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Expats Take Care

Monday, April 21st, 2014

Well, my friend Jayson Heckler who drove down to Oaxaca from the States to Oaxaca with me in 2010 was the next one. Fell and injured his leg and hip. Doc said to go home and stay down. He did. And died.

Barely over the fatigue of traveling…Earl, my friend and escort (he says I am his “chick”) says to me one thursday night walking away from a progressive jazz jam in a small cafe…no rhythm…no beat! I laugh. He seemed tight all night. Then half a block away he says he’s got to get into a taxi and go home. The driver drops me off at my apartment and takes off with Earl.

The next morning he emails me: “I’m scared. My leg went to sleep.” By that afternoon his hospital room was full of his friends.

Long story short he had some blood clots in his leg. Two days later, after a failed angioplasty at another hospital he has his leg amputated above the knee. His daughter who had flown down from Minneapolis, and a friend who was the translator, spent the night with me in case we got a call from the hospital. Desperate for sleep…three times they called. The third time was to find out if we wanted the leg…

Please, jesus and allah, I never want to be in a Mexican public hospital. But I was encouraged by the way everyone pulled together…each contributing help and coordination. I don’t want to be the next one.

Heli Skiing Bobbie Burns Canada

Tuesday, April 1st, 2014

While temps are in the 90’s here in Oaxaca, my oldest son is buried in powder near Calgary…a 4 hour bus journey followed by a 15 minute heli flight into the lodge in the Selkirk and the Purcell mountains.

Greg