MaraBlog: On the Island of Djerba, 2005

Sunday, December 2, 2007

On the Island of Djerba, 2005

This is David: Now that I am back in Amman I will share some photos of Mara. Here you see her in Houmt Souq on Djerba, Tunisia. We had visited a student of English named Olfa and her family in Tunis. She had henna'd Mara's hand.

3 comments:

Zlatna said...: Hi, David, and every one on the blog again! How wonderful of you to keep the blog and have Mara with us again! Thank you so much!

David, dear, I want you to know that you are always most welcome to visit with us in Bulgaria whenever you feel like it. The same applies to all my old and new friends on the blog. I'm sure you'll be happy to visit some of Mara's favorite places in our country and see what she must have felt.

Keep sending pictures, dear David, sometimes I need the visual presence of Mara, too!

Hugs,
Zlatna; December 3, 2007 at 10:53 AM
Robin H. said...: Hello David,
This is Robin in Colorado. I told you the story about Mara insisting on inviting each of her friends to her 5th birthday party individually by phone,. She called each home one by one with all the details. Truly a born organizer.

I am so glad I met you at Mara’s Memorial weekend. I was impressed by what you told me; something to the effect that it was never a question for you of whether to help take care of Mara when she was ill. You said that you wanted to do it. That it just came from you naturally. That says a lot.

I empathize with you being back in Ahman, where you lived together. I’m sure her spirit is all around.

Mara’s friends in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico where she has a house in her name; ”Casa Mara Del Mar”, send their love and thanks to you for helping care for their beloved Mara.
Robin H.
Denver Colorado; December 4, 2007 at 9:22 PM
isabelita said...: David, Debbie, Carol, Laurel, Kassel, Elize, I m really sad about Mara`s Death, I found out 1 week ago. There are no words I can said that I know will comfort you. There are no words, only feelings, I know Mara now rest in peace, away from pain, I have no way to contact you, because I dont have a phone number to call you. but please remember we are here for you. and that we always have ALL of you in our prayers. My house is open 24/7. We send our love and support in this terrible time. Love
ISABEL PUERTO GARCIA, RITA ISABEL GARCIA DIAZ, FERNANDO PUERTO GARCIA.; December 25, 2007 at 7:18 PM

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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!

MaraBlog

Sunday, December 2, 2007

On the Island of Djerba, 2005

3 comments:

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