Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Tell Me, What Is a Lingonberry?




I'd always wondered what a lingonberry was. And now I know, it's not just a mythical berry grown in the kitchens of IHOP. It's a real fruit!

On Sunday morning, I indulged in one of my favorite breakfasts of all time - IHOP Swedish Lingonberry Crepes. Apparently, they're authentic! It had been years since I'd stepped foot inside an IHOP, but upon seeing one on our first drive "home" from Joe DiMaggio Hospital, I knew it was time to put an end to the chain pancake drought. And it did not disappoint - from the food to the service to the other patrons.

Take note of the customer, dining with her extended family of 8, who sent her food back at least 5 times because it wasn't "dry enough." Excuse me, but if you don't want butter or oil anywhere near your food, IHOP is probably not a great choice. When asked by the staff upon leaving if everything wound up being okay, she responded, "No - but what can I do?" I'll tell you what you can do - not eat at IHOP!!

Then there was the man who made every meal on the IHOP menu a personal heart attack creation. I'm pretty sure by the time he was done ordering, he had added caramel sauce and whipped cream to bacon and hash browns, cooked in extra butter. To each his own.

In the past couple of days since that trip, we've been pretty singularly focused on coming home. We certainly do not want to push Dylan, but this past week was frustrating because the Neo-Natologist on call seemed to have some very...unusual...ideas for his course of treatment that seemed to hint at an inexplicable desire for our family to remain in Florida. The goal, of course, is to keep working up his bottle feeding while diminishing and ultimately eliminating his IVs. Well, she was very resistant to increasing his bottle feedings, and when she did, actually increased his IV intake. I'm no doctor, but it seems like common sense not to stuff the boy, else he's going to have a harder time eating. This is also the same doc who scared us after his feeding test by suggesting he'd need to wait 6 weeks before flying - then attempted to pick us up off the floor by saying, "You can always drive back - I've done it in 2-1/2 days - although he can't stay in a car seat for too long." Thanks.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones to question the Neo. The nurses subtly questioned her approach, and this week's on-call Neo dramatically changed course, dropping his IVs and increasing his feedings. He is now on trajectory to increase feedings every 12 hours by 5 cc's, which is fantastic. He's at 30 now, and the goal is to get him to 45-50 for 48 hours straight. Thus, the bull in me says let's get on a plane home next Monday. Of course, we'll have a better idea over the next couple of days. But we need to come home soon if for no reason other than the fact that my mom is heading back to LA on Thursday, and we can't survive that long without her.

Today, we enjoyed lunch with Brad's Uncle Jack - delayed after last week's bout with infection. It was definitely a treat to discover good Mexican food in Florida (I've always been skeptical) - even if the waitress did originally mistake a Roy Rogers for a Shirley Temple. All was forgiven by the time I took that first bite of fried ice cream. Thank you, Uncle Jack!

California, here we come...please...right? Right??