David Dennis describes his Moment of Mexican Grace under “Compas sionate Medicine.”

David Dennis

Idon’t consider myself a hypochondriac; I don’t diagnose myself with COVID or cancer when I get the sniffles or

a belly ache. However, when a vice grip grabbed my heart and shot ripples of pain into my ears, I became worried. At seventy-one, I expect to encounter more physical limitations and ailments, but unlike a beat-up old vehicle, I can’t trade my body in for a newer model.

I began this medical journey by pretending that nothing was wrong —classic denial. When the second episode hit a week later—I chalked it off to indigestion or acid reflux (which I don’t have). Finally, when episode three hit, I fessed up to my wife and a few friends. Most of them used the words like “idiot” for not going into the doctor after number one - though I must admit, there was compassion and love alongside this harsh but accurate assessment.

So off to my trusted general practitioner I went. He said there may be nothing serious to worry about, but priority number one is to rule out the serious possibilities. He dialed up the cardiologist who had evaluated my heart prior to my prostate surgery six years earlier, and I had a next-day appointment to begin the evaluation process.

The cardiologist agreed with my family doctor and scheduled me for an angioplasty two days later at an excellent Guadalajara hospital. As I left his office that Saturday afternoon, he gave me a very stern order. “Should another episode occur before Monday,” he said, “call the surgeon I referred you to on his cell phone and he will perform the procedure immediately.”

At 7:30 am Monday morning, we climbed into the car of our driver, who navigated rush-hour traffic in Guadalajara and got us to the hospital in one piece. I had no fear of the procedure because I’d done my homework and was reassured of our surgeon’s excellent credentials and experience. I had plenty of fear, however, about what all this might mean to my future well-being.

After completing a COVID test and a plethora of hospital paperwork, I donned one of those lovely hospital gowns and lay down on a gurney with an IV in my arm. The surgeon appeared and spent all the time I needed to hear about the procedure and ask my many questions. When I told him I wanted to be fully anesthetized, he let out a kind laugh and said, “We don’t do that here because I need you awake to hold your breath and breathe shallowly when I remove the catheter.”

As it turns out, I am glad I was fully awake. The operating room had an amazing array of sophisticated instruments and blinking lights. After scrubbing my right arm with an ugly orange antiseptic, the doctor brought out a syringe to deaden the area around the targeted vein in my wrist. He said it would be the most painful part of the procedure, but he promised it would be no worse than a dentist’s Novocain shot. After ten seconds of jabbing, the doctor asked, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I responded with, “You’re fired.” We both laughed as he cut the vein and inserted the catheter.

He talked me through every step of the 20-minute procedure. I felt slight pain as the catheter worked its way up my arm. As it closed in on the heart, a flush of liquid was released that produced an odd sensation—I presume it was the dye that would allow the imaging system to identify blockages and a host of other problems that might be present. A large rectangular gizmo hovered about three feet above my heart. It moved from side to side and back and forth at various angles and sent a signal to the TV monitor alongside my bed.

And there it was, live and in color —a real-time view of my beating heart and its surrounding, pulsing arteries. After a short amount of time—short enough so my fears didn’t turn into abject terror—the doctor announced to his team, and me, that he didn’t need to do anything. My worst occlusion was only 20%—an excellent outcome, he said, for a seventy-one year old. I did not need a stent because they are only used when the occlusion levels are above 70%.

So what was the problem? He showed me a relatively minor artery on the screen that was partially blanketed by a muscle. This could be the reason for my episodes because it can cause a painful constriction from time to time. He assured me it was not at all serious —and more importantly, it was neither dangerous nor potentially fatal.

And better yet, based on the 25 diagnostic components that the angioplasty evaluated, my probability of a heart attack in the next five years approaches zero. All I need to do is take prescribed medication for three months and reduce my intake of coffee (painful, but doable).

I’m a happy man. I hope I never have to visit a cardiac surgeon again, but if I do, he’s the guy. He demonstrated to me the very definition of compassionate medicine.

Verdant View

By Francisco Nava

Heirloom vs. Hybrid vs. GMO

The terms “hybrid,” “heirloom,” and “genetically modified organisms (GMO)” are used regularly, especially when it comes to the vegetable garden, but these terms

also can be confusing. The terms refer to how the plants are reproduced, whether by simple seed saving, by cross-pollinating two different species, or by introducing foreign genes (GMO). Heirlooms are plants that have been reproducing over time, hybrids are crossed plants that are often created to exhibit beneficial traits, such as increase disease-resistance or higher yields and GMOs are still controversial as to whether they are beneficial to the natural environment.

It is hard to know if the seeds you choose are hybrid seeds or genetically modified, unless labeled. Heirloom seeds are usually labeled so.

The term heirloom vegetable is used to describe any type of vegetable seed that has been saved and grown for a period of years and is passed down by the gardener that preserved it. To be capable of being saved, all heirloom seed must be open-pollinated, so that it will grow true to the seed. Just like a family heirloom, these seeds’ characteristics are passed down from plant generation to generation and many can be traced back hundreds of years. The big benefit of using heirloom seeds is that you can collect seeds from your plant at the end of the season and when you plant them, they will grow the exact same plant as the “parent”.

Open-pollinated plants are simply varieties that are capable of producing seeds that will produce seedlings just like the parent plant. Hybrid plants and GMO plants do not do this.

Plant breeders crossbreed compatible types of plants in an effort to create a plant with the best features of both parents. These are called hybrid plants and many of the modern plants are the results of these crosses. Seed from these hybrids will not produce plants with identical qualities. Hybrids should not be confused with genetically modified organisms or GMOs, which can be any plant, animal, or microorganism that has been genetically altered using molecular genetics techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. There are both pros and cons to GMOs.

August

Weather is still warm and rainy. You will see in the viveros marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, phlox, cleome and kniphofia (red hot poker). You can still plant hot weather veggies as it won’t be cold until late October and most take 60 to 90 days to mature. Start asparagus seeds in individual containers for ease in later transplanting. You can plant artichokes, both Globe and Jerusalem anytime from July to November. Do plant celosia, snapdragon, phlox, petunia and stock seeds now. Last chance to prune your poinsettias for Christmas bloom. Keep up with weeds, fertilizer and pest control and deadheading. Cut back your herbs. They’ll just keep growing. Freeze or dry what herbs you don’t use. Look for whatever veggie seeds you will be starting in September. Your gardening friends are excellent sources of seeds and cuttings. Put garden clippings and non-oily, non-meat kitchen waste into the compost pile. The garden pests are out in full force so keep an eye out for them and deal with these problems at once, before they get out of hand.

Francisco Nava

By Moonyeen King

President of the Board for Tepehua moonie1935@yahoo.com

The difference between want and need is not very vast but it is clear...

to need is life sustaining whereas to want are those extra things in life to sweeten our pot. It has been a long time since most of us reading the Ojo only had what we need. Incredibly all over the world there are more people who need than want. The World Bank states that 3.4 billion people still struggle to make ends meet for only their needs, and according to W.H.O the numbers have been growing since 2015. Poverty is getting worse on our planet instead of better.

Life is not fair. The cards dealt are out of our control...but as the man says ‘it is how you play the game’. Stick with the cards dealt or change them.

We at the Tepehua Center believe that you can change the hand dealt if you work together. We have changed many things for the Barrio, except a very private space for man’s very basic need, elimination of our waste. Countless people in poverty still have to use the primitive method of open defecation, pollution of the nest and our planet, pollution of our surface waters and wells, our streams, the very essence of our lives. Our water. This must change.

In the part of our world that is perfect, when we plan our home, an automatic part of the design is a bathroom around which all our needs are secondary, and we add the wants as we go along. In the imperfect world of poverty, we build the needs first... the roof above our head, protection from the elements, the walls for security from the darker elements of human nature and a door to secure us inside. That is the primary need. Slowly the other needs are added - beds, pots and pans, blankets, perhaps a stove later as a want and the last want, which is a luxury item due to the cost, is a bathroom. No plumbing is installed. Just the toilet itself is a month’s wage, and to attach to a sewer changes the want into a dream. This is the face of poverty and we have done nothing to change it since the first toilets were invented by the Greeks 6,000 years ago.

Tepehua Community Center will change the face of poverty just a little more each year. This year is dedicated to bringing the luxury of the latrine to Tepehua. Ironically nearly every shack has a TV, a luxury item easily attainable on the second hand market, dumping grounds are full of them along with old computers, and if anything is fixable, people of the barrios will fix them. All these luxury items you see in the incongruous setting of a shack come from the throw-away upper class who are forever changing out their wants for newer models. It is not the poor spending their very hard-earned money on luxuries first. Their treasures are your trash.

We can make this transition from open defecation to home privacy with your help. No matter how small the bathroom item you are changing out, please donate it to Tepehua Community Center. All small items can be dropped off at the Tepehua Treasures store, or we can pick up the larger items if you e-mail moonie1935@yahoo.com. No trash please, if it leaks let it R.I.P in the land fill. Please also leave your email with the item so we can keep you posted on the change you will be making for the children of tomorrow.

Every day, in spite of looking into the face of poverty in others, it shouldn’t stop one from enjoying the wants you have attained through life, and appreciate the hand you were dealt, this author does. But it really sweetens your own pot when you know you have contributed something for the basic needs of others. If it can be done in one of the biggest barrios Lake Side like Tepehua with over 7,000 people, it can be done anywhere.

By Jackie Kellum

Just saying, I Love You! to your pet means a lot, but it also causes a physical reaction within your pet.

A UK vacation rental company called “Canine Cottages” conducted a study on dog behavior interactions with their owner. They said that the results of their study were both surprising, heartwarming, and in some cases, unexpected. They placed cardiac monitors on the dogs to record their heart rate during various owner interactions. These are some of those study results.

The most unexpected finding was the extent to which canines reacted to hearing their owners say: ‘I love you’. These words caused the biggest physical reaction in the dogs. The researchers had expected that when the dogs heard their owners come home that would have a larger heart rate response. When they were reunited with their owners after a short separation, there was only a ten percent increase. In contrast, the dogs’ heart rates increased on average 46 percent when their owners offered words of affection. This surprising statistic demonstrates how much words of love from their owner means to a dog. These findings show that dogs clearly have a good understanding of what their human is saying and when their owner is saying something positive and affectionate.

Another interesting finding from this study was that some scenarios could decrease a dog’s heart rate. For example, when their owner cuddled their dog, their heart rate decreased by an average of 22 percent. It is an indication that dogs find cuddling with their owner was a calming and relaxing experience. Now that it is proven that cuddling has a calming effect, dog owners can use it as a strategy to calm their dog if it is feeling anxious, stressed, or over-excited.

The owners’ voice tone when speaking also has an impact. Results of this study showed there was a bigger increase in the dogs’ heart rates when their human used a high-pitched tone or talked to them like humans talk to babies. On the other hand, the effect was less when the same words were spoken using a low-pitched tone.

Many studies have shown that when dogs and humans spend time together, both have physical and emotional well-being benefits. However, cats also serve as support therapeutic pets as well. Each species has its own pros and cons—pet size, house size, requires walk or not, need for attention vs. being more reserved, activity level, toilet needs, food consumption, cost, etc..

One website describing the benefits of cat ownership listed several specific reasons, including: “The stereotype that dogs are more affectionate than cats is just that, a stereotype. In fact it turns out that cats can be just as good a companion as a dog, especially for women”, and “Your choice of pet reveals something about your personality. While dog lovers tend to be ‘life of the party’; cat owners are quieter and more introverted. However, they score very highly when it comes to how trustworthy they are and how much they trust other people. Cat owners are also less manipulative and more modest”. I have both cats and dogs, so I do not lean in any one particular direction about this appraisal. You need to form you own opinion.

A fact of life—we may not outlive our pets. We have an obligation to have plans in place for their care if we become unable to care for them and when we die. Show your pet you love them, do not be in denial or procrastinate. If you love your pet, you need to take care of this plan now while you can… do not leave it to others to take on this difficult task for you .

Jackie Kellum