and physical therapy starts tomorrow. Outlook is 4-5 days in the hospital, then 4-6 weeks of recovery in the care of her good friend, Mary Pat.



Little plug for Mary Pat: She occasionally volunteers as a stand-in D.J. on WWOZ in New Orleans.

Keep all the prayers and well wishes coming. Looks like they are working!

Jealous Friend Seeks to One-Up Ill Man

SLIDELL, LA (BS) — Gina, long harboring jealousy over the attention Bobrobert has been getting since his MS diagnosis, has finally gotten a diagnosis of her own.

"When I noticed numbness on my left side, I didn't want to get too excited. Then it progressed into weakness, and I knew I really had something here."

A visit to the neurologist, and an MRI scan of her cervical spine confirmed her suspicions.

"There was this blob at the base of my brain," Gina said, barely able to contain her excitement. "When the doctor said it was a meningioma, I didn't know what that was, but I knew I had to tell Bobrobert right away."

According to the Mayo Clinic, "Meningioma is a tumor that arises from the meninges — the membranes that surround your brain and spinal cord. The majority of meningioma cases are noncancerous (benign), though rarely a meningioma can be cancerous (malignant). Even if a meningioma is benign, it isn't harmless. A meningioma can press on the brain and spinal cord, causing complications such as vision loss or paralysis."

Bobrobert, reached for comment at his Austin home, isn't impressed. "It's probably completely operable and benign. I told her to call me when she's in a wheelchair."

Bobrobert's partner, Steve, was unavailable for comment. People close to the couple report that they are actually heartbroken by the news, and are coping by making inappropriate and tasteless jokes.

"I knew it!", Gina exclaimed when told.

Gina is here!

Gina and BR met in the early Eighties at Louisiana State University in an art class. From the moment I met BR, he has described Gina as his Fortuna, referring to Ignatius' spiritual force from A Conferderacy of Dunces.

It is unusual when one person can share an interpersonal bond with another, but I feel just as close with Gina as BR. She's one of the few people I can really open up to. No judgement. Just insight. Anyway, I'm really glad she's here.