Life of Wry

Days spent in the hospital… offset by dinners out with Betsy.

Earlier in the week, we went to Bettolino Kitchen, tonight, Turquoise:

I’d gone there about seven years ago and had wanted to go back ever since… this was my first real opportunity. It was voted BEST in the area last year for both Middle Eastern and healthy cuisine. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Turquoise Organic & Natural Mediterranean Restaurant offers Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Food with interesting options to choose, that’s beyond your imagination. Starting From fresh homemade yogurt and hummus to sirloin or tofu kebabs, from Greek salads to Italian Paninis, we don’t compromise on the best quality food that we always offer.

I couldn’t have invented a more perfect restaurant. Very welcoming service, too. I can’t wait to go back. Restaurants like that deserve to stay in business.

Here’re our dinners:

That’s baba ghanoush (smoky roasted eggplant, caramelized onions, garlic, olive oil, organic sesame seeds, and herbs) and koubideh kabob (all-organic ground beef combined with chopped onion and spices).

We even ran into a nurse colleague of Betsy’s eating out front. All the more inviting.

It was a very nice evening:

I’ve heard about this so-called Area Code tournament for a few years. Knew it involved some of the best high school baseball players in the country. Knew it was played in Long Beach each year.

Didn’t know it was held at Big/Little Rec (at Blair Field). Didn’t know Eric and Matty did the food for it!

I was excited that it was happening this week and that I could get away for a few hours to check it out, and super excited to learn that one of Peter’s teammates was selected for the 31-man roster representing the team from Northern California.

So.. I headed over.

Here’re Matt and Eric, serving up hot dogs, beer, and exceptional customer service:

This is a shot of the scoreboard. If you look carefully, you’ll see Legends is a field sponsor. Matt tells me they are soon to replace Bryson Financial Group as a major field sponsor:

Here’s a shot of Ryan coming up to the plate:

Here’s Ryan’s mom Angie and me… doing what we love best.. watching baseball:

Ryan will be one to watch.

I kid you not.

This is mom, day #9. To cheer her up, Chris brought fins, goggles and a snorkel. We figured with all that ventilator experience, breathing out of a snorkel would be a piece of cake.

I’m pretty sure she’s the only one in ICU rockin’ the scuba gear.

One can say a lot of things about my mom, but one thing you gotta give her.. she’s got a unique sense of humor.

After a week in the hospital, mostly lying down and doing nothing, today, Monday, was marked by a visit from the Physical Therapist and was also our first hospital gin rummy game. We are making progress!

Speaking of fun… here’s a great picture of John and his one year old!

And speaking of no fun at all, here’s this windbag:

I show this photo only because I will forever associate this extended southland visit with the drama of the 2016 presidential election and its coverage on CNN; the Olympics; and some other of the mega stories of the day.

The ever crowded Starbucks at the Grapevine…

Trips go faster, I discovered, when listening to a good book: Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants was the book of choice. Finished it as I entered the LA basin and switched over to KPCC (89.3 public radio for Pasadena/LA).  Felt like I was home again. 🙂

Still goofing around with dumb titles. This one suggests I’m back among the Frame boys (oh YAY!) and, as it’s Saturday, Jim and I went to the Farmers’ Market.

I know.

But wow it’s nice to be home and insanely nice to see Jim and Peter.

Woke up in my own bed, luxuriated in our Saturday morning market ritual, took care of some niggly business, did laundry, got a pedicure, had dinner with Janet… nice, nice, nice.

A couple pics on the day:

Evidence that Peter can, if motivated, wash stuff:

And will ya look at this… after, what, maybe two years, the area around the giant oak in Central Park was finally finished (after that horrible fire and deck vandalism).

I can’t say I quite understand the concept here… but I’m glad it’s in. I’m sure we’ll all figure it out.

It’s Friday… been hanging at the hospital all week. Since going in on Monday, mom’s been bed-bound, intubated twice (and heavily sedated), had three bronchoscopies, and is being treated for staph. So between the initial respiratory failure, brought on by the pneumonia, resulting in a collapsed lung… just oh my. Quite a week and still looking for a path to release… which doesn’t seem imminent.

Seemed a good time to return to Davis, see my guys, replenish, regroup and then return with stuff for a longer stay.

Sure haven’t been taking pictures, and the ones I’ve been taking at the hospital don’t seem right to post… so here’s my dinner… back at the Rock ‘n Brews at LAX, this time for a cheesy quesadilla and cheap white wine. Trying to stay engaged with Jonathan Franzen’s Purity… am really enjoying it… but having a hard time, believe it or not, finding time and psychic space to read.

Also… the Olympics in Rio opened tonight.. (with an hours-long ceremony that makes me wonder if Olympic opening ceremonies have jumped the shark). So I had half an eye on that while also trying to read… just not really happening.

(Title’s dumb, right?)

We interrupt this programming to bring you a bit of cuteness.

River and his mama…

River on the rocks…

Bipedal River…

(Do all little kids go through an Ed Asner phase?)

An artist at work…

You’re welcome.

Today was a big “come off the vent” day. Any time you remove a life sustaining machine, there is concern about dependency. Mom passed the test with flying colors. Big step, big victory. She’s a champ.

On the home front, we’re taking care of some business. Today: freezer repair. Nothing more to say about that.

Did I mention, Torrance Memorial just finished a mega million dollar addition to its campus.. the new state-of-the-art Lunquist Tower. (Did I also mention, absolutely every building, every room, every everything is named after somebody? Good heavens but there are a lot of wealthy people who desire their names on hospital architecture.) (And yeah, that’s a good thing.)

In case you ever find yourself spending a lot of time at Torrance Memorial, I recommend you visit the new cafeteria, go straight to the custom pizza and flatbread counter, order up your favorite veggies and cheeses, then take it out to the peace garden for a quiet and tasty repast.

We decided that I would stay on in Palos Verdes and Peter would drive our car back to Davis. Last night, we went to LAX to get me a rental car.

This would be Peter’s first-ever solo road trip. Jim and I wanted him to have the experience of managing a trans-California trip (is it still “trans” when one travels from south to north?). There are issues of navigation, traffic and rush hour, gas management, alertness. He felt more than ready.

He also wanted to get an early start… because he wanted to make a tee time in the afternoon.

The life.

We got up around 4:00. He followed me down to the Malaga Cove Plaza where I could access an ATM…. gave him some money… and off he went.

He ended up with a few navigational challenges, but arrived in Davis before noon with a successful solo road trip under his belt.

Yay P.

~~

As for me, today was going to be a lot of this:

The hospital zone.

Ventilator; IVs for fluids, antibiotics, sedation; pick lines; Foley catheters. Got refamiliar with the monitors, ICU terminology, the color coding of hospital coats (navy for nurses, green for respiratory, brown for phlebotomists), the location of the gajillions of hand sanitizers. There’s a rhythm to the whole affair, and pretty soon you’re right in there with the best of them: you walk into the room after lunch, give a quick glance at the monitors, read the board for any updates, and inquire about her most recent muca-mist procedure (did anything come up?). You know the lead nurse, the nurse nurse, the nurse’s assistant. You know the guy who delivers meals, the PT who’s on for the day. You know when the doctor is likely to make her/his rounds and the tests she/he is likely to report on.

It’s all about getting mom better and home.