Stitches Are Out

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I took Juan to the hospital ER yesterday to remove his stitches.  Such a great state-run social system.  They don't have their own hospitals per se but contract out to two private hospitals here in Monterrey.  Excellent service and fast.  They were happy with the cut on his brow.  

He still complains of the pain in his shoulders but it is diminishing little by little.  The doctor prescribed a strong muscle relaxer to take at night and it is working to help him sleep.  His muscular enzyme levels are still quite high but will come down with time.

His equilibrium is still off a bit but he walking pretty well so far.  

Juan says thank you to everyone for their kind thoughts and positive energy.  As he says, "I wish I felt as good as I look".  😀

Juan's Health - Update

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

On the road to recovery.  The results of the electroencephalogram came back and the neurologist came to visit last night.  All tests came back negative so there is no brain damage.  His heart is in great shape and his paralysis is 95% gone.

His official diagnosis is syncope and collapse.  This normally involves a heart condition but this is what the doctor's report states:  ´

A lack of blood or oxygen to the reticular activating system or both hemispheres of the brain leading to syncope and collapse.  

This caused him to faint apparently getting up too fast and being dehydrated.  Then the rest happened.  

One more day so that the neurologist can go over the results and charts with the head doctor.  The neurologist says he will have a complete recovery but needs rest which he is not getting here.  He has breakfast at 6:30 so that will be changed to 8:30 so he can sleep longer and also a restriction on visitors and the amount of time they stay.  

I'm going home this morning and will come back to spend the night.  

Juan Has Been Hospitalized

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Here's how it went down in short.  We went to McAllen on Friday for the Pfizer booster.  All went well.  A great trip, crossed the bridge and got the vaccine just 300 meters from the border.

We went to the hotel, checked in and then went for lunch and shopping.  We took a nap, and went to HEB to purchase items for friends in Mexico.  We returned to the hotel and relaxed and had a cocktail.  As always, early to bed and then it happened.

At 2:00 a.m., in the dark of the room, I hear, "Christopher, Christoper".  I went running to his voice in the bathroom.  He had gotten up to use the bathroom and had fainted.  More on the reason for that later this week.   I found him face down in a pool of blood.  I asked him for his hand and he had no body movement at all.  I was able to upright him and called the paramedics.  

We took him to the hospital across the highway, literally 2 minutes away.  They did a CT scan, X-rays, and blood tests, stitching up the 5 cm cut on his brow.  We waited in observation but his body wasn't responding.  He had a very short, less than 2-second seizure.  Tests came back negative.  The hospital was pissed when he told them he wanted to go home to his insured care.

We drove home, it seemed like days to get there.  His universal care did the same tests and had negative results but there was still very little body movement, semi-paralyzed.  The neurologist worked him over and then transferred him to a very nice private hospital via ambulance.

They performed an MRI and tomorrow an encephalogram.  He is stable, now, an 8 out of 10 but with limited equilibrium in his walking.  

As far as discretion, we ask that you please do not post anything on Facebook just yet.  We are very private about these things because of family.  They are slowly finding out but if we were to post it his room would be inundated with visitors and right now he needs rest and time to recuperate.  The news is good so far.  

It was a very traumatic event I am still trying to process all of this and haven't had any sleep or much to eat.  Please keep him in your thoughts.  I'm sure he will recover completely but it was an experience that I hope we never have to repeat.  

A Trip To Immigration - It's Been 22 Years

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That was a wild day.  I've decided to take my Mexican pension as of October 1st.  I have to apply for it on August 1st.  Immigration has rules about status changes in terms of address, marital status, and employment.  As an inmigrado I've had the same mica or immigration card for 22 years.  It's worn around the edges but every time I ask for an exit (they count the number of days you are out of the country which is a maximum of 180 days) I always check to see if the ID is still valid.  They tell me as long as there aren't any changes to the above status I'm fine.   However, what does employment status mean?  I thought I would buzz by to get some general information.  

Like I said, it's been 22 years since I've been there.  They moved once about 10 years ago and I pass by there from time to time when I go to my U.S. mailbox.  I left around 9:30 yesterday morning to avoid traffic.  With moderate traffic, it's about a 30-minute drive.  I got there only to find that they had moved to a new location.  I took a photo of the new address and found it in my phone.  OMG! they had moved to the airport side of the Monterrey metro area.  It is now 75 km from my house.   Off I went.

It wasn't quite that long of a drive as the traffic was in the opposite direction.   I found the place, a big warehouse with about 20 mini-splits lined up on the outside wall.  I was around the corner and wondered what that was all about.  You probably have some idea right about now, don't you?  I parked and walked around the corner only to find around 200 undocumented Haitians milling around and wondering what was going on as there are no translators outside and only one French translator inside.  There were also many Venezuelans, some Ukrainians, and some Chinese.  I spoke with two Venezuelan women, a sad story.  One has four brothers that are illegal in Ecuador, one illegal in the U.S. and she is in Mexico.  She says that President Maduro has destroyed everything.   I was telling her how hard it must be for the Ukrainians and she said her family lost it all apart from no longer having running water and electricity.

As I walked up to the door police scurried up to me asking me what I wanted.  I wanted to answer a hot cup of coffee but I know better than that.  I was told that if I didn't have an appointment I would need to get in the information line.  It was about an hour before I made it to the front of the line only to find out that I don't need to report my employment status if I am retiring.   I checked online before deciding to visit them but it was very unclear.

Once inside things were a bit chaotic.  A lot of women screaming and crying.  I witnessed one woman fainting and falling to the floor.  They were obviously being denied and then being taken to the back for detention until deportation.  This was a bad deal for everyone.  The president said they could come through Mexico and they did.  However, not all Haitians came from the island.  Many had already been living and working legally in Argentina and Chile, spoke some semblance of Spanish and took the risk to join one of the many caravans.  Immigration has a much different stance than the president.  The constitution marks the law and the senate has made the rules.  No wavering from that.  They were deceived and tricked into coming in hopes that they would all rush the Texas border and find their way into the U.S.  A decoy for the president to convince the U.S. to open up immigration to allow more Mexicans to work in the U.S.  He loves the remittances that are sent home to the tune of $4 billion per month.  He counts that as employment income.  

Turns out that the persons working the appointment desk are people I have known since my days of teaching delegates at the immigration office way back in the 90s.  They're still there and they still remember me.  Very nice people.

When I showed one of the agents my mica she said she had never seen one that old in a long time.  She said I needed to change it because some airport immigration officers may not accept it.  Each office and each state is a bit different just as the U.S. border agents each have their own criteria.  Next week I will have my appointment and get my new card.  Then  I will show you the old and the new or as far as the pictures what was and what is!