Sunday, January 16, 2005

UNTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM

It was already late in the afternoon of July 31 when the missus arrived from Tagbilaran City fully exhausted and obviously disappointed. Earlier in the day, she called via her cellphone that the harelip repair of the third patient could not be performed as the boy still had fever. The doctor therefore again postponed the operation for another date.

Upon arrival at our residence, she could not help but express her apprehensions. She is afraid the parents of the child might decide to withdraw from the planned operation. With two postponements already experienced, it is highly possible they might resolve not to pursue it any further thinking that the “Ginoo” (or Lord) does not want the inborn features of their son changed. And what could we do if this defeatist attitude get into their skulls’ membrane?! This possibility may sound queer, but in this rustic and bucolic place where superstition and age-old habits are still devoutly practiced, one can never tell what the rural folks will think of next.

After dinner, we both hied off to our backyard to enjoy the early evening sea breeze and evaluate our dwindling finances. With harvest still three months away, we reckon it’s time to methodically prune our expenses. Medicine is still top priority, our various projects must also continue, food shall be selected with the end view of purchasing the less expensive ones, while the planned visit to Cebu must be postponed for another date, otherwise, we may end up victims of loan-sharks who, like in almost all places, charge usurious interests. Five six??

At this juncture, Liza our neighbor, approached us and narrated that her family had a problem that is already unmanageable for them to solve. She said that her eldest son, Lotlot, who lives with her parents some fifty meters away from their house, was suffering from acute stomach pain and was vomiting the past three days. Her father already took him to a rural doctor who prescribed the medicine but that the boy’s condition did not improve. With their meager savings already fully spent and with nowhere to turn to, they decided to come to us for help.

Before I ever had a chance to open my mouth, the missus opened hers and decided to literally take the bull squarely by the horns, I silently mused: “It’s time for Supergirl”. But at age fifty-four, “Supergirl”? Ho, ho, ho!! But wait! She can ably fill the shoes of Wonder Woman; for after all, she often works wonders, and is undoubtedly wonderful!! But what happens to our fast-dwindling finances?? Heck, Someone up there will just have to attend to this later!

After getting all the information that she needed, she immediately rattled her instructions to Liza and thereafter went home to change clothes. Together with the patient, the mother and the grandfather, they rode a tricycle and took the boy straight to the hospital. They also decided to take Liza’s other two siblings along, Her husband, Jimbo, was busy with his occupation as fisherman and is still afloat somewhere in the fringes of Mindanao’s turbulent ocean.

The hospital administrator, apparently with the reported deaths of the quadruplets in metropolitan Manila caused by hospital indifference that was all over the radio still fresh on her mind, and also with the persuasive tongue of the missus assisting, decided to accept the patient without the required deposit. But only after the missus signed the prescribed form as guarantor should the parents be unable to foot the hospital bill.

The next day, the missus and the patient’s mother visited the patient at the hospital and noted that the flow of the dextrose at the boy’s arm was n

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