Mexico Inspiration Journal_036

Item

A spiral-bound notebook page with handwritten text and a photograph of a medical scan.

Title: Mexico Inspiration Journal_036
Alternative Title: Mexico Inspiration Journal
Creator: Karen Blessen
Date: 2017
Description: The page is part of a spiral-bound notebook. The left side contains handwritten text, while the right side features a photograph of a medical scan, likely a cardiac imaging study, with circular patterns in red, orange, and blue hues against a dark background. The text is neatly written in black ink, and the photograph is placed in a white border.
Identifier: 017_2017_February 2017_Mexico Inspiration
Dates Completed: February, 2017 - February, 2017
Keywords: Cocooning; San Miguel de Allende; Mexico; 29 Pieces; Funding crisis; Photography; Beauty; Color; Doorways; Reckoning; High altitude; Breathlessness; Chronic pain; Expatriates; Demographics; Varanasi; Mortality; Health crisis; Butterfly Reserve; Pulmonary embolism; Hospitals; Epiphany; Limitations; Possibility; Self discernment; Calling; Belief; Habits; Divine guidance; Joy; Wounding; Prayer; Lightness; Friendship; Difficulty; Diminished strength; Defeat; Renewal; Disappointment; Admiration
Transcription: Facebook Posts from Mexico

February 9 at 9:33 pm: Not according to vacation plans! The doctors in San Miguel Allende have been terrific. Spent the day being checked out for a pulmonary embolism and tomorrow for coronary problems. This comes after days of feeling like an elephant is sitting on my chest. Thank you all for the prayers and good wishes. The doctor here in San Miguel is sending me to a heart hospital in Queretaro for further tests. We may or may not travel back to Dallas tomorrow. Gretchen Dykstra and Kelly Nash have been the best possible advocates at bedside. And Dr. Roberto Maxwell here in San Miguel is accessible and on it. My doctor in Dallas - Dr. Dean Dimmitt - is in the loop and agrees with all that the docs here are doing. I am in good hands. Love you all.

February 12 at 4:51 pm: Thank you to all my friends in the Facebook community and beyond for your concern, prayers and love. I am home now in Dallas, breathing better, and have plans to see my doctor here tomorrow to have more tests on my heart, to get to the bottom of this. Dr. Roberto Maxwell, the Cardio Pulmonary specialist at 29 Insurgentes in San Miguel, was thorough and clear in his help for me this past Thursday and Friday. I learned a few things on these last days of our trip to Mexico. (1) Mexico is beautiful and I wish I did better while there, (2) I've had a lifelong dream to see the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico (at 11,000 ft. elevation). I wanted to see the butterflies (Kelly and Gretchen both did) but my health prevented it. I ended up staring at the clear blue sky, lying on my back. It would've been so easy to get tearful and self-reproachful about my health, my age - the things that are lost. But I decided to appreciate what I could do. I learned that where there is a will, there is not always a way, and (3) When faced with a doctor's diagnosis that was potentially life-threatening (the doc scared the living daylight out of me by describing what I had as a 'widow maker'), I said my mantra, remained calm and felt all gratitude for everything and everybody. Though the blood tests indicated I had blood clots near my lungs, the CT scan proved that wrong. So - I feel good today, will see my doctor here tomorrow, and trust that I am here to be in the big mystery of it all for a while longer.

February 14 at 10:51 am: Happy Valentine's Day, dear friends. Thank you again for your love and concern over my health scare in Mexico. I saw my doctor here in Dallas yesterday, and he ordered a thallium isotope dye test to, as he says, "put this to rest." Evidently, for women, a CT scan, EKG's, echocardiogram and treadmill stress test are only 70% accurate, so this last test should be the decider. Other than catching a cold, I feel much better. The ups and downs (literally and emotionally) of the last week have been draining, so nap research is the order of the day today. May your home and your heart be Casa Corazon! Sending lots of LOVE!

February 22 at 9:40 pm: Heart Update: Today ... Two hours, and two intravenous injections of radio isotope dye, 64 photos of my heart done by a really creepy, heavy, moaning piece of equipment (that'd be the stuff of nightmares for anyone who is claustrophobic) hovering over my chest, a treadmill stress test and voilà! Clean bill of health for my heart. So the heart test tally is: 3 EKG's, one CT scan, one echocardiogram, one treadmill stress test in Queretaro, Mexico, and a radio isotope 3-D heart scan coupled with a treadmill stress test at Baylor Hospital today. And it all came out good. As far as we can tell, the troubles in Mexico were indeed altitude sickness. Again ... so relieved, I fell into another phase of nap research. Thank you all for calling in the angels, and for your love and prayers when things looked pretty scary there for a couple of days in San Miguel and Queretaro. I've been treated by a lot of terrific, caring doctors along the way.
Rights: To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
Is Part Of: Mexico Inspiration Journal
Relation: Image Gallery