Author: Contessa Jewall

Monday morning we were off to the medical imaging place here in Mazatlan. I had made an appointment for my MRI last week. For the most part partients are expected to get their x-rays or MRI’s etc before they see the doctor. Most of the hospitals even send their patients to this place to get their imaging tests done.

Because I was being given a tranquilizer an hour before the MRI for the sake of my claustrophobia and the fact that I could be out of it for up to eight hours Colin decided to drive us there and back. He could not imagine trying to load me into a pulmonia never mind getting me onto the lancha without dropping me in the ocean. We allowed enough time and arrived twenty minutes early but had to wait for the person in front of us to finish their business with reception. We even had a puppy sitter for the girls as we were gone close to 5 hours.

Finally it was our turn and based on what I had been told I was to take my ‘magic’ pill at 12:30PM. Oh, they also charged me 50 pesos/ $3.44CAD/$2.53 USD for it. So I reminded them that I needed to take it one hour before the MRI. I was given a pill wrapped in foil and an empty plastic water glass. I did have a water bottle with me. Later I saw that there was a water station across the room.

Colin’s photo of my regular knee X-ray.

So we payed all that we had to including some last minute x-rays requested by Dr. Cervantes. As we were sitting waiting for the x-ray procedure I became a bit dizzy. It took both Colin and the X-ray tech to walk me to the room. I had to sit right away. After the regular x-rays we were moved to another sitting area next to the MRI location. By about 1:15 I was suddenly level headed and felt like I could ride a bike or go for a walk!! Colin could tell that I was back to normal with lots of energy. The gentleman seated next to us went in for his ankle MRI 20 minutes late. Hmm I knew that I needed more medication if I had to wait until he was done, I was likely to flip out getting into the machine.

Never has a knee x-ray in this position before.

I promptly asked for for medication. I was told that it was impossible, I kept pushing even claiming that I would sign something that it was my choice. Nada. I asked for a half pill, again no. I insisted and they told me that I could come back tomorrow because ta second pill was dangerous 😯 and they could not give it to me. Three doctor levels came to see me and seemed to agree but then it was taken to the top level who said absolutely not. I argued that it had already passed through my system, at the dentist I need a numbing shot every 15 minutes, my system processes meds like that quickly. So I found a T3 ( Tylenol Codeine ) in my purse and swallowed it in front of all these people. It gave me some peace of mind and I hoped that it would do something to relax me.

No hospital gown for me as I was not wearing any metal.

As I was being put into the tube I was told that it was only a 10 minute procedure 😮 What?  Yes it was thirty minutes three years ago but they now had new software and it would only be ten minutes. So in I go, close my eyes and hope. The tube came up to my chest and I had the choice of leaving my arms and hands out over my head. They gave me ear plugs re the loud sounds but my ears were too small or the foam plug were not one size fits all.

Going into the tube.

This where I stopped this post last night at 10PM, I just could not continue. Quick snack and bed right after.

Today, Wednesday was much busier than expected. I solved many issues but ran out of time to even call the medical insurance company. I stopped and took in tonights sunset. So much to accomplish.

Actually I was up early today ( for me @ 7:30AM ) my dear friend Colleen from Toronto had arrived for the winter and was able to colour my hair today 😎 What a great feeling. She did a fabulous job.

I spent a good deal of time on the computer today organizing my absolute to dos.

So back to the MRI, we paid, I had it done and then we came home. Later that evening I got the Spanish report on my MRI. I translated into English and then the bottom fell out of my world. Finally I got my English translation today, cost me 400 MXN for that. Have a read…

After reading that I thought well I am done, looks like I would need a knee replacement. So yesterday ( Tuesday ) we picked up my MRI and x-ray images and went to see Dr. Cervantes. I can’t say enough about what a great medical doctor he is. He knew that I was upset and right away he said that I did not have four tears as the radiology report said nor any of the rest of it. Deep breathe. What was shown was some scaring from my miniscus surgery three years ago and no I did not need surgery. WOW!!! This is the second time he has corrected the reading of my MRI results.

However he was distressed about how swollen my right knee was. I told him that it was 100% better than four weeks ago. To him my knee was very swollen. He asked why I did not come in sooner, I said that it was because the swelling was so much better. However I still had pain and decided to spend the money for the MRI, 4200MXN/ $400.00CAD/$214.00USD. So very glad that I did. Dr. Cervantes showed us all the pockets of liquid around my knee. He said that had I waited much longer that my knee and the rest of my body would have become infected and that is was very serious. My father died of septicaemia from an infection.

My doctor did some mobility tests. I had to make a decision.

I had two options, Cortisone shot in the knee, meds and physio. Or just the meds and physio. Of course the cortisone would relieve most of my pain right away as well as speed up the diminishing of the the liquid in my knee. I asked him if it hurt and he said no, that he sometimes gave  himself cortisone shots. So despite hating needles and pain I went with the shot. Of course I wanted to get better ASAP. I won’t go into details but it surely did hurt. I almost broke Colins hand by squeezing it too tightly. About 5 – 10 minutes later the pain of injecting so much medication quickly started to diminish. So I went home with some to dos. I was ever so relieved at not having to have surgery again but I was totally worn out.

Tomorrow is yet another day with more adventures for me to deal with.

Or two and even better if they are chocolates.

I thought that life was supposed to be slower in paradise. Guess not. No matter where we are life seems to engulf us with all it holds. But better to be happy enjoying every moment and creating new memories than the alternative. I really wanted to post but truly had no free moments.

December 8th. The girls are really doing well with getting to the beach with no barking or any noises at all.

Then as soon as they are set free off they go, barking when they see a bird to chase.

Later that afternoon we joined in the the happiness of this graduation class from Lic. Biology Acuacutor. Note the yacht in behind. It was here for as long as the tele nova was being filmed.

Artsy sunset photo by moi!

December 11th sunset.

At least 80 people attended the RV1/RV2 auction ( silent and live ) to raise money for the Christmas coupon hand outs, on Dec. 11th. Instead of giving actual food hampers like Dallas does they give vouchers that can be used at the two stores here on the Isla.

We donated these two 5′ whips for ATVs for the final auction item. It brought in 2000 MXN pesos.That is the auctioneer on the right in the white shirt. By the end of the auction he had lost his voice. I have heard that they raised about 40,000MXN/ $2700.00CAD/$2020.00USD.

The sunset that evening from RV2. A much different view.

A few nights later.

Yes I am still doing my exercises. Ciela loves to lie across my throat and lick my nose when I am doing my lying down exercises. December 14th

Eight boats in the bay.

A few close ups.

Tomorrow morning I am going in for an MRI as well as specific X-rays of my right knee. The pain continues and it is worth the cost of the MRI to know the que pasa of what is happening in my body. Bottom line I will find out once the reports have been written if I need surgery and if not what is creating the pain. Because I am so claustrophobic of being in a tube and not being able to move I am being sedated for the procedure. This condition for me comes from being stuck in a plane next to the window with a basketball team who were drunk and were out of control. They were tossing things all over the aircraft. Not even the pilot could calm them down. It was very frightening. Flying had never been an issue for me and now I have to do deep breathing and always sit in an aisle seat. So the MRI is very terrifying for me.

Tonight.

Sunset this evening. First time ever that we have had ten boats in our harbour. Not easy to count as a few are directly behind another sailboat.

The film crew are still here. What do you see extreme right?

It almost looks like the girls ran thru the film scene. I don’t think that they did!!

Well I don’t think so!

Not sure if this yacht is part of the film or not!

A few sunset photos of that evening.

Movie film update…..

I think that this is the closest we will get to seeing the telenovela/soap opera.

Last Friday we went to a kids Christmas concert at El Velero. Jose the son of the owner of the restaurant, MIkkail, has been volunteering in an underprivileged area of Mazatlan and teaching music to several students. This was their first ever concert and for some their first time in a restaurant and for all a first time performing in front of an audience.

The concert was a great success.

I was happy to be a small part of the promotion for the event. It was a by donation event and because of all the RVers who attended and their generosity and of course others they were able to raise enough funds to purchase TWO additional keyboards. A wonderful start to the Christmas season.

Another person who attended the concert put these photos on a FaceBook page. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9290757457604790&set=pcb.9290811380932731

Lovely sunset that evening.

The very next evening we went out to dinner with Dianne and Bob, neighbours and friends back home, Holiday Park Resort. They are staying in RV2 or a while.

And now, finally, the long awaited new guacamole recipe 😛 Special thanks to Michelle from Comox, BC

~3 avocados – smashed or mashed  😉

~1 large or two small green onions

~2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

~3 garlic cloves, minced

~1/2 to 1 jalapeno, diced

~lime juice to taste

~two drops of liquid smoke or to taste (suggest mesquite not hickory )

~salt to taste

~cayenne to taste if you prefer more heat

 

 

 

 

I have been absent from posting but we are having a wonderful time. My knee is still sore but other days it is okay. I am doing a full set of my exercises everyday and walking a bit on the beach as well. I was going to get an MRI just for the heck of it. Prices have gone way up 🙄 So I am going back to day by day. Got some great shots of the girls on the beach today. Somehow they got into deep water. We now know that they can swim 😀

Close up of one my plants from last season that did not bloom. Love its flowers this year.

We are building new friendships and renewing old ones. Sadly the girls are being rather vocal and we have been using their bark collars. They are enjoying all the various visitors we get everyday but seem to want to say hola rather loudly to everyone. Overall they are 90% better than last season, its just that they like to greet everyone. We have offers from folks who want to puppy sit.

Lacey lived next door when we arrived but had to move to RV2 for a few weeks re scheduling. The girls miss their playdates.

It is really difficult to come inside and sit at the computer with everything being so wonderful out there.  The outside is done for Christmas and Colin put up the inside coloured lights. Tomorrow I will put up our special decorations inside and our mini mini tree.

Thank you Cindy for this lovely photo of our Mountain Ash back home. I am sure that the winter birds will be happy.

As in years past I am accepting donations via E-Transfer or PayPal for the December 24th food hamper distribution to those that need help in providing a Christmas for their families. Click here for a synopsis of years past.

This is this years request for donations and their hope for this Christmas season. $24.00CAD will give a family a complete Christmas meal along with extras for a few days.

Photos from the past few years.

Volunteers help package the food.

The RV Park now has a Santa on a sleigh ( ATV dressed up ) who will go out December 23rd giving candies to all the children on the Isla. The official Isla Santa passed last year and now we have Drew who grew his white beard long these past months just for the children. Hopefully I will get a few photos.

Tres Amigos RVers has a committee who do many things to raise funds to also help the less fortunate on the Isla. They get the names of those in need from the heads of the various areas in the Colonia. These people get coupons to spend at one of the two food stores here on the Isla. We support both but I have a soft spot in my heart for Dallas and his Isla born wife Rocio.

This is a large one.

Surprised to see all these cruise ship visitors sitting close up to the RV fence. Perhaps they feel more secure.

In other news we have a broken toilet seat. Rather precarious 😳  Colin may may need to duck tape things for the time being. Not sure if we can get a replacement here. Sadly Erik our wonderful RV tech’s wife had a stroke last week. So this is not the time to be bothering him with things like this. Gracie is coming along but has a very long road to recovery.

PS……. I have not forgotten and that guacamole recipe will be in the next post.

How many of you have had a generator parked next to you that was strong enough to run a large hospital?

This was the generator truck that started at 6:00AM yesterday ( Monday  the 5th ) and ran all day until 7:00PM.

With no previous knowledge we learned that a movie was being filmed directly in front of us.

The trucks ran all behind RV1 to past Cordon’s.

Wardrobe.  Another truck was makeup, another had showers and toilets and on and on. They were all supplied electricity from the generator next to us.

Meanwhile in front we suddenly had six sea-doos going back and forth.

We were a captive audience. So much activity. I vaguely recall reading within the past few months on the Isla de la Piedra Facebook page that extras were being sought for a movie. The turquoise Rubicon Jeep had been up and down the beach for a few days. Now we know why. It was actually in one of the scenes.

Various props were built here and there. In fact the first scene of the day and the last towards sunset were filmed closer to the shrimp farm up the beach. I actually walked there today:) And they were filming up there again.

Mid screen you can see the large white reflector screen, that is where the current action was being filmed.

This is what was behind the Jeep. The production crew catching all the film angles, sound, lighting, etc. It has been unusually humid the past few days. It is 90% humidity at 7PM locally at this very moment. Note the fan top right area.

They had a bullhorn, sound boom, lights and all you could expect. I even heard the word “action”! Pronounced slightly differently in Spanish.

Despite the heat and humidity these gaffers had to move their lighting equipment all over the beach. The cameras were on huge tripods that moved in the deep sand.

Time to move the production “tent” closer to the next scene directly on the water.

This scene required the sea-doos to do their thing.

About 4PM we went into our RV and were overwhelmed with the smell of exhaust inside. Instant headache. So Colin shut the widows and turned on the A/C. Besides the smell, the generators were an irritation with their constant hummmm.

What a special day for us to experience.

There has been so much happening in the past week that I can’t keep up with the blog. Lots more to come. Life on the Isla is indeed paradise.

Last night.

This Friday started with a 90 minute massage. However Katia had to give the girls some loving first.

My knee is better so I wandered around today and did a wee bit of visiting.

Later in the afternoon I did a full set of my exercises, thank you all for getting me going. It was not easy but I thought of each one of you and pushed through. However I only did the one set, tomorrow I will strive for two sets, am and pm 😎

Wow, just wow!

Hard to believe it is already December. One month left in 2022. Was it just me or did the year fly by?

One of my hibiscus that survived the two hurricanes.

Thank you all so very much for your positive reinforcement of my exercise program. For the first time since November 8th I had an online session this afternoon with my kinesiologist. Got a few repeats to continue with and some new ones to work on. She is also working on helping me strengthen my knee. Which by the way, is more improved today than yesterday.

Our first oriole this winter season.

A few photos from a day as seen from our RV site here on the Isla.

Life just passes by us. Walkers, a bather, a horse and cart with folks enjoying the ride and of course a few musicians. Oh and the sailboat.

Colin sitting there watching all the activity as he sits with his girls and enjoys his morning coffee and muffin along with some sweet pineapple and papaya.

Four shrimp boats waiting to come into port but they had to wait as there were two cruise ships at dock.

A new coleus for me. Carol this is what your colourful plants are.

Looks like a brick works very well as a pillow for a nap in the sun.

How many can fit under one umbrella? Both girls on the left joined the family.

So happy to finally see some pelicans, there have not been many of late.

Where has the month gone? We arrived here two weeks ago yesterday. And of course 17 days ago is when I injured my right knee. It was better yesterday and again today. I started my kinesiology exercises three days ago. A different soreness but overall better. I have an online session booked with my therapist for tomorrow 😎  If I don’t get back into the program soon I will be so tempted to ditch the entire thing and just sit around. Hint, hint, I am asking for support and encouragement 😳

About four days later we had our first happy hour this season.

Not normal for us but there was an accomplished guitarist here in the park who was leaving the next day.  Marilyn plays a twelve string guitar.

Sadly it was Grey Cup Day and folks came and left and came back.

Colin played his classical music at first and later backed up new comer Bruce.

Colin accompanied Marylin for a few songs.

Doxies basking in the sun.

I found this product on Amazon.

The product is safe for the environment and animals ( ?? ) but not humans!!!!!! It was suggested that a mask and gloves be worn and so Colin did. It seems to be working thus far. You have to Google the product for the details.

Sorry not a clear photo ( my fault ). This is a hole where we planted our latest bougainvillea.

The girls dug  it out of the soil. I had hoped that it would live in this glass of water, but it did not.

…they ate most of the roots.

The replacement ( I really liked the colour of the first one ). It is now protected from over active doxies.

Not sure what day this was but yet another gift from Mother Nature.