Pasay City. The Millennium.
I have seen death many times
in different forms, but they almost never make a dent in my heart. Medicine shapes hearts of steel out of its
practitioners. I recall being affected
deeply by only a few patients though they didn’t die. The last one to do so is a Chinese woman.
It was one of those emergency
room moments when patients poured in like rain.
I noticed Mrs. China, in her tattered hand-me-down duster, having her
blood pressure taken. The paramedic
referred her to me because she did not want to consult despite her elevated
blood pressure. It was 3:40 p.m. and her
BP was 190/100 mmHg. I talked to her in
Tagalog, and she responded in kind with that unmistakable Chinese accent often
trivialized in movies.
She brought her own
sublingual medicine. I asked
her to place one under her tongue after checking her heart rate. It’s a routine she’s familiar with.
I went to see other patients
and periodically asked the paramedic to check her BP. Mrs. China was beside Mrs. Philippines who had a flair for fashion and talked to Mrs. China to try to calm her, apparently out of
sympathy. They were both old. It’s just that Mrs. China went to the ER
alone. Mrs. Philippines was accompanied
by her daughter.
3:55 p.m. Mrs. China’s BP went down to 180/90.
4:10 p.m. BP=150/90
4:20 p.m. BP=160/90
4:45 p.m. Mrs. China’s BP went up again, 180/90. She asked in a pleading voice, “Anong mangyayari sa akin? (What will
happen to me?)” It’s been an hour and
her condition had not improved. I asked
her to take her second (and last stock of) sublingual medicine.
Mrs. Philippines told me
about Mrs. China’s predicament: living alone with no children. It was then that I began to speak in
Fookien. Mrs. China’s face suddenly
lighted up. I would alternately speak in
Tagalog and Fookien, in deference to Mrs. Philippines whose kind-heartedness
touched me (and because I am not ever fluent in Chinese).
I learned that she had 2 children. One disappeared for reasons unknown to
her. The other, a 50-year old man,
shunned her from his life. She wouldn’t
tell me what caused their conflict.
She was given a minor
tranquilizer.
Mrs. Philippines, before
leaving, told me to look after Mrs. China and asked for my name.
Mrs. China told me she knew I am Chinese but didn’t risk “irritating” me, so she just tried her best to speak
in Tagalog. Later, her BP went down and
remained at 130/80.
The paramedic just asked for
her money, so she wouldn’t have to go to the billing office to pay on her
own. She couldn’t walk straight due to
her arthritis, particularly of the left knee.
To our surprise, she pulled out a roll of 100-peso bills wrapped in
plastic. She gave me another surprise
when she told me she had to get going because she’s tutoring some kids. She’s a teacher.
I wonder what else is in her
story. She had hematoma on her neck,
above her left clavicle, which looked trauma-induced. I just contented myself with the truth that
she’s alone at her age of 73, and a practitioner of the most noble profession
that I know of: teaching.
===
I wrote this piece 17
years ago.
