SUNSHINE FROM THE SHRINE!

You may not be aware of this, but if you are a Shriner, then you are part and parcel of this story. Let the aging cat tell you about it.

Last February 24, immediately after the burial of Bro. Eduardo Palac at the cemetery atop the hill, the aging lion was animatedly conversing with his good friend Tante inside the Palac residence when a maid approached them saying: “Nong Jun! Sulti ni Manang Lor, gawas ka daw” which in the King’s language meant: “Nong Jun, Nang Lorma (meaning, the lion tamer) asks that you go out, and so obediently her aging pet complied.

Outside, he was introduced to an elderly lady who was accompanying a limping six-year-old girl, and was promptly informed the latter needs help. After asking the standard questions and the ordeal that the prospective patient and her caretaker-companion at the hospital will undergo should we take her to Cebu, and with her reply all being in the affirmative, the aging lion nodded and forthwith advised the lion tamer that a call to Dr. Felix Vicuna will be needed.. He also told the elderly lady to visit them at the lion’s den two days later so that if the result of the call is favorable then they will finalize the trip so that the girl may be operated upon. The girl, by the way, appears to be suffering from a congenital defect called clubfoot and is also frequently treated for epileptic ailment.

The next day, Sunday, a man on board a motorcycle came to the aging lion’s den and introduced .himself as a neighbor of the young girl. Also on board the motorcycle was a young boy likewise of the same age as the girl but with a deformed right elbow.. The man said he is the boy’s father and that a little more than a year ago, his son was merrily climbing a guava tree trying to pluck off some fruits while singing the nursery rhyme at the top of his voice. But the branch broke and down to the flat earth he slumped; and the last rhythmic word of the phrase “guavas are ripe” that he was singing instead turned out to be a loud “array!”

So on the next day, Monday, the lion tamer had two birds to hit with only one stone. She not only had to request Dr. Felix Vicuna to operate on the young girl with a deformed foot but also on the boy with a broken elbow. Fortunately for her, the amiable doctor said that these would be no problem and that we should bring the two prospective patients to Cebu and he’ll see what he can do. Which made the aging lion glad. Last February 3 after all, VW Felix Vicuna, Jr. was one of the honored guests who came direct from Cebu City to attend the installation ceremonies of Dagohoy Lodge No. 84 at the new Temple that the Bohol Masons are definitely proud of.

Her next task was to arrange with the local DSWD for the P500 financial assistance for their bus and boat fare in going to Cebu City and on this, the town mayor also added an equal amount thus giving the parents a thousand bucks each for transportation fare and miscellaneous expenses.

Then Sunday, March 4 came. The lion tamer was apprehensive because the aging lion decided that for financial considerations, it will be best that he is left behind in their den. . He calculated it will cost them an additional P700 should he tag along, but she was adamant. She is not yet well acquainted with the good doctor and felt something could go wrong if he will not tag along. Hearing the assurance from her pet that she can call him long distance to sort out whatever problems that may arise, she finally acceded that he be left behind.


Their trip to Cebu as well as the critical diagnoses that was performed by Dr. Vicuna on the two prospective patients at his office at the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital was expertly done with dispatch and no sooner the two, together with the boy’s father and the girl’s mother who will watch and care for them, \were admitted at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital The staff, after all, knew that the two are patients of celebrated Dr. Vicuna of the Shrine.

By three thirty in the morning of March 9, the lion tamer’s cell phone rang and at the other phone, the boy’s father was frantic in asking what to do with the prescription slip containing anesthetic and other medicines, the cost of which were considerably expensive, that was handed to the by the nurse on duty as the boy was scheduled to be operated on that morning. Not knowing what to do, she instructed the caller to approach the resident physician on duty and inform him (or her) that the boy is a patient of the “Shrine.” Apparently that was the correct password because by the time the father called again, he said that all the needed medicines were already available and that the operation will be performed as scheduled. That of the little girl, however, was rescheduled as the good doctor decided that additional tests on her brain be performed to determine whether other medical procedures and medicines should be administered to her to insure that a more comprehensive and accurate diagnoses of her ailment will redound to her ultimate and speedy recovery.

By four in the afternoon, with the sun not yet setting in the proverbial West, the boy with a deformed elbow was out of the operating room attended to by the hospital staff and by the boy’s father who was obviously physically exhausted but with a wide grin registered on his lips.

And on this. Dr. Felix Vicuna. Jr. and the Shriners definitely deserve a hearty pat on the back for the noble act that they performed for the benefit of the young patient!