Jordan, Fall 2005.
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It's Mara
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The Story
Hi Folks! Here's the story straight from the horse's mouth:
August 29 I stumbled over a word. It wasn't a big deal but I noticed. Then on Thursday night (August 30) David and I left on a fabulous long weekend in Syria. Friday we left Damascus for Palmyra. It was really hot. That day I stumbled over a couple words too -- it stood out to me since I never do that....
Saturday we walked all over Palmyra and I was really suffering from heat, or so I thought. I felt like I was making lots of mistakes in my speech -- but David didn't notice. Then I noticed that I had a small numb spot on my scalp behind my right ear. Strange, strange, strange. On Sunday, back in Damascus, the speech got worse (comegranite instread of pomegranite, etc.). By the end of the day I really felt like I was having trouble simply getting sentences out that were in my head. I couldn't make small talk with strangers (imagine that for me!) -- it was stressfull.
When I got home Sunday night I wrote my melanoma oncologist and he said I should immediately get an MRI. So Monday morning by 8:30 AM our fabulous health unit in Amman had me in a an MRI machine. By 9:30 I was out and found that I had metastatic cancer lesions (tumors) on multiple sites in my brain. Most notably, a frontal left lobe that deals with oral expression (the largest at about 1.8 cm). I also have one on the base of my brain where it connects to the spine, which may or may not have to do with the scalp numbness.
So -- Monday was a fabulous day in the hospital in Amman where practically everyone I have worked or played with in the past year came to visit -- it was a big party! By the next morning I was on a plane back to New York, accompanied by the Embassy's excellent doctor -- Curt Hofer. Tuesday night we arrived in New York and took a taxi directly to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hospital where we met my mother and oncologist. The past week in New York has blown by with tests and doctors and museums. David arrived from Amman on Sunday, September 9, and is going to be able to spend a month in the States (actually, we had a vacation planned now...).
So -- that's the beef. No headaches. No stroke-like symptoms. Just speech problems. In the last week the numbness on the right side of my head has covered my ear, jaw and moved down my neck and right arm. But as you will see from the blog -- treatment has begun so I hope it will all get better soon.
The plan: three weeks of full brain radiation (with weekends off). That is about all I know. There will be a plan afterward but we have to wait and see what this does before we decide. I still have a number of melanoma "freckles" on the skin of my chest -- so those have to be dealt with. I will keep you all updated regularly through this site!
August 29 I stumbled over a word. It wasn't a big deal but I noticed. Then on Thursday night (August 30) David and I left on a fabulous long weekend in Syria. Friday we left Damascus for Palmyra. It was really hot. That day I stumbled over a couple words too -- it stood out to me since I never do that....
Saturday we walked all over Palmyra and I was really suffering from heat, or so I thought. I felt like I was making lots of mistakes in my speech -- but David didn't notice. Then I noticed that I had a small numb spot on my scalp behind my right ear. Strange, strange, strange. On Sunday, back in Damascus, the speech got worse (comegranite instread of pomegranite, etc.). By the end of the day I really felt like I was having trouble simply getting sentences out that were in my head. I couldn't make small talk with strangers (imagine that for me!) -- it was stressfull.
When I got home Sunday night I wrote my melanoma oncologist and he said I should immediately get an MRI. So Monday morning by 8:30 AM our fabulous health unit in Amman had me in a an MRI machine. By 9:30 I was out and found that I had metastatic cancer lesions (tumors) on multiple sites in my brain. Most notably, a frontal left lobe that deals with oral expression (the largest at about 1.8 cm). I also have one on the base of my brain where it connects to the spine, which may or may not have to do with the scalp numbness.
So -- Monday was a fabulous day in the hospital in Amman where practically everyone I have worked or played with in the past year came to visit -- it was a big party! By the next morning I was on a plane back to New York, accompanied by the Embassy's excellent doctor -- Curt Hofer. Tuesday night we arrived in New York and took a taxi directly to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center hospital where we met my mother and oncologist. The past week in New York has blown by with tests and doctors and museums. David arrived from Amman on Sunday, September 9, and is going to be able to spend a month in the States (actually, we had a vacation planned now...).
So -- that's the beef. No headaches. No stroke-like symptoms. Just speech problems. In the last week the numbness on the right side of my head has covered my ear, jaw and moved down my neck and right arm. But as you will see from the blog -- treatment has begun so I hope it will all get better soon.
The plan: three weeks of full brain radiation (with weekends off). That is about all I know. There will be a plan afterward but we have to wait and see what this does before we decide. I still have a number of melanoma "freckles" on the skin of my chest -- so those have to be dealt with. I will keep you all updated regularly through this site!
3 comments:
I just went on the site so I could send the URL to someone who has just found out about mara's death. The pictures that you have been posting each day are so beautiful. Thank you for doing that.
I miss her very much.
Hi, friends and family of Mara,
Anna, thanks for the link.
I was at SAIS with Mara, and then fell out of touch with her for a few years until I was hired for a Mercy Corps-funded project dealing with civil society in Azerbaijan, and she found me again. I've just heard about Mara's death right now. I'm in Nairobi, Kenya, right now, because of Mara. She asked me to move here to work for Mercy Corps, and I did. And I'm still here. Mara, I wish I could tell you how much of an impact you've had on my life, but more importantly, on those of the Sudanese you've helped. I still have that first email you sent me from Abyei, telling me about how fantastic the Sudanese are, and how handsome they are!
Yours,
Lainie Thomas
Such a beautiful smile, keep posting David! Thank you,
Julia
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