The Tabletop Diary

The tabletop diary's last two entries are terse:
“April 28, '09, Tuesday (2)
Fed the dog.”
“April 29, '09, Wednesday (1)
Fed the dog.”

These are Rick's notations of what is absolutely necessary: the date, the information that I don't need to feed the dog because he already did, and the number of days until he goes to the hospital.
The diary is an artist's sketchbook that we keep on the kitchen table in order to communicate with one another and note items of interest, such as whether the dog has been fed or how many days until surgery. We've filled up several sketchbooks over the years, and I put them away in a filing cabinet. There they sit, records of our everyday ephemera, and sometimes the not so ephemeral, like surgery.
When I am out of town, Rick writes much longer entries, detailing the weather, his work, and his thoughts.
I was going to quote something he wrote, but then I thought I should ask him how he feels about something he wrote going onto a blog. As I may have said already, I'm hoping to get him to contribute to this blog, because my writing about him only tells my version of his story, and you and I would prefer to hear from him.
Last night we had a call from Michael Shapiro, who had bladder cancer in 2001. His call gave Rick some information and the benefit of Mike's experience, and was encouraging to both of us. Thanks, Mike. He is a talented photographer, by the way. You can view his work at: http://www.michaelashapiro.com/
He is Michael A. Shapiro, by the way.
So, today Rick's at work, natch. It's a bright overcast spring day. I'm thinking of taking some things to the dump and to Granny's. Visiting my cousin Nancy's house, which is staged to sell, was inspiring. Everywhere you look, clean, clear surfaces. Of course if you're living in a house, not selling it, you don't have to go to those extremes, but I'm on a downsizing-decluttering toot, not that you could notice if you walked in here for the first time.
So that's today's report. So far.
PS: several of you have responded and I've been reading your emails to Rick. Thank you! He is so happy to hear from you.
We're enjoying other theories of what the bladder tumor is. My favorite so far is John McClure's suggestion that maybe it's part of Jimmy Hoffa.
Rick is off work for the day and is eating as much as possible because he won't be able to eat anything before the surgery tomorrow.
Thanks for everything!