Freddie and I are leisurely blending into the swing of Sevilla. The days are warm but not stiflingly hot like they can be. The nights are also warm and sometimes fresquita, a little brisk. People welcome us back.
When we arrived in Sevilla last Wednesday afternoon, Concha and Rafael met us at the airport. Concha, her thick, black, curly hair pulled off her neck in a low ponytail, was wearing a black sleeveless blouse and her black pants with the colored rhinestone sandals I had given her when she, Rafael and their three children came to stay with us for two months this summer. Rafael, tall and elegant with his gray hair, couldn’t wear the hat of Freddie’s that he had loved so much that Freddie sent it home with him. He had left it in his new condo in Sanlucar. But he had on his new belt from California and his San Jose tee shirt gifted to him by Carmen Callahan. They both welcomed us with open arms and excited hugs. What a joy to see their smiling faces, to be welcomed by our friends who have become family.
I am sitting here tonight in our new apartment on Calle Cano y Cueto, at La Puerta de la Carne in Sevilla, Spain beginning to write of the already wonderful time unfolding here, on my new slim, high power laptop computer. Our small piso (apartment) has a white living room and bedroom with balconies opening out to the street. The shutters and the furniture are a golden and grainy wood; the curtains are white lace. Large, artfully, well placed full length, wide mirrors make the place seem bigger. The small tiled and wooden kitchen is off the living room, away from the street. It is defined by a fake granite counter top over wooden cabinets to the left, and an opening to the right of it to walk through. On the right of the walkway, coming out from the wall, the edge of the refrigerator looks like a wood paneled door. As you walk through to the kitchen, you see the washing machine, and then to the right the sink. Turn to the right and the stove is there next to the refrigerator. We are slowly shopping for supplies. But when we arrived here with Concha and Rafael, Carmen Malpartida and her husband Alberto Moreno, our new landlords, were waiting for us. They hospitably showed us around and explained the many keys and the alarm, which is set at night, and how the gas turned on and off and many other things, although we were a little too jet lagged to remember it all. We have known Carmen for several years. She is a dance student of Concha’s as well as Concha’s friend and also a friend of Paco Lira’s. Carmen and Alberto were at our actuacion (show) here last December. We have also e-mailed each other regarding Concha’s arrangements during the year.
So when Freddie and I decided to try something new this year in Sevilla, Concha thought of Carmen’s rental apartment. Carmen’s prior rental arrangement had just fallen through and she was gracious enough to rent it to us for a very reasonable price. As we have been settling into to the apartment, I have begun to appreciate all the little things Carmen has left here to make life easy. I see that she is a thoughtful and considerate person. But I digress.
That day we arrived, after our apartment tour and instructions, Rafael and Concha opened our refrigerator door. Inside were their gifts. Rafael had cooked a huge pot of delicious chicken for us, chicken Solea, because that is what he sang when he cooked it. Concha had made us a huge tub of gazpacho, the Spanish summer soup served cold, which we adore. Carmen had put cold water in a bottle in the refrigerator and there were enough supplies, like toilet paper, dish soap, matches and salt that we could start stocking and arranging it more slowly. Later that day Ryan and Christine came by with the things we had stored from last year at La Carboneria. That was nice. What wonderful friends we have here. How thoughtful they are. Now we are starting to relax into the pace of Sevilla. We walk to dinner late in the balmy evenings enjoying the same familiar little streets. We have remembered how to get to more places each year.
Yesterday (Thursday) Concha and Rafael and the kids went to their new piso (condo) in Sanlucar to pick out the fixtures for their kitchen sink and to try to get the electricity and water finally turned on. They were successful with the water and perhaps will get lights tomorrow. They are returning home to Sevilla sometime tomorrow and Concha will start classes on Monday, September 2. We have talked to them every day by phone.
Yesterday in Sevilla Paco Lira, our friend and host for the last three years when we stayed at La Carboneria,, walked with us to the famous guitar maker Francisco Barba. Freddie bought a cheap but wonderful guitar from him to play and then leave in Spain, stored for next year. This happened because Freddie was told by British Air that he could not bring his guitar on the plane with him because it was too long. So rather than ship it with the cargo and risk it being shattered, he left it at home. After we bought the guitar yesterday, Paco invited Barba to go for coffee with us. He went with us, but for a drink of juice because he has been off coffee for three months on the doctor’s orders. Paco doesn’t drink coffee either, just milk and cocoa.. Barba and Paco are old friends and I could see that they enjoyed seeing each other again. Each has a busy, full life and they probably don’t have time to see each other much. Each is aging. I could see the respect there for each other too. Each is in the top of what he has chosen to do, an artist in his own right; and they are old friends.
So it worked beautifully for Freddie to leave his guitar at home. Today when we went to pick up Freddie’s new guitar from the shop, Barba told us that he is going on vacation for a month on the first. It is a good thing that we didn’t procrastinate. And Freddie’s new guitar is nice. He has to wait to play it until the tap plate, which Barba just put on, dries and so has borrowed a guitar of Ryan’s for a few days.
We went grocery shopping this morning at the MAS supermarket with Rubina today. She helped us identify and choose our groceries and carry our plastic bags of groceries home. Freddie is ecstatic about having his own kitchen.
Antonio and Mercedes, the owners of one of our favorite restaurants, El Cordobes, invited us for dinner last night. They and their waiters are such nice people. For several years now they have given us a dinner when we arrived and another when we leave. I have never had that happen even once in the States!
I can’t believe it is already a week since I last wrote. The Bienal has started as have my classes with Concha, so now the days and nights are full. However, we have managed to get a phone in our apartment as of today, thanks to Alberto’s help. 011-34-954-411-454. The phone/answering machine comes with the service.
We’ve also all been La Feria de Lebrija and hung out in the two Gypsy casetas (tents) there, eating and drinking and watching the Gypsies of Lebrija dance and sing until just before dawn. Then, like always, we end the night with churros (long, greasy, doughnut-like pastries) dunked in paper cups of hot chocolate. Then back to Frasqui’s house in Lebrija to sleep.
Here in Sevilla magic happens too. Ryan was over tonight when Raul, the guitarist for Farruquito, was over here playing guitar incredibly, his long nailed, long fingers flying over the strings, so beautifully, so deeply, so strongly. He plays with technique and soul and is only 23 years old (married and with a child). He started playing when he was 7. He used to hang around the Carboneria in past years and we sort of knew him from there, but today Luisito, our young Gypsy singer/dancer-of the-old-style/palmero friend, invited him to stop by here. We hang out with Luisito a lot. We had a great time tonight and we really like Raul. Raul played until the downstairs neighbor came to our door because of the feet on the floor. We hadn’t realized that they could hear us —One disadvantage of an apartment. But at the Carboneria we couldn’t invite these young Gypsies upstairs because it invaded Paco’s personal space. But here we have the capability of entertaining, as we do at home. So people are always here visiting and doing Flamenco. When they are below our balcony, they call us: Freddie, Marianna, and we press the buzzer for the downstairs front door and the wrought iron gate and they come in, looking at the fountain in the tiled courtyard and then up the marble circular stair case to our door at one B, which is really the second floor in American terms.
Luisito has said that Juan “Farruquito” is a good friend of his too and is really a special person. We haven’t met him yet. But it seems as though we will. (Ryan and Christine also have met Farruquito and have also said that he is a very special and spiritual person.) I asked Raul tonight what he would want when he comes to Santa Cruz in February with Farruquito and Juana Amaya and their group, and he said, “Dinner”. So he will talk to the group and perhaps about 14 will come for dinner at our home in Santa Cruz after the show! That should be fun!!! Raul is trying to think of a way to bring Luisito to California with them and thinks that Luisito could/should give a workshop in the old style of Gypsy dancing, a la Anzonini and Miguel Funi (two of Luisito’s major idols). He is one of the few young Gypsies here who are enamoured of the old style of Flamenco. I told Raul that if his group endorsed Luisito, probably people would take from him. Luisito would need to make enough money to cover his plane ticket. I don’t know if that will happen. But he is a lovely person. He has taken Freddie to the doctor and has helped him shop. He lent us a wonderful Flamenco video and will lend us others too. He loves Flamenco, especially the old style. He sings sometimes when Freddie plays guitar here. Although he dances a little, he always encourages me to dance and loves the way we love Flamenco. Although now I will have to be aware of the neighbors when I dance, even lightly, on these cool white marble floors. Freddie and I are old enough to be these guys’ grandparents!!!!
I’ll write more after I see them all perform in the Bienal on the 29th of September. But just hearing Raul play tonight and knowing that Farruquito is considered by many to be the best young male dancer in Spain, and that Juana Amaya is considered to be a wonderful dancer put me in awe that they will be in California in February, both in Berkely and even in Santa Cruz! Spain is coming to Santa Cruz, our vision of what Freddie and I want to do with our Flamenco Romntico Academy of Gypsy Flamenco Arts.
Monday shortly before my first dance class of the day I slipped on some wet cobblestones and fell down. I took my class although my leg hurt. Towards the middle of my second class my thigh was still hurting. Then I moved my leg the wrong way; I kicked up and out as I do in this step and it hurt too much. Concha stopped my class and said, “We’re going to Salvadore after I finish my group class.” Then she called Salvador, the magic massage-but-more practitioner to the Sevilla soccer team and the top Flamenco dance artists, like Concha, Manuela Carrasco, Farruquito, Remedios Amaya and many others. Concha and Rafael, my wonderful friends, drove me there after Concha’s class, in their beautiful and useful new car. I was crying from pain and fear when I limped in. I could hardly walk. I had torn a muscle in my thigh.
Luisito had taken Freddie to Salvador two times already the week before for Freddie’s back. Now Freddie and I have 2 appointments/week together. I have gone for the last 3 days and Salvador is helping me a lot. Now I can walk again. I am taking gentle dance classes, including doing palmas and upper body. I have been doing footwork very lightly and this has turned out to be a blessing, because with my new body posture, my footwork sounds great. It is clean and clear and accented, but light and gentle and easy, as I care for my leg. Yes I am still taking class, but am babying my leg until it heals. I go to Salvador again tomorrow with Freddie.
I have to get out and send the sparse writing I’ve already done, because too much is happening. Having our own apartment means company every night and I don’t have as much time to write or to watch my class videos as I did the other years. But nights like tonight are unforgettable and why we’re here too.
And you should see what Concha is doing to my dance style. It is incredibly different already!!!!
I’m writing today instead of watching my today’s class video.
It is now 3:15 AM and we are finally in our cozy little apartment and I am taking a few more minutes to try to capture the feeling of the evening and being in Spain during the Bienal season. You see lots of American Flamencos you know from all over the country (but mainly from California and New York and sometimes Florida) and you go out to great Flamenco shows and stay up very late almost every day for a month. Of course during the week I take my two dance classes a day with Concha and I usually end up spending three or four hours in the studio at La Carboneria (This includes my classes). And then I watch and study my tapes. And I don’t have enough time. —a theme of my life. But my life certainly is not boring!
We have scheduled to see a bull fight tomorrow at 1:00, if it doesn’t rain. This will be my first one. We will go with Souren, the handsome, gray haired Armenian Oud, Nai, and Clarinet player and Rayhana, his voluptuous, dark haired, round faced belly dancer girlfriend, both from New York City. They stayed at La Carboneria for a month last year performing almost every night, and we all hung out together. (They have been coming here to work at La Carboneria one month a year for years) Last year Rayhana and I worked out some simple belly dance routines and I borrowed a costume from her and danced with her. This year she e-mailed me to bring some costumes and I did. But, I am putting off practicing and dancing with her until my thigh heals. It is already much better today.
And I had better get to sleep. It’s almost four AM and Freddie is already asleep.
Freddie has the flu and is in a lot of back pain right now so I will go alone tonight and I will meet Concha and her family there. Concha’s sister Pepa Vargas, and brother-in-law, Curro Fernandez, of La Family Fernandez, will perform. Last night was Concha’s night. She received a full standing ovation from the enthusiastic crowd at the sold out show. Her sister, Pepa (of La Family Fernandez) was one of the two older and traditional Gypsy female singers who sang for Concha’s Buleras Romance from Lebrija with which she closed the show. Pepa looks a lot like Concha, but a little older (near my age!) and not as wild as her younger sister. Her black hair does not frizz out over her head, flying with energy, like Concha’s hair does. Her face is a little more square than Concha’s round face. But there is definitely a family resemblance. Pepa is a beautiful and supportive singer/sister. During Concha’s dance she really sang to Concha, singing, “Mi hermana, mi hermana” (my sister, my sister) to her with both love and pride in her voice. Pepa’s son, Pacquito, played the guitar for Concha. He is a wonderful guitarist. And Concha’s son Curro, also played guitar in the show, along with Antonio Moya, a well-known guitarist who plays Lebrija style.
Concha’s other female singer, also black haired and somewhat dark complected and wide in girth and stature was Pepa de Benito. There are photos of her and her husband on our website in the 2000 Spain writings. We spent a wonderful day at an outdoor restaurant in the country with David and Clara and Jill in 2000, when Clara had her Fullbright grant and was interviewing the Gypsy women artists. This Pepa too is a wonderful singer and her love and feeling flowing toward Concha was beautiful.
Concha used two male singers for her Soleares, which she danced first. One, Antonio Malena, is a primo hermano (first cousin on the male side) to the great singer Curro Malena. Antonio is much younger than Curro and is a powerful singer in his own right. He also has dynamic palmas.
The other singer, from a family of artists in Jerez, was Luis Moneo. Of course, he too was excellent. Our young friend Luisito did palmas. It was a beautiful show and the audience was amazed. This was a dynamic example of true Gypsy Flamenco.
I will be happy when the Bienal is over, as of tomorrow. With these midnight shows (of which many of these are) it is impossible to get to bed before 4:00 AM. And so, I have written very little.
It is now twenty minutes to eleven (at night), so I am taking this time to write before I catch a taxi around eleven fifteen to Hotel Triana for the last show.
I want to write about Rayhana and I want to write about Elena, two wonderful women I know here. I wrote about Rayhana, my beautiful belly dancer friend, last year. This year, after my leg healed, Rayhana and I worked out a beautiful duet to the Saidi piece that Souren and the band play. I have a short solo and then we do a little ending. I wore my gold sequin skirt over my gold Persian lace skirt. My belt is a black scarf with large round sequins that Carolina and I used for our candle dance duet years ago. I used those same skirts in that too. My top is a gold on gold beaded lotus flower design bra that Linda made for me according to my request. For my stomach piece I attached a kind of chandelier looking draped chain with large rhinestones set in. It is beautiful. I wore a gold beaded necklace and upper arm drape and of course my gold dance sandals. Rayhana did my make up magnificently. We have now done two shows together and will do more when I don’t have to go to midnight Bienal shows. Rayhana’s show usually starts between twelve and twelve thirty at night. Sometimes it is a little later. Both the audience and the band loved our duet. When we practice, Rayhana tells me not to use my Flamenco face, which I was doing unconsciously. In order to change it I had to access my deeply buried belly dance part of myself. I feel as if I am pulling that part of me out of a deep and dark cave where it had been sleeping in hibernation. It is fun and familiar to belly dance again. And Rayhana assured me that when I performed I had my belly dance face and feeling the whole time. We are having a wonderful time together. She is a lovely and kind and strong and perceptive person. She is also fun! Rayhana is trying to convince me to teach belly dancing again because it is good for my body. She teaches belly dance, aerobics, and body sculpting in New York. If it happens, it will happen, but my primary energy is still with Flamenco and Freddie and I do both want to teach comps and technique sometime after we return. We also want to offer a supportive environment for people to learn and to enjoy Flamenco. We want to continue to grow our Flamenco Romntico Academy of Gypsy Flamenco Arts.
But back to Rayhana, beautiful, round faced, dark haired, exotic Rayhana. She will be leaving on Wednesday. Almost a month has passed since she arrived and it seems like just a few weeks. Rayhana is a cat person and buys cat food every day to feed her adopted alley cats. The other night when she was asleep, she was awakened by a howl outside her window. One of her cats was hungry! So she opened a can of cat food and threw it down and the cat was happy and let her sleep again. She has a lot of cats at home. Well it is time to stop writing and go to the Bienal. Freddy is asleep and Rubina’s phone number is by the bed in case he needs anything while I am gone. Rubina is another good friend.
Strangely enough, even with all the car and street noises, I sleep better here than at La Carboneria. The church bells are ringing —such a wonderful sound of Spain.
I had wanted to write about Elena. She is from Northern Spain but has lived in Southern Spain for about thirty years. Elena is Concha’s agent. We corresponded by e-mail when Concha was visiting us in California, but I had not met Elena in person. I was first introduced to her at Carmela, May’s restaurant on Santa Maria La Blanca where we have coffee in the mornings with Paco and his entourage at the outside round tables shaded with umbrellas. Short and slim with brown hair and about my age, Elena was wearing jeans and sensible shoes. She had a hip, earthy and interesting look; she certainly did not look like a typical middle-aged Spanish woman! She could have walked in from the North Beach of the old Bohemian days or New York, for that matter.
She was once married to Cabrero, the famous and eccentric Flamenco singer who lives in the mountains and herds goats. Elena has three grown children and lives in a large house just outside of Sevilla, with flowers. One of her sons, Emiliano, a gifted guitarist and pianist, hangs out at La Carboneria and we have gotten to know him a little. I had talked to Elena in bits and pieces here and there but when we all went to Concha’s show at the Bienal last Friday I got to know her better. Of course we connect in our love of traditional Flamenco and of Concha. We also connect through our affinity with computers and their possibilities. She e-mailed me yesterday needing a photo of Concha and I told her about the one Sergio had taken that had been on the cover of the Giradillo in the Bienal 2000. I told her that I had scanned it and that it was on my web page. She then wrote back that she had gotten it off my web page as I had suggested and that she loved it and will use it for Concha’s publicity. I have not met many Spanish women, especially my age, who have that facility with computers. It was nice to connect with Elena in that way. But there is something more between us. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I like her a lot and I am excited about knowing her.
Since Concha’s show on Friday night many people have commented on how incredibly she danced. Many people have said that they have never seen anything like it. Concha really does have a special gift that goes beyond growing up with Flamenco, and great Flamenco artists and being Gypsy. She has an incredible talent and dynamism. Her dance is full of energy and expression and of course the contrast, as she puts it, of the storm, the tempest and then the tranquility, the serenity. People came up to me last night, knowing that I am her student, to ask me what time her classes are at La Carboneria. Having seen her perform they all want to take classes from her and to learn the true, primitive, traditional Flamenco that she teaches so well.
One thing that I do not want to write about but will because it is part of our experience here is this. Last Thursday Freddie and I went to Salvador for our treatments. We were both experiencing sciatica as well as our normal physical problems. Salvador is a licensed chiropractor but usually he just does massage and ultra sound and sometimes gives sublingual pills or shots of anti-inflammatories. Last Thursday he decided to do adjustments on both Freddie and me for the sciatica. Freddie, who was getting the flu, was already in pain and Salvador also gave him an anti-inflammatory shot and said he would feel better within two hours. Freddie seemed to feel better just after the treatment but when we were walking to the taxi he said that he was starting to hurt again. Salvador had said that if he hurt on Friday to come in again, even though he didn’t have an appointment. But Salvador was pretty sure that Freddie wouldn’t be hurting. Well Freddie got worse and worse. Part of it was the stomach flu which he picked up from some visitors from California. (No, I don’t have time to write about everything and every person we see and interact with!). Thursday night Freddie didn’t want to take his pain medication but was having a terrible time sleeping. He moved to the single couch bed in the living room because he felt that the mattress was better for his back. He was groaning and tossing and crying all night. After hours of this suffering I gave him a sleeping pill to knock him out but even that did not put him to sleep because the pain was so intense. Finally in the morning he took some Vicodin and that helped him enough to let him sleep. He had been rationing his pain medication so it will last for our two months here, but he had to take the medication this time. He slept most of Friday but pulled himself out of bed to video Concha’s show for her. People said that his face looked green. The flu made him weak and he was sweating and then alternately cold. That night the sleeping pills worked and he slept for a little while, but he was back on his medication too. All night I heard him from the other room groaning and moaning in pain, crying that he does not want to live. It is very scary. He wants to go home immediately and have his back operation. He has now taken more of his medication and it won’t last through our time here. This morning the flu seems to be passing but his back still hurts and he keeps knocking himself out with sleeping pills so he won’t feel the pain. He has hardly eaten. Yogurt and a banana seem to agree with him but the chicken stew/soup I made him yesterday didn’t make it. I have never seen him in so much pain. I don’t know what Salvador did, but we think that the adjustment he made must have tweaked Freddie’s herniated disc. Freddie refuses to go back to Salvador or to see another doctor. I massaged his back yesterday and even that hurt him. We have been using heat packs from Nikken and that helps a little. Freddie has been in pain before, but not like this. I have never heard him say before that he wants to be out of his body, to die to be out of this pain. I feel so helpless.
Just last week Freddie was thinking that he loved Spain so much that he wanted us to stay an extra month, which is always OK with me! Then this back thing happened and everything feels like it is falling apart.
Freddie wants me to stay in Spain until November even if he leaves early. I want to stay because I am making phenomenal progress in my dancing with Concha. We are continuing to work on style and everyone is amazed at my continued progress. (Rubina thinks I should stay her for a year to keep from losing ground from what I am accomplishing.) Theoretically our tickets are not changeable. I worry about Freddie traveling alone, especially in this condition. One possibility is to schedule the operation at home from here and then to try to get enough medication from the States to last until he returns. Last year we tried to get Vicodin and Percocet here in Spain and they don’t have it. The codeine that they gave him last year didn’t help him very much. We definitely need to get his medication from the US.
So we are dealing with health problems and solutions here too. Perhaps we’ll have another x-ray taken here in Spain to see if we can get more information about what has happened to his back. But right now Freddie is living in bed, sleeping. When I read this to him a little while ago he felt asleep again. At least he ate another yogurt and banana.
Yesterday I was the Spanish housewife. Immediately when I woke up around noon (not typical housewife!) I got up and took my little red shopping cart to the supermarket before it closed for the weekend. I had to get us enough food for the weekend. Usually Freddie does this, but with him in bed I took my turn. I also got my cell phone re-charged which means I went to the little estanco, (store that sells tobacco and sundries) to pay twenty more dollars so I can make more calls from my phone. They call it re-charging, putting more money in my phone’s “card”. If I hadn’t gotten there on time I would have had to wait until Monday and then wouldn’t have had enough in my phone to call a taxi to get home from the Bienal that night. As it was, Rafael made two trips in their lovely new car, one to take the kids back to the house first and then he returned for Concha and me so I didn’t even have to take the taxi home last night after all.
When I got home from the market I cooked the chicken for Freddie which he couldn’t eat. I also made some OK gazpacho. (Concha’s is much better). I did laundry in the tiny machine in our kitchen and hung it up to dry on the roof and took in the things I had hung up the day before. If I did this every day I would not have time to dance. When I told Concha how I had spent my day she told me that she had done the same thing. Shopping, cooking, cleaning. It feels good once in a while.
They took his temperature and he has a fever. They have done a blood test and now he is getting ready for an x-ray. This process started at 9:30 AM, with Freddie saying that he did not want to go to the hospital or to see a doctor. Now it is 1:45 PM.
Chino and his wife came to see us here at the hospital when they returned home from a job in a pueblo. They didn’t stay too long because they had left their little girl with the wife’s sister who works at the hospital and they didn’t want the child to be around the hospital for too long. I could understand that. I was very touched that they came. Freddie has been in pain and alternately sleeping. The doctor gave him a pill for his fever.
Just yesterday he arose from the dead and we met Ryan and Christine and Brie, (Christine’s sister who is visiting) for coffee at Carmela. Freddie felt better. Then the three of them, Ryan, Christine, and Brie, spent the night in our living room and early this morning they left to take Brie to the train. We had all gotten to bed at four AM the night before and Freddie had seemed fine, although he was groaning and tossing in the bed all night. Ryan and Christine returned about five minutes after Freddie started shaking. In this waiting room there are three people in wheel chairs who have oxygen strapped to their mouths. There are nine people in stretchers right now and others in wheel chairs, waiting. The bathroom is dirty with blood spots on the floor. People sit in hard blue plastic chairs. The lights blink on and off and the sound of cell phones ringing their cacophonous tunes adds to the din of people. But people are nice. One person waiting got us a sheet to cover Freddie with; another helped us find the bathroom. It is 2:30 PM. Concha and Rafael called and will come down here to help us in the hospital. Freddie is sweating profusely and is in pain. I have been here standing next to him, my hand on his forehead, wiping his sweat with the sheet for hours while he dozed, but he is awake now, waiting. He groans in pain. I brought a book, Queen of the Gypsies about Carmen Amaya, but have not read a single page yet. I didn’t want the Spanish hospital experience! What a difference from Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. But still, this is more people oriented. Freddie’s urine specimen didn’t even have his name on it, but they were waiting for it when I brought it to them. Sala de urgencia (the waiting room for urgent care). The mass of people. Will the beautiful young girls here look like the older people some day, fat in shapeless dresses, humped backs and dyed hair? More people come.
I try to take in the black tar of human suffering — there is so much here. Worried relatives sit or stand with their loved ones, waiting. Freddie drifts from pain back into sleep. He didn’t remember throwing up this morning. I wish I knew the answers: what to do when he is sick, in pain. Paco thinks he should go to Jesus the acupuncturist but Freddie doesn’t want to. He didn’t even want to come here or to go to a doctor. The relatives wheel the patients to and fro. And I am tired. Where do the rich people go? Concha and Rafael are here now. Concha says that this hospital has fantastic doctors, the best. I am glad. All the tests are in and we are waiting to see the doctor to know the results. It is 3:10 PM. And Concha has to teach at 4:00. Hopefully she will be able to translate the Spanish to Spanish that I can understand better when we talk to the doctor to find out the results, which should be soon.
Concha had to leave before we saw the doctor. She took a taxi to La Carboneria and Rafael stayed with us. Rafael says this is one of the best hospitals in all of Spain.
Esperanza, Concha’s sister came to the hospital to see her niece Esperanza Fernandez, who just had her second child by Caesarian section. The niece had been discharged this morning but Esperanza saw Concha leaving the hospital and worried that her sister had had another attack of high blood pressure. But Concha told her that she was here because of us so Esperanza went to the sala de urgencia to see us. Then she will go upstairs to the oncology unit to visit her husband he was recently hospitalized for advanced cancer. 5:00 PM. We are now upstairs in the trauma unit. Freddie’s tests were OK but his spinal column is bad and the emergency doctor, a very nice blond, short, haired young woman, referred Freddie up here to wait for a specialist’s opinion. She said that the Vicodin is bad for the bones and that he seemed to have a lot of osteoporosis. The little bit of medication she had given Freddie before for pain, this morning when we first saw her, has worn off and he is groaning again, still on his stretcher with the bars that look like rusted old bicycle parts.
Concha went to teach her three group classes and luckily Rafael stayed here helping us. The nice blond doctor who gave us the results did not know how to talk slowly so it was good that Rafael was there to clarify things. Freddie and I haven’t eaten all day and I have been on my feet, standing most of the day after only five hours of sleep. I feel shot. 6:45 PM. Rafael took me out to eat when Freddie went into “observation”. They will give Freddie intravenous pain medication and observe him for a few hours. At 8:00 PM they will give us an update. Probably he will spend the night in the hospital. Rafael went to pick up Concha after her three group classes. Since her show everyone wants to take classes with her. Chino called to see if we needed a ride home. I am touched. Freddie could have an operation here, at no cost, but I think he will wait until he returns home. 8:11. Waiting for the observation visiting room doors to open. This is a non-smoking hospital, better than the Israeli hospital that my mother died in. Hoards of family members crowd and wait with me around the closed doors that were supposed to open at 8:00 PM. I am sleepy.
Now for the hospital escape story. But first, I want to say that tonight Freddie is back from the dead. Thanks to the many Shamanic journeys and prayers, the acupuncture, and perhaps the passage of time, Freddie is finally on the mend. He started to eat, meaning drinking broth, this evening. He has color again in his face and he no longer continually groans in pain. —So now the story.
I left off at observation. Freddie was given two choices. He could have a shot in the behind which may or may not have worked and go home. The second option, which he chose, was to have the pain medication injected directly into his blood. The doctor said that this would take the pain away instantly and he could be monitored for several hours and perhaps go home that night if it worked. It sounded like a good option. As I waited in the waiting room, I thought that probably Freddie is feeling much better and has befriended all the nursing staff. I pictured him laughing with them and telling jokes.
When they finally let us in, half an hour late, at 8:30 PM, the staff was bringing in dinner. Freddie was lying on a bed in the middle of the floor groaning, with two tubes in his arm attached to two bottles. You could see the saline bottle dripping, but the pain medication bottle looked almost full. Freddie’s uncombed white hair frizzed out like a maniac’s hair, uneven and ragged looking. His unshaven beard and crazy-with-pain eyes made him look like a street derelict. He was yelling about the prejudiced bitch nurse who wouldn’t come to adjust the pain medicine bottle. Apparently it kept sticking and the nurse kept saying that the medication had to be dripped in slowly. I started to feed Freddie but he couldn’t eat. I tasted the food and it was the worst hospital food I have ever tasted. It had absolutely no flavor at all. He ate a few spoonfuls of watery rice soup and the canned peaches. We asked to speak to the doctor but none came. They said that now they had adjusted the medicine flow and that it was working. Concha and Rafael were there. Concha talked to the bitch nurse who explained that the flow had been purposely slow. I believe she was lying because the doctor had said that the purpose of Freddie being in observation was so they could monitor the strong pain medicine they were giving him. Whatever was in those bottles was not touching his pain. Much to his distress we left him in the hospital after the staff promised they would strengthen the medicine or the flow of it.
The next day Rafael picked me up at 9:00 AM so we could go to the hospital to find out how Freddie was. I packed his hairbrush. In this hospital it is impossible to call for this information. That was hard for me to believe and I kept asking different people but it is true. You have to go there at 9:00 AM to get information but they don’t let you see the patient until visiting hours start at 1:00 PM. The nurse at the information window recognized me and told me that Freddie had had a hard time at first but was doing much better and had slept, something he hadn’t been able to do the night before at home. She had a lovely smile and I asked her if she could take his hairbrush to him and she immediately left to do it. (I hoped that if he combed his hair and looked a little more presentable perhaps he could get a little better service from the staff). We waited for her to return but she didn’t. I like how the Spanish remember people. I don’t think that would have happened in the US, especially at a county hospital (which is the equivalent of the free hospitals here).
We returned with Concha at 1:00 but of course we had to wait until they brought in the lunch at 1:30 before they would let us in. By this time they had moved Freddie’s bed to the wall. Freddie was still in agony and would not touch his food. He had to beg for water. We finally got to talk to the doctor and we told him that Freddie wanted to leave and since they hadn’t helped his pain that we wanted to take him home. The doctor said that he would not release him until the pain was gone. We made such a stink that they stopped the analgesics they were trying and went directly to the strongest medicine they had, morphine. The first dosage wasn’t enough but the second one helped. To get this far Concha had to speak so strongly to them that her blood pressure went up and she got dizzy. She extremely upset seeing Freddie in so much pain. While we were waiting for the doctor to return visiting hours ended. We said that we would not go until Freddie came with us, but finally it was 3:00 o’clock and Concha had to leave so she could teach her 4:00 o’clock class and the next two as well. Rafael was very worried about her so he left with her so he could be with her and drive her. I sat with Freddie. When I went to the nurse to ask for water for him she told me that I couldn’t stay there, that I had to leave. I very sweetly told her that I was not leaving until I could leave with Freddie. I explained that there had been the two options and that he did not have to stay there. Then Freddie tried to get up, still attached to the tubes. He started to yell at her that he was going with me and she backed down and said I could stay and went to find the doctor. I don’t know why they wanted to keep him, but they had figured that they could just get rid of me and not take me seriously. Finally the doctor came, looked at Freddie and left again. Finally when we got him back by bothering the nurses enough, he said that soon we could leave and that he would write a prescription for morphine. Then he came back and said that Freddie needed a social security number and that his number from the US wouldn’t work, although that is the number they used on the intake when I registered him there. I asked the doctor if I could use Rafael’s social security number and he said yes! I called Rafael and he agreed but did not have the number with him. The doctor said I could bring it in to him that night. Then he told me that he did not have any triplicate forms there needed for the prescription. I would need to come back before 9:00 PM when he was leaving and he would give me the prescription then. I would bring in Rafael’s number for him then too. Then he went off to look for some morphine samples for Freddie to take home for the night, since the pharmacies would all be closed. Freddie was so anxious to go that he got dressed and then stripped the bed. Most of the beds in the ward were the adjustable kind but this one was broken and had a slanted piece of plywood underneath it. That was why it had been so uncomfortable on his back. Finally the doctor returned with some blue pills and Freddie walked slowly and stiffly out the door with me to the sunlight of the evening. We caught a taxi from the cue waiting in the line there and went home to the cost of $5.00. It was 6:00 PM. Ryan and Christine had straightened the house and came in about 15 minutes later. Chino called and I asked if he could take me to the hospital at 8:00 PM to pick up the prescription. I did not want to spend another $10 on taxis. Chino, who is always very prompt and often early, arrived at 8:20 PM. There was traffic. I found out later that there was a soccer game and a workers strike and demonstration. We wove through traffic but had to stop to get gas. His car was on empty and the light was on! We did make it and I found the doctor and got the triplicate.
The next morning Ryan and Christine took it to the pharmacy for me and came back with three different medicines and unclear instruction on how to take them. None of them said morphine. One was for his stomach.
Freddie still looked green and refused to eat. His unshaven beard and dirty uncombed hair made him look like death itself. He had moaned all night. He threw up a little clear and white liquid. He wanted to go home to California immediately. Amy, our American acupuncturist friend who is in Sevilla now for several months, came over and gave him an acupuncture treatment for his back. But both his back and his stomach continue to hurt. He was still not eating. Rubina brought over some white fizzy powder for his stomach which seemed to help him a little when he drank it. Finally around 10:30 or ll:00PM Jesus, Paco’s master acupuncturist friend who worked on Freddie last year for his foot, came over. He had just come from his office after seeing people all day. Wednesday was his late night at work. Carmen M alpartida, our friend and landlord, came with him. So did Sergio, Paco’s artist son who works at La Carboneria. Jesus told us that Freddie should drink soy milk, not regular milk, so Carmen ran home to her house to bring us her carton of soy milk. Then she went home to cook dinner for her family. Sergio stayed with Jesus but looked very upset to see Freddie in such a state. Jesus worked on Freddie’s digestive system to regulate it. He told me to buy some homeopathic medicine to give him, which I did the next day (which was today). When I asked him how much his visit would cost, he said that he never made house calls.(except to Paco Lira) and that we could figure that out later. His main concern now was to get Freddie back to health. And Freddie looked awful. Rubina and even Concha were saying that Freddie had to go back soon and that I had to go back with him. Freddie kept insisting that he wanted me to stay but we all knew that he wasn’t capable of flying alone in this state.
It was raining when Jesus left. He had his raincoat and his motorcycle helmet and his cigarette. He lives in the country 23 kilometers from Sevilla so he had a long ride in the rain. He had done us a huge favor and was anxious to get back to his family and his animals.
Last night Freddie did a little better, but I awoke early to his moans. I got him some stomach medicine and water and went back to sleep. I didn’t know that a little while later he had thrown up. This morning I went and got the homeopathic medicine. Last night Jesus had asked me to get Freddie’s x-rays and his “historia” from the hospital. I called Rafael and he picked me up at noon. I had to go back to that hateful hospital and of course it was difficult there. They told me that I needed Freddie’s signature on their forms and a copy of his passport. And then they would mail me the things I requested. In tears I left and ran into to Freddie’s doctor who went back to records with me and tried to convince them. He and I both learned that the records were already in the archives, which were in a different part of the hospital and could not be released without Freddie’s signature. Then the people in “informes” suggested that I go to the director’s office on the second floor, which I did. Rafael was waiting in the car because he couldn’t find a legal parking place. The director then called back down to “informes” to find out the rules, it seemed. Then she said, because I was a foreigner and it would take a month to get the records, that I could fax her the signed form and the copy of Freddie’s passport and she would get the records sent. That was the best she could do. I could have requested the x-rays at the time that we left, but I didn’t know it or that I would need them right away. We had just been intent on escaping the observation ward!
This morning Chino came by and took the medication back to the pharmacy to get us instructions. Then I gave Freddie his proper doses, but Freddie said it didn’t help at all and that it hurt his stomach. Rubina stayed with Freddie while I was gone. I got home in time to take my laundry out to the asotea (rooftop) to dry and then to get ready for my first dance class in eight days. Rubina said she would call the airlines to see what I had to do to change our airline tickets to go home to the US earlier. Rubina bathed Freddie and washed his hair while I put in another load of laundry, sheets, and prepared for class. Rubina had said she could smell the vomit in Freddie’s hair! After his bath Freddie started shaking again, freezing, with his teeth clattering. We covered him with two blankets and I got a heat pack and put it on his feet and a towel around his wet head. He was really sick. Then Souren came by with a newspaper for Freddie and was shocked at how bad Freddie still looked. I was late to class. When I next arrived home, Ryan and Christine were there as planned, but Rubina was still there too. She and Christine had called all the airlines and had a lot of information. I needed a doctor’s letter from here to say that Freddie was fit to fly. I added that request when I sent the fax this evening, —another $5.00 expense. I then went upstairs again to hang the next load of laundry. When I returned Jesus was there. We had a long talk. He was upset that Freddie was taking the allopathic medicines, including some of the pain pills he still had left for the US. He is not supposed to use the fan or even the blankets. He almost didn’t treat Freddie again, but Freddie promised to abide by Jesus’ conditions. Jesus said that if Freddie didn’t, then the treatment wouldn’t work and his time would be wasted. I started crying in desperation at the thought of Jesus not treating Freddie because I didn’t know what else could be done for Freddie.
So Jesus did treat Freddie after all, this time for his back and his pain. And by the time the needles were out, Freddie had color in his face and no pain. Freddie drank a lot of consume today and tonight started on the soy milk. He is alive again. He even shaved.
Freddie had realized that a lot of his symptoms were the flu. I know that when Freddie gets sick he gets very sick. I have seen him do this for years. Now he is even thinking that he may not even have to go home early. That would be wonderful. I have already lost a week of classes and I would love to take more until the end of the month. Just before he got sick, Freddie was saying how much he loved Spain and that maybe we could change our tickets and stay another month!
He still has the flu and is not completely better, but at least he is among the living again.
We are no longer coming home as early as planned. Freddie was re-hospitalized Saturday October12, the day before we planned to leave. He couldn’t even walk that day or the day before.
Freddie has a massive infection of the left kidney and is now on drip intravenous medication and pain killer. He was hospitalized yesterday (Saturday). He cannot walk (not for 2 days so far) and he can’t sit up, and even turning sideways on his back causes pain, but he can do that now as of this evening. He had thought it was only his back but it is also this very bad infection. He might also have a small kidney stone in his left kidney and the doctor thought that perhaps he had chronic hepatitis because his eyes were so yellow, but they are better today so I don’t think so. His liver and spleen are enlarged too, which is not good, and of course his back is a mess which we know already.
I don’t know the kind of antibiotic he is on but it seems to be working. I think he almost died here just before we called the emergency. His eyes were rolling back in his head and he had white froth in his mouth. He had been shaking and cold and he seemed confused. His breathing got a little irregular or heavy and his heart rate seemed to go up. I put the Aroma Life essential oil blend on his chest and he seemed to calm down a lot. At the hospital they screened him for heart attack and stroke but he was fine that way, according to the EKG, etc. His eyes were yellow (they have since cleared up by tonight in the hospital) and he hadn’t eaten anything more than some consume and a little yogurt and fresh orange juice for a week. And his stomach hurt. He had lost his bladder control early that morning and had been peeing in the bed. It was scary.
I will write later of the ambulance experience and ride and then returning to that awful hospital because I am extremely exhausted right now and I don’t want to stay up later. I was too tired to check my e-mail last night so I called Max instead (so he wouldn’t pick us up as planned and sent a message to Amit through Max to postpone the chicken soup she was going to make) and I changed (put on hold) our hotel and taxi reservations in London. Rubina had already changed our plane reservations for Tuesday when we went to the hospital but Freddie won’t be out of the hospital by then so I have to call tomorrow to put it on indefinite hold. He has to be discharged from the hospital and he has to be able to sit and to walk to a bathroom in order to fly. And walking would be nice!!! I don’t know how he would navigate at home without walking. So he can heal in the hospital.
We want to see if Freddie’s insurance will cover his hospital stay in Sevilla. We want to transfer him to a private clinic (instead of the “county hospital” where he is). Our first choice is Clinica Sagrado Corazn. (They have an e-mail: info@cs.uspeurope.com. Their website is www.uspeurope.com.) It is supposed to be an excellent clinic and much less time waiting for tests, care, etc. than the hospital he is in now, the same one that I wrote about before. But now he is in a double room there in a more comfortable bed with better doctors, but several people who know (have experience with both places) have strongly recommended transferring him to Sagrado Corozon. He would get much better care there and much faster. For example, they would have gotten him in and started the antibiotics about 10 hours earlier! We left for the hospital about 3:30 PM and I didn’t return home until 2:00 PM that night. Most of that was just waiting in the “cattle room”. I wil expand on this later but I wanted to get this out to you now.
The faster Freddie is transferred, the faster he will heal and the less hospital time he will have. So time is of the essence. Freddie is currently in Hospital Virgen de Rocio.
I am so thankful that I have Max and Linda helping me at home to see if Freddie’s insurance will cover his stay in Sasgrado Corozon. I will call Monday to get the prices if the insurance doesn’t cover it. It is supposed to be expensive but I want Freddie to have the best care he can get !!!!!!
It is so nice to know that I have such dependable and loving help back home. I also have a great support system here in Spain that I need to write about later. I am fried and it is 1:00 AM here and I was going to get to bed by 12:00.
What a trip! But it is making my Spanish much better. I’ll write more tomorrow.
Freddie walked to the bathroom twice today (a real accomplishment because he hasn’t been able to walk for days) and sat up twice by himself and had a few bites of solid food (fish) and ate some squash soup. More later. Call him in the hospital between 10 and 10PM Spanish time (9 hours ahead) if you want. He is doing much better but does not yet have a definitive diagnosis.
He is taking two antibiotics: Tazocel every 8 hours (Piperaciolina) and Tavanic every 24 hours (Levofloxacino). Does anyone know what these are? They are working.
I am trying to get the other info you have requested and will get up at 7 AM and leave by 8 AM to catch the doctor on his/her rounds.
I just got home from the day at the hospital (11:30).
The nurse told me last night that there was anemia but the doctor just told me today that Freddie is not anemic. I couldn’t get any numbers on the tests, but that would only be from the tests when he was admitted anyway, not his current state. He has had three or four blood tests since he has been admitted and we are still waiting for their results.
The doctor did tell me: The red count is down, the white count is high (normal for an infection). The lymphocytes are normal and the neutrofile is high. There are no white cells or blood in the urine. The biliruben level is a little high. That is as much information as I can get. I had to get up for two days at 7 AM to get to the hospital before 9 because the doctor comes between 9 and 12. Yesterday she came at 11:30 and today at 11:00.
Up here in his double room the vibes are good and most of the staff is very kind. The rooms are clean. I have gotten Freddie a low fat, low cholesterol diet, which is much better than the junk they started trying to feed him. But I buy him 0% natural yogurt and Actimel, a yogurt like drink. I am hoping to help restore the balance in his intestines. He has just started to eat solid foods again, but not much. I bring him in liquid vitamins and minerals and he is getting stronger. I have kept him supplied with bottled water and he drinks a lot when I am here to remind him!!! They save his urine to monitor it. We empty the pee jar by the bed into a larger jar that sits in the bathroom. Sometimes they throw it away when it is full, but sometimes, they say, the doctors want to test it.
Last night, though, Freddie had an accident. As he was trying to pee, his tubes attached to the metal pole with his medications hanging on it pulled the pole down and it fell on top of him. He reached up to try to catch it and re-hurt his back, which had started to feel better. Today it hurts and they have increased his pain medication to make him more comfortable. But aside from that, he is getting better. Although they might not have an actual diagnosis for him for four days to a week longer, the antibiotics are doing their job and the infection is going down. He no longer has a temperature and it is easier for him to sit up.
This morning he sat in a chair and shaved for the first time since he’s been sick. So poco a poco (little by little) he is improving. I brought the computer to the hospital this morning so I am sitting here on the side of the bed writing.
Outside it is now raining. I put the geranium I brought him outside on the windowsill by his bed because it was starting to die inside. Now it already looks better and today or tomorrow it will have some new red blooms. I see the dripping rain through this window. A green crane outside is still. There are many obras (building projects in this case) in Sevilla right now, more than I’ve ever seen before. I asked the taxi driver about it this morning, because so many streets are blocked and they have to find other ways to reach destinations. He said it is because elections are coming up. I guess that is the same all over! I see from this window palm trees, a bridge, a Moorish looking building, another yellow one next to it with tile roofs, and next to that a white building with more tile roofs. Behind it are some more modern square white buildings and next to that more yellow square and ugly buildings, in fact a line of them in the distance. And of course there is the beautiful brown church with tiled designs sin front of them, with its round white and blue tile Moorish looking steeple. Such a contrast outside. But white fog and rain —-and I didn’t have time to take my clean laundry in from the roof before I left! My raincoat is packed! I am half packed because we were trying to leave last Sunday and I haven’t had a chance yet to sort through the things and to pull out what I still need. But the bottom line is, I never thought I would be so happy to see yellow pee!
Our friends T. Mike and Sandra (a nurse) Walker answered our medication question. They wrote about Freddie’s drugs: “The two antibiotics he’s taking are both very new and very strong. The piperacillin (Tazocel) is sold here under the brand name “Zosyn”, while the Tavanic goes under the name “Levaquin” over here. They certainly seem to be bringing him around and Sandra says they are some of the best available.”
Thank you all for your caring,
The memory is fading now of the last ambulance trip to the hospital but I will try to recount it before it goes even farther away from my conscious memory.
The day has cleared a little and I see white birds flying in the distance. The cars pass on the suspension harp bridge outside. I hear the cars honking outside from the eight floor where we are. It looks like the rain has stopped and the birds flutter from building to building. The sky is still a blanket of white and grayish clouds but the colors outside are now vivid.
It was a sunny, crisp day the Saturday I was packing us up. I had only slept three hours the night before because I had awakened with the anxiety of how to get Freddie onto the plane when he couldn’t walk. I still thought it was just his back so I had planned on upping his pain medications that day to see if that would enable him to walk and then to sit in the plane. My mind whirred, but I had arranged with the airlines that if I could not pack in time, we could reschedule to the next day, so I felt OK about going methodically and taking my time. But of course caring for Freddie took time too. When Rubina and Rebecca (see last year’s Chronicles-a young American belly dancer friend of ours from music camp who is still living at La Carboneria) came, I had them care for Freddie and I went about sorting and packing.
Rubina bathed Freddie but did not wash his hair because I did not want him to get too chilled. We had a terrible time walking him to the bathtub and we both strained our backs. Then she got him back into bed, restraining her back again. But we had to bathe him because I did not want him to ride the plane soaking in urine. As I mentioned before, he had lost his bladder control but I did not yet realize how bad it was or how bad his condition was.
It was about 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. Back in bed, Freddie began to shake and his teeth clattered again, like they did the week before when we had called the emergency and he had gone to the hospital the first time. At some point, as I also wrote, his breathing changed and he seemed like he was starting to convulse, although his tongue seemed OK. When his eyes started to roll back in his head and he seemed confused, we called emergency again. I remember standing on the balcony looking down the street, panicked. I remember begging Freddie, “Don’t die, don’t die!!” and we wouldn’t let him sleep or pass out. Amy, who is an American acupuncturist friend, was also there by then. First the EMT type person came but he was not a doctor and only ascertained that Freddie needed the ambulance.
The first ambulance that came was not equipped to move someone who couldn’t walk. It also could not get all the way into our street. Neither could the next ambulance. But that one had a stretcher of sorts. They strapped Freddie in with the bright orange straps (and left one in the house I later found out). Freddie was naked so they wrapped him in the bed sheets. Then they went to the elevator (we are fortunate to have on in our building). Of course he wouldn’t fit so they stood him on end and took him that way. When they exited the building they carried hi, down the block to the waiting ambulance. The brisk fall wind lifted Freddie’s sheet right off him as the neighbors were watching him, screaming in pain, being carried out the door. I had a plastic bag with his clothes and shoes with me in the hope that he would be able to leave the hospital that night. I later put his underpants on him in the hospital. Both Rebecca and I got into the ambulance with him. None of us were strapped in! Rebecca and I held on as the old rickety ambulance bumped and swerved, its siren blaring, to the awful hospital that we had never wanted to see again. He was seen almost immediately this time because the emergency medical personal had thought he was having a heart attack or a stroke. After they gave him an EKG and determined that his heart was fine, we had our long wait.
I kept some notes at this time, while we were waiting, which I will look for now and plug in here.
The doctor just called us in. Now we wait here. Freddie is more clear now, but his back hurts a lot and he can’t walk. While we have been here Rubina called Maggie at my suggestion (Freddie’s daughter) and Maggie called me here in the hospital waiting room on my movi. We are looking for information regarding Freddie’s hospitalization in 1990 at San Francisco General Hospital. He had a serious bone infection in his spinal column then, after he injured and herniated his disc, and the doctors at the time had said that the infection would go dormant and may reawaken again at any time. I asked Maggie to call San Francisco General for Freddie’s records in case our theory about the reoccurrence of this infection were right. She called both her mother (who had helped Freddie in 1990) and the hospital for information and more details about the infection and through some brave and strong maneuvering managed to get us the information and a fax number to request it for the hospital here.
We are convinced that this same infection is back and that is why Freddie hasn’t been able to walk for two days. It explains a lot. Freddie says he feels the same way that he felt with that infection in 1990. At least the doctor listened to us and will send a fax for the records. Unfortunately we’ve had the information that Maggie got for us over the phone for several hours and we’ve just been here waiting. At first the doctor did not even realize that Freddie couldn’t walk or even move and was just concentrating on Freddie’s hurting stomach as the primary symptom and was about to do an ultrasound on it. Freddie’s stomach hurts probably because he hasn’t eaten much for a week — a little yogurt and consume. It is the infection that is killing him.
Concha just called. I asked her to bring me something to eat; I’m dying of hunger. It’s hard to ask for help. Chino would have done it too, but I didn’t want to ask him.
Rebecca came to the hospital with us but had to leave to eat and to work. Rubina has changed our plane reservations from Sunday to Tuesday, but I still have to call the hotel, taxi, and Max when I get home. It is 10:35 PM. Again the family of the patients are nice to me. People are nice here but this me dical system stinks. Carmen Malpartida called. She found a private hospital for us but I don’t want to stop this process at this point. But if I had known we would have this much of a wait, I would have tried the private hospital first. It is near here, but Freddie can’t walk. I need help. I wish I had brought my book and my healthy candy bars. My phone is almost out of battery (calls from the States always drain it quickly). I didn’t even bring the right oils because they are packed. Rubina will put the sheets back on my bed. Hopefully they are dry. I put my sheets on Freddie’s bed after he peed on his sheets. Then he peed again. It takes two hours to do a small load of wash in the washing machine. Then you hang it on the asotea (roof). Today was overcast and damp and things were drying very slowly.
We don’t want Freddie to be here again, but they haven’t yet given him an antibiotic so he is not better. He is still in the sheet and underpants we brought him in at about 4:00 PM (or was it 3:30?) Freddie was slightly delirious and peeing uncontrollably since early this morning. Now he seems a little better. I think his body is trying to fight this infection. But he can’t even sit up or turn over!
That was what I wrote in the hospital. Concha and Frasqui came and brought me food while Freddie was in for his second x-ray. The admitting doctor, who did listen to us, called in the Chief of Infectious Diseases to consult with him. This man was very nice and also listened. He had studied for two months at San Francisco General Hospital and goes to Chicago every year. He speaks English and has a style a little more like the Americans in terms of being willing to give out information on Freddie’s medical condition. It is he who gave us the tentative diagnoses I wrote about earlier. With him I felt that we were in good hands, although I don’t know if he ever followed through and faxed our request for Freddie’s 1990 records from San Francisco General. But they did do the CET test (called a TAK here) and from that determined that Freddie did not have an infection in his bones. But he certainly did have an infection, “muy malita”, very bad. The Andalucians add an “ita” or “ito” on to most things. It means little.
After this intake, during which Concha translated Spanish to Spanish that I could understand more easily, Freddie was sent to Observation (like intensive care). The doctor allowed me to say good night to him, which was good because I was able to request a bottle to pee in for him. The doctor told me to return at 12:00 the next day. Rafael, who had found a parking space by this time, drove me home. The next day I was let in to visit Freddie at 1:00 PM. Someone came into the waiting room and called out the names: Familia of …… And one by one the family members, only one at a time, were let in to see their loved ones. I was told that Freddie was ready to transfer to a room upstairs and that they were waiting for a bed. After about three and a half more hours in the waiting room (this time I had my book) I was directed upstairs to the eight floor, to 813 which is where Freddie still is. I was introduced to a very nice nurse name Paca who is one of his nurses. She likes Flamenco but not Cante Jondo (the deep, sad stuff). Further hospital research has revealed that, as the doctors and nurses have told me, here in Spain and much of Europe the public hospitals have the best doctors and the best and newest equipment because they have the most money. In Sagrado Corazn Freddie would have a private room and there would be a couch that I could sleep on. But now most people have assured me that although a private hospital is more comfortable, this public hospital is better for his health. Also, until we have a diagnosis we cannot transfer him, and by the time we get the diagnosis he should be well! If we transferred him before he got his diagnosis they would have to start the process all over again (apparently they don’t share information) and then Freddie’s treatment would be delayed and would take longer. So I guess we are in the right place.
Last night we had a very nice nurse named Debora who had lived in England a long time ago and still speaks pretty good English. Most of the staff here is very nice. In fact the Spaniards are friendly and everyone always greets everyone when they walk into a doctor’s office or here at the hospital or in an elevator. I like that very much and am adopting this custom. The old man who shares the room with Freddie is very sick and is waiting for an operation. I could not understand exactly what he had, but his pee bottle in the bathroom is rarely full and its color is always dark. He sleeps most of the time. His wife sleeps in the chair by his bed every night. She looks exhausted. He has been here for 22 days! Public hospitals seem to mean wait. I am now seeing the “cons” of socialized medicine although I am still in favor of it. I also found out that the old man doesn’t yet have a definitive diagnosis and may or may not need his operation.
Yesterday Freddie sent me home to take a nap. I dozed a little and rested. Then I went for a walk and bought the Clarins face products I had wanted to pick up in Spain before we left. (They are much cheaper here than in the US). I also went to a little dress store I know and bought a blouse. It felt really good to distract myself and to get my mind off all I have been through. Then I went to Rubina’s house for some fresh vegetable soup that was delicious. I had been starved. She walked me home and Carmen Malpartida and her husband Alberto came over to look at the plumbing. When Rubina had given Freddie a bath, water had started to fall through the downstairs neighbor’s ceiling! There is a leak in the overflow. The plumber came when Freddie was still at home and cut a hole in the wall and left a valve uncovered (Spain!). Alberto discovered this when he looked through the round plate sized hole in the white sheetrock last night. He was checking the condition because his insurance does not want to pay and he wants to be sure that they do, of course. Everything takes a long time in Spain. Rubina started talking to Carmen about how long it took to get the results of Freddie’s tests. I needed to get back to Freddie. Finally I just excused myself, caught a taxi and arrived at the hospital about 9:00 PM. Ryan and Christine were there. Rebecca and Alfonso (Concha’s nephew) had been there earlier when I had called. Freddie had been receiving calls from the USA all day and was exhausted. But he loved the calls.
I stayed until 11:30 PM and then went downstairs to leave. The door to the front reception room was locked and of course, the other exit I know, the cafeteria, was also closed. Finally I asked a man walking down the hall. He took me to another elevator that brought us to the emergency section and we were able to leave! I’m glad he knew.
I got to bed at 12:30, early for me, but got up at 7:00 AM so I could wash my hair and be here by 9:00 AM. I’m glad I brought my computer today so I could catch up on these details.
Our friend, Lucy del Gastor who is married to Juan del Gastor has just lent us her mobile phone for the duration of Freddie’s hospital stay. Now Freddie can call out of the hospital if I am not there. He can also receive calls on it: 001-34-646-561-465. I think the ring of this phone will jolt him less than the loud ring of the hospital phone, so try this phone first if you call him. Also you won’t have that annoying incessant beeping that the hospital phone makes, probably to keep people from talking too long! But, Lucy’s phone doesn’t have great reception we just found out when Freddie called Luis Agujetas. The sound was a bit muffled. So I really don’t know which phone to recommend. Take your pick. Two days ago I had run into Lucy on her bicycle as I left the apartment to go to the hospital. I asked her, as I have been asking everyone, if she knew anyone with an extra movi (cell phone) and she said that Freddie could borrow hers. The next day she sent her phone over with Ryan and Christine. We are grateful.
Here in this hospital you need relatives or devoted friends. We relatives do a lot of the work. We feed them, we bathe them, we help them pee, we empty the pee into the holding bottle, we empty the holding bottle when it is full after we get the OK, we help our loved ones walk and sit and change their pajamas. Today I helped Freddie take his feces sample. After that my job was to put the dirty “cua” in the “cuero”, to put the shitty bedpan. into the metal box in the wall by the toilet. Then you turn on the hot water and wait for about five minutes. It washes and sterilizes it. Then you take it out and put it in a green plastic bag in one of the racks by the toilet, the one labeled “2” for Freddie. I just learned this today. It is now 6:00 PM and again I am exhausted, but at least I have written this.
This afternoon Elena walked in, bringing the sunshine of her vibrant personality. She had just returned from being out of the country on business and when she reached La Carboneria she heard that Freddie was in the hospital and she came right over. She stayed until she had to leave for an appointment at 7:00 PM. We might collaborate on translating some poems she has written. She quoted me one and I wrote it into my computer (which I have here in the hospital again) and I immediately began to translate it. She will e-mail me others. There are many words already that I have to learn, the poetic words, and words from nature, such as moss. This will be excellent for me too. I will e-mail her the Chronicles when I return to the apartment tonight and then she can practice her English. Freddie and I both feel as if we know her already —she is that kind of person. We have already connected and we already love her, although we have so recently met her. It’s funny how you just click with some people.
The doctor told Freddie today that he will be here at least 15 days more because they cannot complete the diagnosis any sooner! Without a diagnosis you are not permitted to leave the hospital! But this will give Freddie more of a chance to clean out the toxins from the horrible medications he has taken for so many years: Vicodin and Percocet. Apparently the Tylonal in them has damaged his liver and spleen, hopefully not permanently. His face looks better and better, relaxed and with good color. He is still on intravenous pain medications but the doctor now understands that he must be prepared to travel on the airplane for eleven and a half hours (London to San Francisco leg). I am not sure exactly what that will mean but it is good that she is aware of his particular needs. Freddie wants me to continue my dance classes and I am trying to figure out how to do that and to continue to stay with him in the hospital as well.
It feels as if the crisis has passed and now is the stage for recuperation. He is eating more and more solid foods. He ate almost all his chicken breast today at lunch, the big meal here in Spain.
Inspired by Rosanne, who called me again while I was at the hospital, I took Freddie for his first walk! —Down to both ends of the hall. We got the nurses to find an old “walker”, nothing like in the States. They also found us a medicine pole with better wheels, since Freddie is still hooked up intravenously. Freddie walked to both ends of the hall with two rests on the seat of the walker. This is a good start.
Saturday he had a bad day though. That day a friend had told me to get him home quickly because she was convinced that although he was improving daily, that there was something very wrong with him still, that only American doctors could diagnose and fix. She had not seen him since he entered the hospital but had seen him just before, when he really was in terrible shape. I shared this with Freddie thinking that Freddie would laugh with me, but he said instead that he agreed with her and that he felt his infection now spreading through his body, He said that now the pain in his back was different, and he was convinced that the infection had spread to his back. He said that he was afraid that if he didn’t get right home he would die. His voice was low and he was lying on his side. In the morning he said that he had awakened and gotten up by himself and brushed his teeth. He knew he had to move and walk so he could get out and get onto a plane. He was also concerned about losing muscle mass. Rosanne had said that you lose 3% of muscle mass per day when you are lying down all the time! That morning Freddie had been even sitting in a chair for a while and feeling better but that now he hurt a lot. His voice and spirit were both very low; he seemed very depressed and I freaked out. I know that Freddie knows his own body and this scared me a lot. I called the nurses and insisted that a doctor come and I kept bugging them until the one doctor on call, who was with a sick patient in emergency, came. I told her exactly what Freddie had told me so they took another blood test and swore that they would have the results within four hours instead of in a week! Then they started with more antibiotics. I don’t know if they had stopped the previous round but I think they may have. They use antibiotics for a lot less time in Spain than we do in the States. After the doctor left, I grabbed what I could from the room. Loaded down with video camera, computer, a borrowed cell phone and charger, and various other things, I left in a hurry to call the airlines and to call Lainey (my wonderful and competent sister). I was crying and scared that Freddie would die. I felt alone and helpless. It is the first time that I have really broken down over this and I just came apart.
I called Lainey and spoke to her husband Ken. I called, crying hysterically, the airlines to get him an emergency trip with a bed back to the States. I found out that it is complicated to fly this way. I needed to fax to London for a form from British Air for the doctors here to fill out to say that Freddie is not contagious and that he can fly. Trip insurance, which we don’t have, would have covered a doctor to fly with us and all the other costs as well. Lainey will check with Freddie’s normal health insurance on Monday to see if they cover ambulance to the plane. I won’t go into all the details, but even the Spanish representative of British Air in Madrid told me that the public hospitals here are excellent and that probably Freddie should stay until he was well.
I was hungry but did not want to eat alone but I went to El Cordobes anyway and called Christine again from there. This time she answered her phone and she came down to comfort me while I ate. Then Ryan showed up. Rafael was making his debut singing at La Carboneria that night but I was too distraught to go to La Carboneria and Concha hadn’t called me all day. I hadn’t wanted to worry them, especially on the day of Rafael’s show, so I did not tell them of Freddie’s current condition. Concha’s blood pressure had been up and she had been feeling dizzy and had pounding in her head. Her doctor has now changed her medications, but when she worries about Freddie, she gets emotional and her pressure goes up. Luckily today she has been better for two days.
Our American friend Josh (who now lives in Granada) (see 1999 Chronicles for how we all met) and his Spanish girlfriend Regina showed up and found me at Cordobes. They had called earlier and told us they were coming to Sevilla from Granada to visit Freddie.
After dinner they walked me home and I started to sort more things and pack things and to write a new letter to fax for Freddie’s records from San Francisco General Hospital because I don’t think this hospital ever sent the fax we had prepared for them. At dinner, Christine had come up with the brilliant idea that she would get me some boxes from La Carboneria the next day and I could pack some of my heavy things and she would mail them on Monday. I don’t know why, but that lifted my spirits. I had been worried about manipulating four heavy suitcases by myself with Freddie on a stretcher! So with this sense of relief, I started to sort out which things I would mail.
The next day when I called Freddie he was much better. When I arrived at the hospital he said that he thought this reaction the day before was all in his head. It was either that, or it could have been the infection returning and the new round (if that was what it was) of antibiotics made him better. Josh and Regina came to visit and so did Carlos, a good friend of Concha and Rafael’s who Freddie likes to joke with.
Freddie has now walked up and down the hall a lot by himself. He is feeling better. The mad rush is no longer on, but we are still trying to arrange his transportation home. But this time I don’t think he will need either an ambulance or a stretcher.
Concha called yesterday. I canceled my class with her today because I needed to do some things. But when I am packed I will try to take more classes. Rubina called today to try to set up some practice time before I go to the hospital. I’ll have to see about it. Packing efficiently and without pressure is still my priority at the moment.
Freddie is standing at the window looking out at the pouring rain. How wonderful to see him standing. I’m glad I brought my raincoat to the hospital even if I am wearing my sandals. I did put socks in my purse but perhaps the rain and wind will stop by the time I am ready to leave. Josh and Regina are coming back in a couple of hours before they return to Granada this evening. Freddie wants an electronic toy and they are going to Corte Ingles, the big Spanish department store, to look for a Game Boy for him. All the kids here love Game Boys. I haven’t a clue about them! I hope Freddie will be able to figure it out!
Regina has a family friend who is an Oncology doctor here. She called him last night but he wasn’t home. If she can reach him, it will be nice for Freddie to have a medical connection here. Perhaps we can speed up the results of his tests. He is anxious to leave.
Last Saturday before I knew that it would be a bad day, thinking I would be here for two more weeks, I bought a second geranium for me, to put outside on my balcony. I have wanted to do this since we arrived here at the apartment in Spain and now I have done it, although we will probably leave earlier than I thought. But right now I don’t know when. I sent the fax to British Air in London and am waiting for the correct form to be faxed back. Meanwhile my pink-almost-red geranium is blooming on the balcony. Freddie’s geranium almost died in this hot stuffy hospital but since I put it outside on the ledge it is coming back, but still it has not bloomed again. Freddie says that when it blooms he will be better. Maybe this rain will help it.
Freddie wants me to write about the big wind yesterday and his roommate’s reaction. Diego, Freddie’s roommate, is 79 and his wife Carmen is 69 and they both look younger. Carmen sleeps here in a chair with her head on the edge of the bed holding Diego’s hand every night. They still don’t know what is wrong with Diego and they are waiting for a diagnosis after about 23 days. The have been married for fifty years. Carmen was fourteen when they got together. Diego always has a kind smile on his face, even when he is sleeping. His wife loves him a lot, that is evident watching the together. We are all beginning to communicate more and more. They are enchanted by our wedding photo on my computer.. Freddie now trades food with Diego and Carmen. Freddie wants to take their picture and when he does we will put it up on our web site.
Yesterday their family, who live in Cadiz, which is about 2 hours away, came to visit. Diego and Carmen had been waiting for this important visit for a long time and were looking forward to it. Here in Sevilla they only have Diego’s sister Petra for support. The family finally arrived and soon after Diego started to shake uncontrollably. He was freezing and seemed to have a sudden fever. We shut the window that was only slightly cracked open but this didn’t help. The nurses came in and started to fiddle with him and gave him injections. The family left after about only 15 minutes of this distressing visit. I was standing at the end of Freddie’s bed (in line with Diego’s head) and I felt a cold draft on my legs, as if a strong fan were blowing cold air on me. I opened the bathroom. door and the wind almost whipped the door out of my hand. I discovered that the bathroom window had been left open and the wind was coming in underneath the closed door. Of course I shut the window and about ten minutes later, after the visitors had left, Diego returned to normal. We found out later that there had been a hurricane in the north and that this wind was part of that.
I almost forget to write that Freddie is drinking a lot of water and is peeing about. Now they are doing tests on him to see why he is peeing so much. They say that he pees more than he is drinking but that his skin does not feel dehydrated. I am hoping it is because his body is busy flushing all the toxins out.
Wednesday I will be 58!
The night before last Freddie talked to his son Manolo, who lives in Nevada. He said, “Pops, you’re kicken’ and now you’re going to have to kick this other one” (meaning the morphine-like intravenous pain medicine that Freddie was on in the hospital). Freddie says that all he wanted to do at that moment was to be in Manolo’s arms. Freddie has realized that he had been addicted to the Vicodin and Percocet and as I wrote earlier, had gone off them cold turkey. And then he started to worry about this pain medicine, which the doctor told me today is “Mocotil (Metamizol)”. That night he asked the nurse to give him less and thought he had had half. He didn’t sleep well that night but got up and walked around when he felt pain and this helped! The next morning he found out that he hadn’t had any pain medicine that night! Yesterday he asked the nurse for a little so she put the drip on the slowest possible position but soon Freddie said he felt himself floating and sleepy. Luckily he doesn’t like that kind of high and finally he just asked the nurse to turn it off. She did. Last night they disconnected Freddie from the intravenous food (glucose, etc.) because he is now eating very well and normally and is having normal bowel movements. With the removal of this liquid he is now peeing normal quantities. That solved that problem! Now they just put his tubes in to give him his antibiotics every 12 hours! The rest of the time he is “disconnected”. He said that last night, with no pain medicine whatsoever, he got his first great full night’s sleep since entering the hospital. The only thing that disturbed it was when Diego fell out of bed.
By the time I arrived this morning at 9 AM Freddie had showered and shaved and looked great. His eyes and skin are clear and healthy looking and he says he feels a lot better than when he left Santa Cruz!
The doctor is waiting for the results of the MRI, which she should receive in a few days (not a week, she promised). But, she wants to do a test (its name escapes me now) to see if he has a bone infection in his spinal column. It is not the TAK (CET) that they did before that was supposed to determine that. Things are still confusing here, but at least the doctor’s assistant is writing down the names of the medications for me.
I also gave the doctor the form from the airline to fill out and sign. She has it now and hopefully she will complete it and not lose it or space it out. She says that it should be a week more here to complete Freddie’s antibiotic treatment and to get the rest of his test results. Today Diego’s wife Carmen pointed to the man in the next room and told me that he has been here four months! He can’t walk, she said, but I don’t know why. I think he too is waiting for a diagnosis!
Anyway, Freddie feels great and now is thinking that he might not have to come home early. I will call the airlines again. —How confusing all this is. But I am so glad that Freddie is feeling so much better. And I will keep everyone advised of our newest plan when Freddie finally gets out of the hospital.
Chino’s parents, Manuel and Carmen came to visit us today. They had a difficult time finding us, because here in Spain people have two last names, that of their father and that of their mother. Since the hospital took his registration data from his passport, they used his middle name, Anteola, as his first last name. So when they asked for Federico Mejia, they couldn’t find him. He is listed under Federico Anteola Mejia. Their son Chino (Freddie’s current guitar teacher), they say, turns white when he visits a hospital. Chino has only visited us twice here. They are very sweet. We hadn’t actually met them before, but Manuel, Chino’s father, has been phoning often to see how Freddie is. Carmen, his wife, came with him even though she has a broken foot. It is in a cast and the doctor told her not to walk for two weeks. But, she defied the doctor’s orders and came with Manuel to visit us. I guess they were both curious about us. They said that Chino talks about us a lot. Manuel is a guitarist and he played for Carmen Amaya with her husband and Sabicas in Venezuela! He was telling us what an electrifying dancer she was. He said to me, “She was short like you, but on stage he looked enormous because of her presence.” She danced like a man becau se of her strong and lightening fast footwork and because she often wore pants, but her upper body and hands and arms were like those of a woman. I have been reading Carmen Amaya’s biography, which I think I have mentioned, so it fit right in. Freddie studied Manuel’s nails and Manuel told us about a good Spanish product for guitar nails, which hydrates the nails. It is called Mavala and you can get it in a Perfumeria (a store that sells cosmetic products) here. We have heard from Chino that his father is into health foods and does not smoke or drink. I think he told us that his father is in his 70’s. Manuel is spry and alert and very present. And Freddie had the presence of mind to take a photo, which I will put on our web site soon. There should be a few new photos up very soon anyway because I just sent some this morning.
Chino, whose name is also Manuel, is called Chino because he looks Chinese. Interestingly enough, Carmen Amaya’s father was also called El Chino. Chino’s mother is Gypsy but his father is not.
Tomorrow we will celebrate by 58th birthday here in the hospital at 8:00 PM. Concha told me that she will bring a cake! We chose 8:00 PM because Concha finishes teaching at 7:30 and we wanted to be sure she and Rafael could come. Outside the door the sour cleaning woman who hates her job is shredding a sheet for rags. Diego’s wife Carmen was helping her for a while. When the cleaning woman came in to clean this morning we all said “Buenas Dias” to her but she didn’t answer us. I was trying to send her love (instead of disgust) but I don’t think she felt it. Now Carmen is singing to Diego. She shaved him earlier. We want to take a photo of them too but we haven’t yet. They just took Freddie for another test. They described it as one they do for pregnant women, but instead of the stomach they are looking at Freddie’s hea rt. When Freddie got into the wheel chair, he took off wheeling himself and the nurse had to catch him. Carmen was just laughing about it, recounting it just now! Freddie is so much better. (It is great that he is no longer constantly connected to his tubes). Carmen says that Freddie’s playful nature is how Diego is too, normally. Now Diego just lies in bed most of the time, although occasionally he is a little better and sits up or talks to us. Carmen has cranked his bed up like Freddie’s so he can look around a little. But right now his eyes are shut.
Freddie has a release date now of Wednesday October 30. For a while he wanted to stay in Sevilla for the five remaining days of our original trip and so I changed the tickets back to their original date. However, now he wants to come home when he gets out so I will try to pack some more on Sunday. I have been packing and partially unpacking for weeks. Freddie is counting down the days to his release, called his “alta” here. He is very ready to be back home in California in our Paraiso (Paradise).
Wednesday we celebrated my birthday in the hospital. Concha and Rubina brought a chocolate cake. Christine and Ryan brought the paper plates and plastic spoons that were left over from Christine’s birthday party. It was an intimate group and very nice. Rafael and Carlos (friend of Concha and Rafael) and Frasqui also came. Freddie carried cake out to the nurses station himself. Later on Rebecca and Alfonso, Concha’s nephew came. Alfonso has a car and so he drove me home along with Ryan and Christine. What luxury to go in a car instead of a taxi.
Thursday I took an hour and a half class with Concha and Friday I took two hours. I am trying to learn the palmas for my Solea and am making good progress. Each day my palmas improve and I am getting a great sense of how they should go and of how to do good palmas for baile, for dance. This is an art in itself.
I went with Rebecca to meet Juan “Farruquito” today and to watch his class. He is magnetic and very personable. I really liked the technique part of his class, but the Farruco’s temporary studio in the Macarena district is awful. A black dust comes from the floor and fills the room and I could not stay sitting on the sofa at the other end of the room. I had to get up and stand by the door because my eyes were clouding over and I was having trouble breathing. What a shame. Possibly we will arrange a dance class for him when he is in Santa Cruz in February if his schedule permits. He was interested. He is a great dancer and appears to be a good teacher too.
Friday, November 15, 2002
I haven’t had time to write but I need to. Freddie went back into the hospital (but here at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz California) last Monday. The infection had either returned or had never been completely eradicated! He is on massive intravenous antibiotics again. They finally put a shunt (called a “pik”) in his arm that goes up the vein directly to his heart so they can easily and quickly administer the drugs and this will enable him to go home at some point and continue the intravenous medication. Right now they are trying to decide whether to send him to a rehabilitation clinic around Monday or to send him home and have the visiting nurses come once a day. He will need to have his drugs administered four times a day. This may go on months. But at least he is in good hands and he loves this hospital. It is ten minutes away from our home and I can drive there (no need for expensive taxis)! What a difference from the Spanish hospital and medicine!
I haven’t had any energy yet to do any dancing here. We have been home a week since last Wednesday but of course Freddie wasn’t feeling well and stayed on the couch all day and night groaning. We didn’t get in to see a doctor until 9 AM Monday, the back doctor. He is very smart and said it sounded like Freddie still had his infection and to get a blood test immediately. We did and when the back Dr. got the results he called an infection specialist and got Freddie hospitalized that day! Neither Freddie nor I had realized just how sick he was. But that day Freddie had had trouble remembering his phone number and address. That should have been a clue! Anyway, we are both happy and relieved that he is finally is good hands and is getting better.
As of today, I haven’t even looked at my studio!!!!! But at least I am now thinking about it. I have been cleaning the house and putting things away, bit by bit, and of course visiting Freddie and seeing clients. Last night I was so tired I went to bed at 9 PM, just after I had eaten!So you can see that life has been a bit of a struggle since we arrived back here a week ago Wednesday. I have just learned that Freddie will get out on Sunday and will have visiting nurses visit once a day to change his IV dressing. He will have the “pik” in his arm and body for two or three months while he continues with the antibiotics. The infection is centered in his lower back, in the spinal column, because that is where he is weakest! And of course he is in pain both from the infection and also from his herniated disks in his lower back.
Hospitals are one of the few things that I hate about Spain and will keep me from moving to Spain permanently. I do not want to be “old” and sick in Spain, whatever “old” is. I don’t ever want to get stuck in a Spanish hospital after what I have seen with Freddie!
Dear Family and Friends,
Freddie will have parathyroid surgery (a parathyroidectemy) this Tuesday, January 14 at the Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, around 10:30 AM.
The parathyroids are 4 little glands which surround the thyroid. They regulate the calcium in the bones and blood. Freddie has a tumor in one and this has caused the calcium to be leached from his bones to his blood (it gets the wrong message). Results: osteoporosis, high blood pressure, short term memory loss, cramps, possible bone spurs, prostate problems, etc. This may be why he broke his foot in the car accident of July 2001 and certainly why his foot hasn’t healed and why his back is disintegrating. Hopefully his blood pressure will return to normal too and he won’t need meds anymore to control it. In the operation, although they will cut his throat, they will not have to cut into any body cavities and it is considered to be an “easy” operation, although he will have a general anesthesia. He’ll be in the hospital 24 hours with a week of recovery at home.
Hope that explains it!!!! Any prayers, shamanic journeys, etc., are welcome. I will be staying at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Palo Alto Monday and Tuesday nights. I plan to bring my computer with me and will probably check my e-mail.
Love,
Marianna and Freddie Mejia, Flamenco Romntico