Braveheart’s Saga—Part IV

Many of you have asked for updates on the status of Braveheart, aka Baby Romee, so I decided to post another blog, which is also my way of thanking you for all the love and support, the care and concern, and the prayers you have given to me and my family. Braveheart, now 5 months old, is thriving, growing fast, full of curiosity, frequent smiles, and has a great sense of humor! She sees the cardiologist in Reno every 3 weeks for a checkup and an echocardiogram which is an ultrasound of the heart. In a recent visit, the echocardiogram … Continue reading

Braveheart’s Saga—Part III

I just returned from finally seeing, in person, my one and only grandchild, the miracle Baby Romee, aka Braveheart, now 3 months old. She has a strong spirit that will serve her well, considering what she will be facing as she outgrows her reconstructed coronary vessels. I felt like I was meeting an “old soul.” I couldn’t stop staring at Baby Romee. Her facial expressions constantly changed from moment to moment—from expressions of curiosity, wonderment, and smiles of delight, to screaming related to either hunger, diaper content, or need for a nap. The nursing appeared to be approximately every two … Continue reading

Braveheart’s Saga—Part II

August 23, 2023 Hundreds of you from across the country and abroad have poured out your hearts in response to Baby Romee’s plight and have asked for updated news on her status. Braveheart’s open heart surgery and reconstruction of her coronary vessels took place on July 26, 4 days after birth. Although the cardiac surgeon predicted that she would be in the hospital several weeks post-surgery, she actually left the hospital and went home TEN days after open heart surgery. In addition to the expert care she got by all the staff at Stanford Children’s Hospital, along with Romee’s strong … Continue reading

Braveheart’s Saga—The Story of a Miracle Baby Girl

July 23, 2023 Last night, around 10 pm on July 22nd, I got a text from my son, Barrett, saying that his wife, Danni, gave birth to their baby girl, Romee—my first grandchild. The delivery went better than  we dared to hope for. Baby Romee is in the newborn intensive care unit for observation. She was born with a severe congenital cardiac abnormality that will require open heart surgery in a few days in order for her to survive. A prenatal ultrasound at 16 weeks gestation revealed the condition. It is called Truncus Arteriosis which means that her cardiac vessels … Continue reading

Outward Bound—Part II

As the days progressed, we moved higher up the side of a massive mountain called Kit Carson. Our gradual ascent in stages, on circuitous routes far off the beaten path, allowed the students to become well acclimatized to the altitude and get into shape physically. No one showed any signs of altitude sickness. Several days into the course, we came to a large snow and ice field, the remnant of a former glacier. On this icy expanse I taught the students a new set of skills that included roping up as a team, kick stepping to secure one’s footing in … Continue reading

Outward Bound–Part I

On the edge of a big meadow, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains looming in the background, I waited for the students to arrive. A herd of antelope grazed peacefully in the distance. Piles of backpacks and other mountaineering gear lay on the ground around me. The bus that Outward Bound had rented approached in the distance. When the bus came to a stop, nine Outward Bound students emerged, carrying their suitcases. Most of the students looked eager in anticipation. A few looked apprehensive. In 1977, I completed a master’s degree in experiential education at the University of Colorado in … Continue reading

Online Dating

On a whim, I decided to try out online dating. Several of my patients said they found their life partners on Match.com, or one of the other dating sites, and recommended that I give it a try. One of them warned me that you have to “kiss a lot of toads” before you find your prince. She urged me to give it a try. I told her I didn’t like the idea of kissing toads. She tried to convince me that it was worth it. With my focus on raising my son and giving medical care to my patients, I … Continue reading

Thich Nhat Hanh—In Memoriam (1926-2022)

  On January 22, 2022, Thich Nhat Hanh left his body. If he saw my tears, he would have consoled me by saying that he hadn’t really gone, but simply taken another form. And if I entered into the present moment in a state of mindfulness, I would be able to feel his presence all around me in the form of a cloud in the sky or in the drops of rain falling to the ground. In the summer of 1997, my son and I went to Plum Village in France to see who this monk was who could crack … Continue reading

Buried Alive

Colorado, January 1979  On a sunny Saturday in January, I drove with one of my friends from Boulder to the top of a high mountain pass in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. We parked our car and headed off into the wilderness with our skis strapped to our backpacks. Our spirits were high. A few days prior to our outing, this particular area of the Rockies had seen a heavy snowstorm that dumped an estimated two feet of snow in the mountains. On the day of our outing, the weather had warmed to well above freezing. There wasn’t a cloud in … Continue reading

Aconcagua——Part IV. The View from the Top

While camping in the area of Berlin shelter, I encountered two brothers, ex-soldiers I had met during their reunion at Plaza de Mulas, Santiago and Mateo—not their real names for the sake of anonymity, given the high positions they currently hold in Argentina. I saw the brothers hastily preparing their gear for an ascent to the summit the following morning. I asked if I could go with them. Without hesitation they denied my request. They felt certain that a woman would slow them down and prevent them from reaching the summit. I convinced them that if this should be the … Continue reading