Subject: Weekend Update: March 16-22
Date:    Wed 3/22/00  8:27am

Our friends, David and Paula Bickom, had a baby girl last Thursday.  I
was rooting for them to even out the gender gap but this brings them
above the average of 1.7 children most families have in America these
days.  Although they didn't consult me about the names for either of
their children, I am happy to see them include one of my favorites in
the middle: Kayla Joy Bickom.  Congratulations!

David borrowed a digital camera and sent some great pics on the
internet. We couldn't see them in the hospital because Joy was
suffering from a cold that had her very concerned about possibly
postponing her scheduled surgery.  Joy's cold didn't slow her down too
much, though.  We finished the hallway project (well, except for some
moulding we'll put up at a later time), and put a new light in Emily's
room.

On Monday, I was due for my 40-year check-up, and not looking forward
to knowing what a hand-puppet feels like. Fortunately I was spared the
indignity of it all, favoring to make an appointment with a lab for
blood work.  Everything went very well.  My "health conscious" friends
might be disappointed to find out that my blood pressure is normal and
I expect the blood work will show normal cholesterol despite daily
eggs and bacon, Coca-cola (not during Lent) and otherwise
"less-than-healthy" eating and exercise habits.  The scale, however,
was not my friend, and Dunkin Donuts was selling 5-cent donuts on
Mondays this March!  Doh!

Emily had quite the weekend; we didn't see her until later on Sunday.
She attended a teen activity, a couple of slumber parties over the
weekend, and squeezed in a little babysitting, too.  She also came
home Monday from school not feeling well.  She felt better as the day
wore on.

Joy spent the last week on her 7-day "garbage soup" diet, but that
didn't stop me and the kids from spending our nickels on Monday
evening. Before Joy's surgery that was scheduled for Tuesday morning,
she was prohibited from food from Monday night on and water from 9AM
on Tuesday. At 6AM or so on "surgery day", Emily announced that she
wasn't going to school by emptying her food in sympathy for her
mother.  At 9:30, Joy got a call telling her that the surgeon was in
emergency surgery and they would call back when they knew they could
do hers.  So, for the next several hours, she tried to keep her level
of anxiety down by reading. Tried. Finally, we got the go-ahead from
the hospital after 2PM.

They didn't have an ampitheater, so I went to Mickey Ds for a bite to
eat while Joy got sliced open.  Surgery, I was told, was uneventful
(good news) and nothing is expected to come of it (very good news),
although the noncancerous but atypical (fibrous) tissue will mean that
she gets watched more closely at her check-ups for the rest of her
life. She'll be sore for a few days but has percoset to ease things a
bit.  I asked the surgeon when Joy could "get back into the fields."
I can assure you, knowing Joy as I do, it won't be long at all.  This
morning (Wednesday) she said she felt like someone had punched her
over and over.  I asked her to find a different way of describing that
so people wouldn't get the idea that I was a wife-beater.

We are happy to put this latest interruption behind us and get on with
Spring.  The crocuses are out!  "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

Mark
        __   __            Mark Metcalfe                         ,
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