A BIT OF A SETBACK

I never thought I'd say this but, thank God for geeky gifts!  Turns out they are just the thing to help cheer up a nerdy guy who's had some rather disappointing news.

If you are a fan of the TV show Big Bang Theory, as we are, perhaps you will recognize "Soft Kitty",  given to Lex by her dear brother.  It actually sings Sheldon's favorite lullaby!

You see, one of the partners from our cardiologist's group did finally take a look at John's echo but, unfortunately, he thought he saw something around one of John's valves.  Keep in mind that the following message came to me second-hand, via someone who was trying to convince me, and himself, that he should be allowed to check out of the hospital for a few days and come back later. "He said chances are it didn't have anything to do with causing the stroke, but he won't know for sure until he does another test.  Trouble is, they can't get it scheduled before Tuesday at the earliest.  He said it's up to me if I want to check out and go home until then."  I stared at him for a minute, until he finally went on, saying "Well, he did say he would prefer it if I stayed in the hospital, since we lived so far away. That way if anything did happen, I'd already be here."  We opted to stay.  Now the kids and I just have to figure out how to keep him entertained today, so that he doesn't pull out what little hair he has left.  If only he liked playing cards!

It looked like an ordinary blue stress ball at first, except that it was encased in black netting.  When you squeeze it, big green puss-like globules bulge out through the netting, then return when you release.  So very disturbing!

The "Trouble with Tribbles" is that, once they get to vibrating and making all their Tribble noises, they can launch themselves right outta your lap, and when you're laughing so hard you can barely breathe, it's very difficult to catch those critters and find their cut-off switch!