My left foot had flopped sideways with each step, I collapsed in mid-conversation with friends or neighbors or at least had to sit down immediately and often dropped whatever object I grasped with my left hand. A visit to local doctor Rogelio Grayeb resulted in a CAT scan that revealed an irregular image on the right side of my brain above my ear.
Denise and I left Zihuatanejo January 6 for Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, a facility with a reputation for dealing with neurological disorders. Within 24 hours I was diagnosed; a malignant tumor was growing rapidly on the right side of my brain. The golf-ball sized tumor was removed the next day, but the aggressive surgery required tresulted in even more left-side weakness. My left leg, arm, and fingers are of limited use now. I was immediately enrolled in acute rehabilitation and threw myself into a program of speech therapy, cognitive thinking, occupational, and physical therapy and have since gained back some finger and leg movement. My speech has improved and I am told my thought processes are quite normal. Radiation and chemotherapy are a daily regimen.
It seems that the brain is the slowest organ in the body to recover from trama so for the present I have learned to use a wheelchair, relearned how to to dress myself, and to tend to most personal needs using only my right hand. I am fortunate to have excellent doctors, nurses, and attentive inventive caring therapists, but most of all I am lucky to have a loving wife. Denise has tended to my needs every step of the way. Believe me, there is a lot of truth in the adage God Bless the caregivers.
I thank all of you have who sent wonderful, loving e-mails. Your kind words helped immeasurably tduring my darkest, most uncertain hours.
We expect to return to Zihuatanejo soon to see our dear friends, and to reclaim Luz, our dog, from Joseph and Franca in Barra de Potosi who so generously agreed to take care of her during our absence. My hope is to keep this blog updated, restart our pleasant life in paradise, and complete the novel that lays unfinished on my desk.
Tight lines,
Douglas Beach