A couple of days ago my friend Michelle Solomon sent me an email entitled "Mexico." Michelle knows about the quest to provide care and joy for my Mom. "How are you doing," Michelle asked. The answer to that question varies a lot. There's a little more consistency in what I like. So I'll answer that question instead.
I like the adventure most days. At times though something easier would be OK.
I like living just a street over from
the naked lady house.
I like listening to The Road to Ensenada on the Road to Ensenada. Never had listened to the entire album.
I like having Flautas with Ron Astorga, his wife, and his accountant Raoul in a little restaurant in Ensenada. Ron is a big part of why I'm in Baja. He's a retired fireman from San Diego. About five years ago he started Residencia Lourdes, his nursing home in Ensenada. USA Today mentioned the Residencia in their 2007 article on Americans going to Mexico for nursing home care. I first came down to visit back in June.
I like watching 84 year-old Mary walk out to the Residencia Lourdes TV room with her walker. Ron says when she first arrived she was in a wheel chair. She told him she had never walked. She does at the Residencia.
I like learning from Baja Marvin. Marvin Lee Standsberry is amazing. He’s the fellow who designed and built the "Castle" where I'm living. He’s going to show me how to apply to become an American Indian and get Indian plates and drivers license.
I like Dr. Batiz. Dr. Batiz loves my Mom. Mother reminds her of her own grand mother. Dr. Batiz makes house calls. She stays for an hour or so. The charge is $50. Mother did have some good doctors in Texas. But Dr. Batiz is so different. She doesn’t just prescribe medication. She also prescribes beans, three times a day. Can you imagine an American doctor prescribing beans for anemia? The beans also work pretty well for constipation. When Mother went into Angeles hospital in Tijuana for a CAT scan, there was Dr. Batiz, pulling in right behind the ambulance. She sat with me in the gerontology doctor’s outer office as we waited for the scan results. I told her about how I came to Texas to take care of Mother after my brother-in-law had spent up most of her money. She remarked that such things happen in Mexico, too, but the social fabric is such that family members tend to put the breaks on really bad situations before things get out of control. I like insights like this.
Right now I'd like to go to bed. More later.
