Miss Rosemary, you are a SAINT! Thank YOU for your patience with me doing this interview. If anything that was the challenge of this...working with me! I have a lot of words and I am not afraid to use them! I had no idea that one day I'd have to have open heart surgery, and that the surgery is so precise only a few places perform it, of which Mayo is one. My local cardiologist, who diagnosed me with sub-aortic membrane, was going to refer me to our local heart surgeon for open heart surgery. I may not even be here had I not asked him to send me to Cedar-Sinai and Mayo Clinic for outside opinions. That was probably the biggest take-away for me. I had to be my own advocate and push. So many people don't have access to teaching facilities and they need to be their own advocate. Mayo Clinic Connect was so very helpful in finding out all sorts of things I'd never known. My FP was born at St Mary's in Rochester, and going to see him is second best to being there. He is so smart!
If you traveled down Hwy 101 south past Crescent City then you passed by my other tribe, the Yurok tribe. Both tribes live along the Klamath river. Yuroks are "down river" Indians and Karuks are "up river" Indians. The mouth of the Klamath, where it flows into the ocean, is Yurok tribal headquarters. Happy Camp (yes really) is Karuk tribal headquarters. Its very close to Oregon, but out in the middle of nowhere. Both tribes are Federally recognized and both tribes work hard to remember our native ways, and teach them to the younger ones. I actually bought and brought two Yurok t-shirts as gifts for Dr Bagameri and Dr Dearani, the surgeons. I also consulted with the Karuk tribe before surgery to ask about anything special I needed to do before. They told me to offer tobacco to the Father as a blessing. We grew tobacco. Who knew?
Yes. It took me some time to quit stalking. But I am glad I 'came out' too. The support offered here is so real. So genuine. I am so blessed! Thank you again, Miss Rosemary! Did I mention I love potatoes? 🙂