Saturday, December 8, 2012

Ray with Belize breadfruit ! From his back yard. 2012


After a month long sojurn in Miami, Courtesy of my daughter Sharon and husband David, fighting to get Medicare B to do chemo therapy ( will get it, but in 7 months they say ) and Florida State supplementary ( under review for a month ) I returned home, to find my breadfruit tree was dropping fruit.  This is a breadfruit that fell from the tree.  It will sit on the kitchen table until it gets a bit soft, as it is hard right now.  With some brown spots on the green skin.  Then you slice it cross ways, into half inch thick  circular discs.  Cut those in half, to form two crescents and cut off the green hard skin.  The core is soft and cut that out and you are left with two half moon pieces of fruit.  This you fry in a small pan with coconut oil, until brown and crispy, flip it over and do the other side and you end up with excellent breadfruit for eating.  The hard part is like well done French Fries and the inner white soft part is like mashed potatoes.  A little salt, some avocado and voila you have a dish fit for a king.
  My breadfruit tree bears twice a year for about 3 months each time. Sits in the front corner of the yard by the street side.

  My cancer tumor you can see on the side of my face.  It has filled the right side of the neck and now protrudes the skin out, trying to find place to put dead cells, killed by the cancer. The tumor itself is entangled with the jugular vein, the pulmonary artery, the vein carrying blood and oxygen to the brain.  Mostly I get pain from the back side of the throat, where I guess a lymph node, one of a string in the neck must be encapsulated?  The most difficult pain is on the side of the face, and head, from the fan of nerves called the trigeminal nerve system.  Hurts like hell! Impossible to do surgery in the neck area, as it is a tiny space, jam packed with all kinds of essential nerves and veins.  I start Chemo therapy at the Belize Cancer Clinic here on the coast of Belize, run by a Belizean/USA  Dr. Grant from L.A. in the USA.  Come Monday in two days, I get my first session of four sessions over a two month period.  The plan after that, is to go to Guatemala City to an associate clinic for Dr. Grant to do radiation treatment for another six weeks to a month.  Very affordable by Belizean standards as Dr. Grant's clinic is a CHARITY CLINIC, one of many he apparently supports, here and in California. I've had some cash donations from my daughters, so that helps.
  I have hopes the chemo therapy will reduce the tumor, so the pressure will ease off the nerves and give me some peace and relief from pain.  But at this point this is all new and have no idea what to expect.  CANCER caught me by surprise.  I more thought I would get shot by a jealous husband, climbing out of a bedroom window, than this sneaky cancer invasion.  I kind of wonder if I will lose a lot of weight?  They say so.  I could stand it I suppose.  30 lbs would be good.

3 comments:

Alexander said...

Hello, I have been following your blog for almost three years now. Like many I traveled to Belize, had dreams of leaving the rat race, but ultimately probably not going to follow through. . .Too many ties to the motherland.
I have seen news of your recent diagnosis and I just want to let you know that I hope you recover and get another decade or more to keep me posted on Western Belize Happenings. Enjoy that breadfruit!

Norma said...

Dear Ray: I have been following your blog on Western Belize Happenings and I am sorry to hear about your medical condition. I wish you a speedy recovery. I believe your breadfruit if called a "pana" in PR and it is cut the same way but cooks green in salt boiling water and it is good. Good luck with your treatment and I hope you will be pain free soon.
Norma

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