The Daily Rick

I'm tired. This whole hospital fiasco has done nothing but stress me out. My eyes are killing me. I think there's some dust or an eyelash or something up in my eyelids and it's really irritating. I'm all stuffy and I've been sneezing all day. Am I a victim of Spring allergies? In past years, I've been hit by this to some extent but this is the worst, by far. Is this from being in a sterile hospital room for a week then suddenly being released into the pollenated, germ-infested world? Who knows.

I miss my girlfriend. And I'll miss her even more next week as I've taken a position to work nights. On what, I have no idea. But the money's good and money's what I need. I'll definitely have lunch with her every day next week, if I'm able and if she's able since I'm gonna lose my nights with her...the only time we have together. Fuck....this sucks.

Got an email today from FedEx saying I have a package being sent from Dark Horse again. What the hell is Scott Allie up to this time? He's been really great, rising above and beyond for me. Hell, all the Hellboy fans have been tremendous. Check it out. I don't know if I deserve any of this, but I'm not in any position to say 'no', financially.

Thanks to Scott Allie, to Mike and Christine Mignola, to Drew Struzan, to everyone who's donated their amazing work to the cause. And thanks to my darling Lindsey, my shining light in all this darkness.

It's quite amazing the amount of support I've gotten over this sudden illness. I mean, look at THIS. Complete strangers in some cases reaching out to help. Sometimes, I really have tons of hope for this fuckin' planet.

So...here we are in April, and what an eventful past few days it's been.

Just days ago, I was planning on taking my girlfriend out of dodge for a few days, out of the city and into one of those beautiful romantic bed & breakfast places in Santa Barbara. That week I started having these weird health symptoms, namely terribly headaches and persistent nausea and vomiting. Nice, huh? So the morning we were about to get ready for this trip I've been anticipating for about a month, we instead went to the local emergency room to check it out. The nurse on-call went balls-nuts when she saw my blood pressure with was something that cheetahs have or something. They ended up admitting me, doing some fancy scans and it turns out I had a stroke. I'm 30 years old and I had a fucking stroke. I was admitted immediately. They stuck me with every needle they had and I had no less than 3 IV's before I left that joint.

It seems like everyone I knew visited and it was great. My blood pressure would rise here and there but only because my pals are so goddamn funny. Best of all was my Linds, who was there every day. She was so strong through this whole ordeal and I could not have made it through it without her. She is my angel. She is my light.

So, now I'm finally home and very happy to be. I had to call my doctor today because I for some reason had a fever and rash today. I've gotten my fever to come down but the Benadryl's not exactly saving my life.

To add a little insult to injury, I've recieved hundreds, literally hundreds of emails with attached viruses. What the fuck? Who hates me suddenly?

Anyway....I'm here. I'm doing okay. And I plan to stay around for a very long time.

Cutest picture ever. Not of me...

http://img45.photobucket.com/albums/v137/ricksey/Rick%20and%20Linds/Hellboy.jpg

R.