It has been since late August that I have written a blog and I apologize! The delay is in large part due to my heart troubles that occurred near the end of Labor Day Weekend. I woke up on that Monday morning and a few minutes later determined that I had visual problems and mental difficulties. I had double vision. I tried to sleep for another couple hours to see if the situation got any better. I finally woke up and my vision had returned but I noticed that I had difficulty remembering some simple things. My wife got to drive us down the mountain, and I went to the hospital in Safford near the end of Labor Day weekend.
The hospital ran some tests and determined that what I had was serious and decided to fly me home to the Phoenix area to check me into the hospital in Mesa (Desert Samaritan). It was determined that I had a whole in between my atriums of my heart that had apparently existed since I was born and that something had made its way through that hole and up to my brain that morning. It caused a stroke to occur and that is what I was dealing with. After 5 days in the hospital, I finally made it home, but I had numerous medical appointments over a couple months that led to my surgery on November 6th (approximately 2 months after the incident). In the procedure that I was awake for, but that I was under certain medication, they went up through the artery in my leg and placed a patch in the hole that existed between my atriums.
This act should keep this from ever happening again. I still have a little memory loss from time to time, but that is expected to go away within a couple months. I am getting better all the time. My staff has been wonderful in helping those clients who had not filed before this event at the first of September file their income tax returns for the September and October final filing deadlines, as appropriate. My memory has gotten better since the event back in September and now with the surgery, it is not expected to happen again.
This event has provided me a wake-up call as to what is important in life. I am in good shape and had been riding bikes and running for the last several years so that was very helpful in dealing with this event. I had to not ride bikes until a week after my surgery to avoid some other blockage from making its way to my brain again. Since the surgery, I have been riding my bike again on a weekly basis and my mind is becoming more normal each week. I am virtually back to normal again. Wow! First, we had the Corona virus and then I had my medical issues! It appears that the Corona virus is nearing an end and I think my physical obstacles are nearing an end as well. I appreciate your understanding during this process.
Having shared this event, I appreciate your business and we look forward to having another wonderful tax season in a month or two. Hopefully, by the end of this tax season, things will be back to normal again! I look forward to working with each of you again during this upcoming season.
Sincerely,
Mark J Weech, CPA