In many cases, a bout with sickness stretches your soul, opens your eyes, and introduces you to a world of unimagined grandeur, possibility and joy. - Tony Snow
I just got back to my office yesterday. I was away from my computer for one week not because I was on some assignment but because I was bedridden. I seldom get sick, once a year and only last 3 days tops. But this time it was worst. First it was my wife, and then my daughter and I got infected last.
My body was aching all over. My fever bounced back and forth between 38 and 39.5 and was chilling for two nights. I have no appetite and my intake consist of orange juice and four different tablets and capsule I pop up every 12 hours. My doctor blamed it on climate change. Sandstorm occurs now and then plus the unbearable heat was up one degree more than last year, and its only June. It’s either that or I’m getting old. In the bright side, I lost 2 kilos in the process.
It’s difficult to get sick in a foreign land. You either has to drive yourself to the hospital while shivering in fever or wait for somebody to come after work to fetch you. I’m one of the lucky few. I have my wife to care for me and a good friend who called now and then to ask if we need anything from the supermarket. Malaki na ang utang na loob ko sa kumpare kong Jun Geronimo.
But what about if you’re all alone? I knew one guy who had an accident and was brought to the hospital by some good soul but doctors won’t attend to him. They want confirmation first from the company he worked for. The problem is nobody’s there to answer phone calls at the office during night time. The company only found out what happened when he didn’t arrived for work the following day. He was at the hospital’s emergency ward but left unattended for 12 hours because the f*cking hospital wants to make sure the guy has a f*cking health insurance.
Hinde lang sa Pinas, kahit dito matakaw din ang Medical Institution. It makes you sick sometimes.
I hope you're feeling a lot better by the time you get to read this comment.
ReplyDeleteI have an uncle who lives alone by choice. A lot of times in his life, he had to rely on the kindness of strangers to take him to the hospital whenever he required serious medical attention. I used to be the relative who lived closest to him but still, his place was at least a good two hours' drive from where I live. Thus, if it was an emergency, he had to seek the assistance of total but kind-hearted strangers just to drive him to the hospital.
Ang swerte nga lang ng tito ko eh nandito siya sa States where hospitals are required to provide medical attention to people who need it before they (the hospital staff) ask questions about a person's employment, source of income, etc.
In a big city like New York, most of the time you see unrelated, multi-ethnic people, who share the same roof treat each other as family. Parang dating TV series na "Friends".
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