By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Storm Maring was howling, 4:30 a.m., Oct. 11, 2021. I got up to close the window as it was left a bit ajar. My face and chest were hit by the cold wet air. Then bang! My back hit the cabinet beside me, then I got crumpled in a sitting position on the floor. My back was leaning on the cabinet’s door, dizzy. My wife shouted, “What happened?”
“Am dizzy,” as I struggled to lie down on the floor where we have been sleeping since when I had back pain a few months ago. My back pain is already OK but don’t want anymore to sleep on our soft bed. So we got used to the floor.
As I laid down, aware that I could have suffered a stroke or heart attack, I was continuously chanting my meditation mantra. It is a short word about God that should help a meditator concentrate on Him. Yes, I was praying so hard I won’t become a vegetable.
Right after putting on the light, my wife grabbed the blood pressure (BP) apparatus to take my blood pressure. While we always have some catapres tablets ready, the blood pressure had to be taken first to make sure it is high.
Catapres is a small tablet you put under the tongue which can lower BP fast. If the dizziness was caused by low blood pressure, catapres could make it dangerously low. It can be fatal.
It turned out my BP was 220/125—right smack in the middle of heart attack or stroke territory.
All that time I was continuously chanting my mantra. It was helping me relax a bit and keeping my “direct line” to God. I then thought of somebody who went home after jogging early in the morning. After resting for a while, he opened the refrigerator to get some cold drink. Upon opening, the cold air from the ref hit his front side and he crumpled to the floor, he was gone forever.
Did a blood vessel get shattered anywhere in my body? Did a blood clot develop? I was still dizzy but, at least, not so weak.
In my condition then, even a non-believer would have prayed so hard. Indeed, there is no atheist in a fox hole.
While the first catapres tablet was dissolving under my tongue, I was continuously chanting my mantra, you can say continuously praying, as so many thoughts played in my mind. What If I became bedridden? “God, if I have to die, so be it. Make it fast.”
The howl of the typhoon was becoming stronger thirty minutes later, and my BP was again taken. It went down a bit. Good Lord! At least my body was responding.
Actually, for about two months, I was a dead man walking. My BP was hovering between 190/110 and 210/125. Catapres could not make it budge, much less my maintenance meds. But I was not getting dizzy, just had that a bit heavy feeling. So every now and then, it would cross my mind, “When will I topple over?”
That was after I got my two doses of the Sinovac covid-19 vaccine. I called my doctor, a college of medicine professor and he told me my kidneys might already be gone. He advised me to go for a lab analysis. He then emailed me the many things the lab should find out, from blood sugar level to those of creatinine, triglyceride, cholesterol, uric acid, etc., etc. On the same day, I emailed to him the results. His reply was, “Congratulations.” Everything was almost normal. If there was anything not normal, it was there right at the upper limit.
So I asked him on the phone, “What then is causing my high BP? I also told him I had been religiously taking the maintenance medicines he prescribed.” No answer. When I asked him if it was due to my stressful work? In so many words, he insinuated, “maybe.”
Thus, I continued to be a dead man walking. With may very high BP, anything could happen anytime, anywhere.
Then a friend told me that a doctor-sister of hers also had to struggle with a high BP after getting inoculated with Sinovac vaccine.
Two weeks ago, I met in court a public prosecutor who was known also to be always struggling with high BP. When I asked him if he was already vaccinated, he said, yes. What kind? Pfizer.
Asking him the effect on his “high blood”, he said the vaccine sort of cured it. He added that even some abdominal pain he used to suffer from, disappeared. Good for him.
Going back to that early morning last Monday, several hours and two catapres tablets after, I was still a little bit dizzy but I could stand and walk to the CR in a wobbly manner.
I spent the two typhoon days—Monday and Tuesday– in bed. Wednesday, I was able to drive to the office to slowly take care of withdrawing from my court cases.
Thursday, I was getting better.
Friday, I was able to put together this issue, which can really be stressful.
There are so many things you, or others, might learn from my experience. Will write more about it next week.
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