Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2019

World In Motion: Part III -- Navigating the Healthcare System

WORLD IN MOTION: PART III  Navigating the healthcare system… By Lu Sobredo   I am in recovery after a successful craniotomy. My world is no longer spinning from vertigo. But I was nearly put at risk while I navigated the healthcare system.   I could only say goodbye in my thoughts and in my heart. I couldn’t travel. Whether a few-mile-drive to the chapel or a few thousand miles on an airplane, it was not in the cards for someone who had surgery only weeks before.  Winter storms may be long gone. Yet, I mourn. Not because winter exited. I mourn because this spring, three beloved members of my extended family left this earth within days of each other.  (See back-story: World in Motion: Part I and World in Motion: Part II ). Springtime had softened the sadness. Then June arrived. The heatwave came too soon and caught my family by surprise. The heart grieving and the body still recovering from surgery were caught by surprise. One weekend we drove from Central Valle

What Are You Doing To Get Ready for Summer?

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET READY FOR SUMMER? This is my road to physical stability after craniotomy… By Lu Sobredo Fifteen weeks after brain surgery--right frontal lobe craniotomy, my gait and balance have not returned. I had hoped it would return closer to normal. Hearing from others who’ve had a similar surgery, craniotomy of some kind, one never really returns to normal “anything” that they’ve experienced. Not the declarations I wanted to hear. My husband James reminded me that they’re speaking of their experience and each person is unique. I asked my surgeon when I saw him for a scheduled follow-up this past Wednesday, June 26th. The answer was hopeful, but complicated. I hope to address this topic in another essay at a later time. The incision on my head appears to have healed. I dreaded to look at it. But now it is covered with stubbly hair growth. The area underneath the incision in my skull is another matter. This could be the portion that ultimately takes o

Michael On My Mind

MICHAEL ON MY MIND By Lu Sobredo A light, cool breeze brushed past my right cheek. Odd that it made me smile. The fragrance from springtime-blooms from this day are still deftly seared in my memory. So is the hushed chatter which filled the open space where I stood. Regretfully, it was my first time at this place. And the last. Before this day, you and I shared a moment together about three years earlier. By happenstance we landed at the same street corner of “7th and P Streets” as we headed to work. I had not seen you for over five years. We caught up briefly. I believe you were headed east and I north, not far from the Capitol in Sacramento. I regret the many more moments we could have shared after that, but didn’t. Your lovely wife, whom I met for the first time, gathered some of your personal friends and work colleagues for this day. You and I had not worked together for 5 or 6 years, so I would have fallen in the category of friend, not boss or co-worker. I believe th