Recipes by Zola - Corn Pudding - ArcaMax Publishing

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Corn Pudding

Zola Gorgon

For some of you this will be new news. For others just an update. I'm going to try to keep it abridged but include tasty highlights.

It all started May 30 when I woke with some stabbing sciatica pains in my back. I was not going to fool around with this one so I called my doc right away for steroids. She gave me the full one-week pack. When I had exhausted those the pain was not getting any better. I was having a hard time walking so we added 5 more days and an MRI appointment.

The first MRI turned out to be a disaster. I had no idea I had become claustrophobic. I then found an open MRI place. That was a walk in the park. I had my films and the interpretation from the radiologist. It didn't seem bad. My discs at L4, L5 and S1 were bulging and likely leaking. Then I went to a chiropractor/healer that a friend highly recommended. The only trick was with Chicago traffic he was 5 and a half hours away, counting both directions. He did a hugely thorough interview and lots of x-rays.

I was scheduled to go on vacation to our cottage in Door County the next day. I could walk so both docs recommended I relax, read a few novels and see how I did. If it was not better when I returned we'd start some other treatment.

After over 5 hours in the car I limped painfully to the first couch I saw. Never even opened the screen door to sniff the fresh north woods air. That night my family all joined in to make dinner; my portion of which I had not even bought the ingredients for yet. They were fabulous and it was fun to see them all. After dinner we played a card game, which allowed me to answer questions from my position on the sofa.

Around 11 PM I called it quits and decided to go up to bed. I lifted myself off of the sofa and about died in my tracks. I grabbed every piece of nearby furniture and screamed and muttered small obscenities on my way to the stairs. From there I crawled up to bed.

The next day I was worse. I got up to go "potty" and started to collapse. I called my husband but could not get past the bedroom doorway and was blacking out. I got back to bed, thought it over and finally decided 911 was my only option.

These guys were great. The only problem was there were two turns in the stairway and no way to get me down on a Striker bed. I was going to have to get onto one of those rescue chairs. I went white. They pumped 4 units of morphine in me and made the attempt to get me into the chair. I needed 6 more units to accomplish the task. My body still went into full muscle contractions and spasm. I have no idea how to describe it. They finally got me in the ambulance and on our way for the 20-minute ride.

I spent 7 hours at the emergency room with them trying to find the right combination of narcotics to ease my pain. I didn't know a narcotic "cocktail" was a real term. They tried different combinations for hours. They finally admitted me. I was there for a few days. They tried an epidural, and though it was successful initially, after the local wore off I was back on the floor in less than 15 minutes. I laid on the floor all night because they thought it might take some time to kick in and I had promised the fire rescuers I would not go back to the upstairs bed.

By dawn I had several ideas in my head but wanted to talk to the surgeon first. His reaction was that I might be a true emergency at this point so his advice to me was to get to the place that had the largest amount of resources I could gather. He was talking about professional facilities, home access, connections, convenience; the whole bit. I decided Chicago would be best and to get to Northwestern hospital.

You should have witnessed what came next. Visualize my head on a pillow. My legs up on cushion and my back on the floor. I have two phones and three phone lines ringing in and out. I am arranging (with my nephew's help) a medical flight. I need two ambulances (one at each place). I also had to tell the condo maintenance team and administration that I was leaving early; and would not be leaving it in my usual pristine condition. The surgeon prescribed the best meds he could think of to help me get through the flight and I had to let some family know where I was. My office had to know too. My husband was off to the pharmacy for the meds, which is a one-hour drive.

When he returned it was all ready. I am leaving out several political details that had to be worked out between the county government and the ambulance company as well as a the fact that there were three airports involved and an EMT that had to be hired for the flight.

Don't get me wrong. I love private planes but when you are the only one laid out on a full-sized hospital bed in a 10 seat plane (seats removed), you have two pilots and an EMT taking your vitals every few minutes it's no joy ride. The day was breezy but clear so we landed in just about 1.5 hours. My husband followed by car, arriving 5 hours later. I told him all he'd be doing is sitting in the emergency room lobby anyway; no reason to fly with me. It was very crowded anyway. He might as well drive and we could find him by cell anytime. It worked just fine.

I was in the Northwestern hospital emergency room until 1 AM. They tried the same thing -- giving me every narcotic under the sun with the goal of getting me to walk out of the emergency room. No dice. Northwestern doctors finally checked me in too.

I had great care the whole time. This is a hospital with all of the best. They even have a beautiful Starbucks on the first floor. All Wi-Fi so everyone waiting on someone can work; or at least surf the net. The architecture is beautiful and everything you could want is within a few blocks. There's a Walgreen's near by. There's also a funny story about how my husband needed to go take a walk for a while and ended up buying a beautiful suit. Now, there's a way to kill time; especially since I was there so long. He also varied how he got to the hospital to visit. He could drive, take the train, the bus or even walk. They all took less than an hour. Those are all things that factored into my decision on where to go.

The jury is still out on when I'll be "fixed." They took another MRI and it doesn't show anything horrible but I still can't walk, stand or sit. When I was able to use a walker for a few feet and use my own bathroom I setup a nurse and I was sent home. I am confined to one floor. I am doing PT and more specialists are lined up.

That's about the gist of it.

The nuttiest additive is we had a 4th of July party on top of everything else. The invites were out, several people were traveling from all over and some were making it part of their vacation. I just could not see canceling at the last minute. Obviously, I was not going to make all of the food, so for the first time in my life I ordered a few things in and my loving, generous family took my recipes and a few of their own and whipped up a party for 45. I sat in a chaise propped with pillows or even if I had to go lay on my bed friends came to sit around me and visit. I didn't see many fireworks because all I could stare at was the sky but I saw plenty and had some wonderful chats. A good time was had by all.

Now all I have to do is muster some patience (of which I am in short supply) and figure out my fastest way out of this. Stand by...or if you are like me...lay by.

The recipe I'm including today is one that has been in my repertoire for some time. It's one of the things we ran out of first at the party so I thought it would be a good one to run. Obviously, at the hospital they would not let me in the kitchen to experiment and devise new recipes; although I'd say, that even though the food was not bad, they could use a few.

Be grateful for your health. Always.

Zola
Enjoy!

Corn Pudding

Serves 6 to 8

2-1/2 cups corn (That can be about 3 ears depending on cob size or, if corn is out of season, you can use a 16-oz bag of frozen corn.)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbl flour
2 Tbl breadcrumbs
1/3 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk (Lowfat is fine)
4 large eggs
1 cup shredded Wisconsin cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with olive oil spray or lightly grease it. Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Do this with a spoon or spatula so you don't smash up the corn. Pour the batter in the pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. The top will be slightly browned and a knife inserted in the corn pudding should come out clean. If the knife does not cone out clean, bake it a bit more. For the creamiest taste, serve it immediately. It still tastes great served a bit later or even reheated the next day.

This news arrived on: 07/09/2007

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