fun times and not so fun times

Rowdy and I did a mountain bike ride in the Laguna Mountains last Saturday. For me, the best part was being able to negotiate the various rock gardens there confidently, without falling down once. It seems like every mtb ride ends up in me gaining a new scar, but maybe I've gotten past that.

Rowdy couldn't figure out why his bike was so much dustier than mine at the end of the ride...until I reminded him that he was eating my dust the whole time! Hahahahah!!! Gee, like that's going to happen ever again.

My victory was diminished by the realization a few days later that Rowd was brewing an illness that would result in our spending a total of 12 hours in the ER on Tuesday. Scary. He was doing just fine on Tuesday morning when he accompanied me on my morning bike ride to work. By 9am, he had a fever of 100.5, which progressed to 102.8 within about 2 hours. Fortunately, I was only working 1/2 day, so I could bring him down to the ER.

You know, it's very hard as a physician not to fall into the "satisfaction of search" mode. Sometimes, you have a patient that has a particular illness, or you have a preconceived notion about what you should find on their physical exam or imagin studies, and you're blinded to any other outcome. Such was our problem yesterday.

Because Rowdy has Crohn's, the general consensus was that the fever must have been Crohn's-related. A certain amount of lab work, a CT and a chest x-ray were obtained; seven hours later, there were five different opinions as to what was going on. A couple of people wanted to admit Rowd just for observation, but we were willing to convince them that he would be much more comfortable and better cared-for if he just stayed home.

It certainly was frustrating to have to be the wife and not the MD and not say, "You know, dudes, I noticed that you're not ordering blood cultures. Dontcha think that would be a good idea??" And I also ticked off some bossy nurse in the ER who didn't think that I should look at Rowdy's chest x-ray without asking "his doctor's permission" first. What tha??? Lady, I'm a radiologist at this hospital and the patient's my husband. I don't need anyone's permission!! Oh, and I could really rant about how the triage nurse asked if I was Rowdy's mom.

So, we went home for a total of four hours until Rowdy spiked a fever again at midnight. Part of the deal was that we'd go back to the ER again if that happened, and I'm glad we made that decision. Fortunately, we ended up with an ER doc who will get VIP treatment from me for a year because of his reasonable approach to Rowdy's symptoms. "You mean you had a fever of unknown origin and they didn't order blood cultures??" He gave Rowdy a dose of CefTRIaxONE (yeah, that's really the way it's spelled), some Motrin, and let him come home at 4am.

This morning, Rowdy was feeling tired and achy, but he'd been fever-free for four hours, so he'd definitely turned a corner. I called in sick to be able to get some sleep and make sure R was okay. We spent most of the day sleeping and trying to get back to some semblance of normal.

Here's a couple of pictures of us having fun on bikes...Geez, I look fat and stumpy in my picture. Great. I needed that.

Victory!!

Max, our youngest, visited us for a week recently. He's not really a water kid, so he resisted his dad's attempts to get him to the beach all week long. We finally got him there on Saturday, just hours before he was supposed to return home.

At first, he didn't really want to go in the water at all. Rowdy shamed/coaxed him into the water initially while I took the boogie board out for a few rides. Max tried to convince us that it was totally fun to be in the water up to his ankles, but we weren't buying it. I decided to try to get him a little more comfortable in the water and have more fun at the beach.

First, we just body surfed in the white water. Nothing too exciting, but it did give Max an inkling that maybe, just maybe, the ocean wasn't out to kill him. After about fifteen minutes, he realized that the boogie board probably would actually be fun to try. He boarded while I body surfed. We caught two or three really awesome waves, and that totally hooked him. Before we knew it, Max was going "outside" by himself and having a wonderful time.

I think it was the first time in my short "mothering" career when I really felt like I had taught one of my children something new and broadened his outlook. I've probably taught them other things, but this was easily quantified.

Too bad we didn't bring the camera with us that day, but to be honest, neither Rowdy nor I believed that Max would be persuaded to get out and do anything except sit on the beach and pout. I wish we had recorded our huge smiles as we slid along with the waves, and I wish we had a picture of how Max's borrowed swim trunks (he was 100% against us buying him a swimsuit during our school-clothes shopping expedition) filled up with air while he boarded. He looked like he had water wings on his bootie.

As we were driving him to the airport, we asked him what his favorite part of the weekend was. His answer was "definitely boogie boarding!" He now wants to go every time he visits us. We we count this as a parental victory. We take them whenever and however we can get them.

The Recipe for Success

Success in making a delicious grilled pizza, that is!

Total time: 25 minutes + 1 hour rising

COMBINE:

3 c all-purpose flour
1 envelope quick-rise yeast (2 1/4 t)
1 T. sugar
1 T. kosher salt

ADD; PROCESS:

1 c warm water (120-130F)
2 T. olive oil

Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a food processor; pulse to mix. (I just mixed them by hand.)

Add water and oil; process mixture for 2-3 minutes, or until dough forms into a ball. If the dough does not adhere, add more water, 1 T at a time until a ball forms. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Prepare sauces and toppings for pizzas while dough is rising.

Heat the grill to medium. When dough has risen sufficiently, divide it into four equal portions. Roll out the dough into roughly a 10-12" shape (it doesn't have to be a perfect circle or rectangle). Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil. Place the oiled surface on the grill and cook for 5 minutes, until the crust is browned and somewhat bubbly. Brush the exposed surface with olive oil and turn the crust. Heat the new side until it is also browned and bubbly. Place the toppings on the crust and cook until the cheese is melted. Carefully remove from grill onto a baking sheet or pizza pan. Serve with a nice green salad. We also had an Italian grapefruit soda that was the perfect complement.

Buon appetito!!

Mighty Tasty!

Mmmmm...pizza baked on the barbecue. It was something I've wanted to try for ages and finally made last night. It was so good!!!

Growth

Things are growing here in Sandy Lameo. For the first time, I have tomatoes ripening. I ate the first one last night--yum! And the tea olive plant I planted is flowering. Tea olive is my favorite scent. It's kind of peachy. One of my favorite memories of Charleston is walking past a house down on the Battery that has a huge tea olive bush. You could smell it for blocks.

Keiler spent last week with us. He had grown so much, both physically and emotionally, since last summer. He was much more responsible and cooperative, much more self-motivated than before. He's almost as tall as Rowdy now and getting taller than his sister (much to his delight). He's getting more adventurous, too.






He learned to love boogie boarding, which was surprising. Our boys don't really like the ocean too much. We also took him sea kayaking at La Jolla Shores. It was totally fun. The leopard sharks are hanging out in the cove now, and there were sea lions sunning themselves. Keiler also went to his first MLB game, put together our new bbq, learned how to grill, made a robot arm (that was really cool!), and went 90 mph with Rowdy on the motorcycle without freaking out. One of the best "firsts" for Keiler was going to the temple where Rowdy baptized and confirmed him for his great-grandpa Rookstool.

Keiler brought me a book he thought I might like. It's Stoneheart, by Charlie Fisher. It's about a boy who discovers that the city of London has many layers and becomes involved in a conflict between good and evil amidst the statues that are all over the town. It's fairly inventive; I quite enjoyed it. He managed to get his dad to buy the newest Harry Potter book, a fact that he lorded over Jordan. He didn't let any spoilers slip, which was much-appreciated.

So, that's it. That's what's been growing at the Bricco house!

Girrrrrl Power!!

Venus Williams winning Wimbledon this year was great for at least two reasons: 1) she was ranked #31 going in and probably no one but Venus expected her to win and 2) she was paid the same for her win as Roger Federer was paid for his.

I wouldn't identify myself as a rabid feminist, but I do appreciate seeing progress in equalizing male/female roles in the workforce.

There are prominent women in my field, to be sure, but it is a male-dominated specialty. Every once in awhile, we look around our IR suite and realize that we have an all-female crew. Cynthia, who has been a tech in our department for many years remembers a time when she was the only woman working IR cases. As it is, I am the only female interventionalist in my group, and we only have two female techs.

So today, we commemorated an "all girl crew" with a group photo. L-->R: Socorro (nurse extraordinaire), Amber (eager rad tech student), Cynthia (the queen of PR juju), me and Kim (super new mommy).

A Little Wistful, but So Grateful for What I Have

Sometimes, when things are slow here at work, I check out my friends' blogs, and then my friends' friends' blogs. Some of the friends' friends' are women that I am acquainted with through our old NYC ward but never had the opportunity to be come good friends with, some are total strangers. I am so impressed by people's creativity and the sometimes touching, sometimes funny but always insightful glimpses into their lives.

Most of these women (and the two men who are good friends of my sister's) are young parents. I have to admit that there are times when I read their blogs and reflect on the decisions I made that took me to very different places in my life, with no chance to go back and take another road.

The cure for the slight case of the blues that follows is always to count my many blessings, because I have been abundantly recompensated for whatever I have missed out on in life due to my choices or the choices other people have made that have affected my life.

Some of the things I have been thinking I'm thankful for are:

1) A handsome, intelligent, fun, loving (and fun-loving) husband--he makes coming home for lunch an event and going back to work very difficult!

2) Three terrific stepchildren--Jordan and Keiler are coming to visit tomorrow. Jordo is going on a camping trip on Monday, but we get Keiler for the whole week. I'm so glad to have the chance to spend time with him. He's such a great kid, and he's at a very tricky point in his life. It looks like he's making some good decisions and good habits. I want to know more about what he's thinking, what he's planning, and what is motivating him. Teenagers don't give as many sweet soundbites and cute pictures as little ones, but I am sure that I will post some pictures of our adventures next week.

3) Mom, Dad, DeeDee and Kiki--they're all doing well right now, and I love that they are my my friends as well as my family. And I have to add my Bricco parents and siblings--they are just as wonderful as my parents and sisters.

4) A comfy house--still loving the new sofa and missing Olivia, who is visiting her family in Acupulco this month.

5) So many great friends doing interesting things--for instance, Steph is just starting the third annual Sovietsk Internat service trip (yes, there is a better name for that). Cristy is combining being mother of 6, waterskiing, being charge nurse at a busy ER, and building a new house. AmyJo is just going, going, going--camping, running the Lexington Mothers' Club, to the water park in Charleston, you name it.

6) The Primary and how reasonably-well it's running--I was able to attend the Activity Days girls' pool party yesterday during my lunch hour. They are so sweet, and my Activity Days leader is a gem.

7) The temple--after approximately nine months as a receptionist at the San Diego Temple, I was set apart as an ordinance worker last Tuesday night! It is so wonderful be in the temple every Tuesday and interact with the other workers and the patrons. The matron, Sister Sorenson, and her assistants, Sister Farner and Sister Zollinger, are three of my role models.

8) Family History--I have the spirit of Elijah right now, no doubt about it!

9) A very rewarding and enjoyable job--Not everyone can say that about their employment, but I just love what I do and where I do it.

10) Fitness--I love that I'm 42 but I can still run and jump and do pushups and swim and mountain bike and...pretty much whatever I want to do, except do flips. It makes me too dizzy these days to even do somersaults.

Of course there's more, but that was enough to make me feel much, much better.