THE PATHETIC PLIGHT OF JONEL LUSTRADO

One day last August, the lion tamer arrived home late in the afternoon from a Civic Action program that was conducted by the members of GACSA, an association of the town’s residents who now permanently reside in the United States but were then at their hometown for a brief vacation. Unlike in previous occasions where she would get home obviously tired but with a happy smile on her face, that afternoon she went home as if somebody just swindled her or that her cell phone that has now become part of her life may have been stolen. The lion who was snugly resting on his rocking chair could therefore only ask: “What the heck happened?”

Her reply was unexpected. She said that while the medical team was already packing their things up, two men carrying another on a hammock and with an aging woman on the lead, suddenly arrived. The medical staff who were already tired and obviously were no longer interested to attend to the patient were cajoled by the lion tamer that the guy be attended to considering his pathetic condition, and after the usual check-up, was given the medicines that was prescribed by the doctor who attended to him. It turned out the ailment was not simple. From the lion tamer’s interview with the woman who accompanied the patient, she learned that Jonel, yes, that’s his name, slipped while laundering clothes with his back flat on the stony brook more than a year ago. The local “hilots” or herbolarios, attended to the aching back but instead of improving even got worse such that after three months from the date of the fateful accident, he no longer could walk.

To further confound his predicament, his lived-in partner got pregnant about seven months after the accident happened making the lion wonder; since he was already incapacitated and could no longer walk, how did he manage to get his partner pregnant in that woeful condition; or did she invent an alternative by initiating an unorthodox sexual .technique?! Shades of a very intriguing soap opera, the lion could only silently say.

And so she pointedly asked her aged pet: “Is there a way we can help?”

Without a vocal reply, the lion got hold of a book titled “A Century of Dedicated Masonic Service”, from the shelf and there leafed through its pages and found the telephone number of VW Lucas T. Ty. Again without a word, he dialed the number but the phone only rang at the other end.. As it was already past five, he assumed it must be an office phone and presumably the office staff, including VW Lucas must have left already.

Consequently, he could only say: “I’ll call again tomorrow, but perhaps, there is another way. There is a poster at the lodge on “ Hospital for Crippled Children” being administered by the Shriners where they have an office in Cebu City and Bro. Jack, who is himself a Shriner, perhaps can help. She immediately displayed that winsome smile and asked: “We’ll help Jonel then, won’t we?!” The lion could only look at her with an assuring gaze as no reply was needed.

We went to Tagbilaran City the following Saturday as it was our stated meeting and there the lion tamer explained the problem. Bro. Jack listened patiently and thereafter said: “Well, we need to have him x-rayed at Jagna or here at Tagbilaran before taking him to Cebu to determine what the problem is. Can you have this arranged?” We assured him we will.

A week later we took Jonel to the city on board the municipal ambulance but only after pumping 25 liters diesel fuel, a quantity that will enable the van to take two trips from the patient’s residence at the hinterlands of Guindulman which is nine kilometers away from town to Tagbilaran and back. At the government hospital the patient was x-rayed with Bro. Jack shouldering the hospital expenses while we defrayed the diesel cost. Fortunately, the x-ray results showed that there were no broken bones which prompted Bro. Jack and the lion tamer to feel at ease, realizing that the possibility of having a fracture on the spinal column has been ruled out. Obviously also, Bro. Jack was familiar with crippled patients as he next said: “We need to take Jonel back here in Tagbilaran next Saturday for a neurosurgeon’s check-up!” We said we will.

The next Saturday we again brought Jonel to the city on board the ambulance but only after pumping in another 25 liters diesel fuel. He was diagnosed by the attending physician who advised that an MRI or Magnetic Reasonance Imaging is needed to be performed on the patient. But it had to be done in Cebu as Tagbilaran has no MRI equipment to handle the delicate task. Also, as the attending neurosurgeon waived the consultation fee that easily would cost no less than P500 as he was a friend of Bro. Jack.

We went to Cebu City via the Ubay route taking along Jonel and his mother, who were fetched from their lair at their hinterland residence. Unexpectedly, we noted a pregnant woman and a little girl also on board the ambulance, with Jonel’s mother lamely
explaining that Wilma, yes, that’s her name, and her granddaughter will accompany us to Cebu as they decided she should temporarily stay with her folks meantime Jonel will undergo medical help. Also, it will solve the problem of Jonel’s live-in partner worrying with her post-delivery problems especially as it relates to financial matters as definitely Jonel, as the expectant father in his present condition, expectedly could not do anything.

The trip to Cebu was inspiring. Bro. Jack waited for us at the pier and took us, that is, Jonel, his mother, the lion and his tamer straight to the Chung Hua Hospital where the needed MRI examination was conducted. Wilma and her daughter, on the other hand, were met by her taxi-driver father, and went their own way.

The examination was completed late in the afternoon and the results were referred to another neurosurgeon and Dr. Felix Vicuna who pored over the results. After much analysis, they determined that an operation was needed. But there was as serious hitch. Jonel was also affected by tuberculosis of the bone and therefore the operation could not yet be performed as his condition may not sustain the rigors of the knife. The medical doctors therefore advised that he be returned home for a month, there to recover his health before the operation could be performed. We did but only after Bro. Jack bought the needed medicines for Jonel’s consumption out of Bro. Jack’s own pocket. He also defrayed the cost of the MRI and even took the two to his Cebu residence to spend the night in peace. As usual, we defrayed the cost of transportation.

On board the ship, the lion patiently explained the situation to Jonel and his mother with an analogy. Taking hold of a girlie magazine as example, he explained that the lion and her tamer’s help can best be illustrated by holding one edge of the magazine and with Bro. Jack holding another edge. The two other edges are their share of the responsibility, one each by Jonel and his mother to for us to solve the entire problem. This means that the mother should prepare the needed food of Jonel (mentioning vegetables that abound in their place) and with the latter earnestly resolving that his condition should improve and thereafter recuperate in a month’s time so that they can return to Cebu and have the operation performed. With sparkling look in their eyes, mother and patient nodded in agreement.

As the lion writes this article in the dead of the night two weeks after the Cebu trip (this article should have been composed upon our return to our den earlier, only the lion’s dilapidated computer was inoperative for two whole months), the aging lion could not help but contain his thoughts about Jonel. What would Jonel’s future be? Specifically, would his health improve to enable him to undergo the knife, and ultimately allow him to recover and walk again? And would his live-in partner with their two children (she recently delivered her baby which we learned was a boy), return to their lair in the boondocks as one happy family? And would our meager finances and even Jack’s wholehearted support not wane considering the unforeseen nature of his ailment the relevant expenses of which we still could not determine?

Which reminds this writer of the ending phrase in the parambulation of the fellowcraft degree which says thus:

“Charity suffereth long and is kind,
charity envieth not, charity vaunteeth not itself
is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil.
Rejoiceth not in inequity but rejoiceth
In the truth. Beareth all things, believeth
All things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
And now abideth faith, hope and charity these three,
But the greatest of these is Charity.

But of course, the Great Architect of the Universe may just favor us with his blessing and allow his creature Jonel to fully recuperate.