Hello all,
Well, it has been a very long time since my last update. We moved back into the house on October 2nd. Was hot for the first few days and getting used to the generator was a pain. The satellite modem missed a major update during the summer and would not work. Without that we could not get DIRECTV going again. Had to have an expert in Hughes come by and fix it. On the third day, we had gotten back all of the creature comforts. Spent a lot of time at the pool and going to many socials. The snow birds are arriving and everyone wanted to have a party.
On the medical front, we are learning a lot. We have both had problems in the past few weeks. Regina came down with a large corn on her foot. A direct result of a botched surgery a few years ago to fix a hammer toe. Our local doctor thought it best that we see a specialist in Mexicali. He was great and took the corn out, gave her a set of shoe liners to start correcting the root cause for the corn. The only problem had been getting to his office. As of now, the streets in Mexicali are “all tore up.” Highway 5 is closed in two places and they are re-paving the best alternates.
I came down with what I thought was a sinus infection. Had some tests done and it turned out that I had Strep B. He put me on antibiotics. This is when I decided to make this update a critique on medical care in Mexico. So I waited and waited for the infection and headache to go away. After the fourth different antibiotic I was feeling better but the headache was still there. He told me that an MRI was in order to see if there was something else wrong. In early December we went to Mexicali for the MRI. Arrived ten minutes early for the scan and was immediately taken back. Twenty minutes later and 4,500 Pesos poorer we were done. The radiologist told us that the results would be available in three hours. So, we headed into the US and shopped all day. On our way home we swung by the Lab and for the results. After we got home the temptation on reading the results was too great and we tried to look at the film but gave up and opened the envelope. You didn’t need to be an expert in Spanish to understand “Subdural Hematoma.” I consulted with my doctor as soon as I could the next day. He looked at the film and said he would consult with a neurologist friend to see what to do next. He did and I was told that I should take it easy for a while and give up volleyball, golf, boxing and jogging. The headache would remain until all of the blood got re-absorbed. This could take up to a year. Good news, looks like it will not take that long. While I am still on pain medication, the headache is much better. We are still trying to figure out when this thing happened. The only event that matches the symptoms was a nasty head hit by a spiked volleyball in late September. OK, enough about me.
We are very impressed with the medical system here in Mexico. Everyone that Regina and I saw for both of our problems have been great and professional. The most difficult time we had was at Regina’s Orthopedic Surgeon’s office. He was the only one that spoke English and thankfully a lot of his Mexican patients spoke English and the helped us out.
Well, that is the reason that this update email is so late. Now back to the update.
As I said earlier, we moved back into the house on October 2nd. After getting all of the creature comforts up and running we settled back into retirement. Water volleyball was still our exercise of choice. Weather started cooling off and turned wonderful. I stopped playing volleyball when I started the antibiotics so I was relegated to the bench. We went to the pool every day until the week before Thanksgiving. Got too cold for Regina (water was fine but the wind was too chilling) so she switched to Pickle Ball instead.
Halloween is a real big thing down here both for the Mexicans and us. They have the decorating of the graves and we have a lot of costume parties. We had many to choose from and a few pictures are included.
We went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. Leslie drove down from Columbus. We had a very cold (snow) time with Regina’s family. We all went to Chattanooga for a belated Thanksgiving on Saturday and had all of the McCloud clan there. Regina’s (and my favorite) Uncle passed away on Thanksgiving Day. Very sad event but we were very grateful that we were there and could attend the funeral.
The week after we got back we had a great surprise from the Ranch. We now have a new friend. He is called “the gasoline guy.” He comes by every day and fills the generator and also the spare gas can. Since then, we have expanded the hours of operation of the generator. We now power up for 2-3 hours in the morning and run from sunset till we get tired (usually about 10:00). This has been great as it has allowed us to spread the electrical duties out. We don’t have to rush to get laundry in or start the dishwasher any more.
We bought our first Mexican Christmas Tree this year (grown in Oregon). Freshest tree we have ever had. Drank water from when we got it till the day it was taken down. We decorated for Christmas on December 6th. Earliest that we ever have done this. We went and picked Leslie up from the San Diego airport on December 18th. What a trip! It rained down here all the night before. We left the Ranch thru three miles of mud. About thirty-five miles north of town we ran into dense fog. That lasted all the way to the border. It rained in Mexicali and then sleeted and snowed thru the mountains to San Diego. We both felt like mailmen. We picked up Leslie and hustled to El Centro for the night. We planned on a two day trip so that we all could complete Christmas shopping.
We had a great time for the ten days that Leslie was here. We had friends over for dinner and went to a few parties. Leslie and Regina went on an “outback” ATV trip with the “girls.” That was a twenty-five mile trip (one way) up to the base of the mountains. That is where the group decided to relocate three small barrel cacti for us. You will see them in the pictures. We had a great quiet Christmas opening presents and keeping to our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. Leslie left on the 29th and we were back to just us. We started missing her on the way back from the airport.
We had an uneventful New Years Eve (as we always do). Could not find an early showing of the Times Square ball dropping so we called it a night and were in bed before midnight.
Bolstered by the relocation of the barrel cacti, we went in search of more. We found some Saguaro cacti hiding under some Palos Verde trees nearby. They now are safe with us and will have no fear of the contractor’s axe.
I have also decided to get back to work. Partially from the collapse of the economy but also to keep my computer skills honed. I applied for permission to get a business license from Immigration in June. They approved it and I applied with La Hacienda (IRS) to get a tax number. After two months of trying to explain to them that we did not have a power bill my accountant finally interceded and we got the tax number. Then off to immigration again to get it added to my FM3 (Green card). They shut down from Christmas and to have computers installed. I am still waiting for the office to open again so that I can get my stamped FM3 back. I should be legal to work within the next two weeks. Name of the business? It could have only one name: “The Computer Guy.”
Well, that is what has been happening here over the past three months. Regina is almost fully recovered from her foot problem and I am feeling a lot better. I’ll try not to get this far behind in my update emails.
Till next time,
Larry and Regina
Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/LarEWill50/Casa17?authkey=Gv1sRgCMPe-KrP6re4pQE&feat=directlink
