Frailty

It's a wonder, really, that mankind has lasted for so long.

Amongst all creatures in the animal kingdom, we are certainly not the biggest, fastest or (yes, even) smartest, but here we are proliferating and thriving on this miniscule planet in the vastness of the universe.

We break so easily. Have you not noticed how pliant our skins are? So soft and squishy. Easily yields under pointed or sharp objects. Recently, I've realized bones are breakable too, being painfully conscious of my squeaky knee. My physical therapy sessions include electric stimulation and traction to straighten my spine. One wrong mechanical mistake and my spine can crack leaving me disabled for the rest of my life.

Yesterday, I found out I am also now diabetic. I thought that It'll be a while before I buy medicines again now that Mummy and Daddy have found the permanent cure to their ailments. But no. I was prescribed the exact same medicines my parents have been taking for much of their adult lives. The cycle moves on.

-=-=--=-=--=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=

Today, I went to a paper shop near the hospital after my PT session and sated my sudden craving for lots of notebooks. On my way back to my uncle's house, I hailed a jeepney expecting to be home in a couple of minutes. I wasn't 30 seconds seated yet when the old man seated beside the driver slumped slowly towards the steering wheel. The passengers, including me, thought he was just drunk. But when I caught a glimpse of the man's face, it reminded me so much of Daddy's first and last heart attack. The man was definitely having a stroke.

The other passengers, sensing trouble, went down the jeepney until there were only three of us left holding the man up. The jeepney driver was new to the route so he had to ask information on how to get to the hospital. Funny, they brought me back to MCU where I had just been 30 minutes earlier. When we got to the hospital, the driver left ( he had to make a living, understandably), leaving just this thirty-ish woman named Ochie, a matipuno-guy named James and me.

I wanted to leave. There was just too much stress and bother and stirred memories to deal with. But I couldn't bring myself to leave because I saw Daddy in this man, and it would be as if I was abandoning him. We rushed him to the ER where the doctors confirmed he had a left ventricular stroke. After sifting through the countless IDs and phone numbers he had, we finally located his relatives who were in Karuhatan.

PEOPLE, ALWAYS HAVE PERSONS TO CONTACT IN YOUR WALLETS JUST IN CASE OF EMERGENCIES. It took us almost an hour to call each and every number until we called an unlabeled number which turned out to be his sister's house.

My couple of minutes going home turned into a couple of hours, but i do not regret it. At least grandfather was alive, although a little on the worse side. I wasn't that lucky the day Daddy had his attack.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I helped save a life today Daddy. Tell me,

why couldn't it have been you instead?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Manong Boie's Advice to Young People

Stephen King says Stephenie Meyer Sucks

Eating Pizza in Pisa and other Tuscan Food Adventures