By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
This paper celebrates now its 28th anniversary with absolutely no fanfare. It is in consideration of what I had recently gone through last December 1 (a “’heart attack”) and in commiseration with what our most respected columnist on Christian matters, Rev. Canona David Tabo-oy is going through. We are continuously praying for his early recovery, though things will take time. Yes, Apo Padi, we will get through what we are going through. Of course, by and due to His Grace.
As I have written before, there was something very valuable I learned from the experience, which Apo Padi might have also realized. People out there who did not have to go through the experience must learn from it. It is to love your wife next to God.
To illustrate, I cited and repeat it here. It is about an old movie that top billed Julia Roberts. She acted the hell out of her role there as a nurse taking care of the son of a rich man who was a cancer patient. On the days after his chemotherapy sessions, he would often suddenly run to the bath room to puke on the toilet bowl. The nurse, freaking out, would then be running after him to make sure he would not drown in the toilet bowl. After the vomiting, sitting with him on the floor by the toilet bowl, she would take the guy’s head on her arms to comfort him. After he calmed down, she would clean him up and then lead him to the bed to get some rest. The nurse would then compose herself and prepare again for the next similar episode.
Only wives, who are better than nurses, in terms of their caring attitude, can do such a thing. Men cannot or would not do as much.
While I thought during those worst moments of the possibility of going home in a wheel chair or having crutches, at the back of my mind was the hope that everything will turn out OK. That was almost made flesh by the information I got after getting out of the hospital. I loitered into the place at City Hall where media people hang around. There I heard the story of one of the media people whom I never saw for many years already. It turned out he had been dealing with a heart disease. Time and again, the doctor would say, as I also was advised, he should go through the remedy of having angioplasty. He could have gone through it but budgetary constraint prevented him. It would cost around P750K to over a million pesos. So he struggled with his condition, relying on pills to keep body and soul together.
He could hardly walk then, but hope indeed springs eternal. That someday he would be able to walk properly.
His prayers got answered. Ten years after, which flew so fast, he could now go for a daily walk on his own at Burnham Park. While he could not do it in a brisk manner, at least, he could now walk on his own. Surely, with proper discipline in his food intake, maintenance meds and his exercise or walking regimen, he will become stronger as the days come.
Yes, with a lot of prayers, we will all become stronger as the days come, to have more birth days and more anniversaries of this paper.**
