De La Cruz-Busto: One year after

Saturday, May 14, 2011

JUST as I was composing my thoughts to write about what has happened to my mother and to our family after the biggest challenge that struck our family a year ago, fortuitously, I was able to watch a news feature of a miracle. A former government weather bureau spokesperson related that his wife suffered aneurysm and was pronounced by doctors in Australia as brain dead but he refused to accept their prognosis, saying he believed in miracles.

And miracle is what his family received when his wife woke up after more than two weeks in coma. Although the wife has yet to fully recover, the eye blinking that she does to respond to her family members is enough proof that she may be on her way to recovery. I could vividly remember going through the same thing with my mother one year ago. Everyone prayed profusely – family, friends and relatives. After two weeks, miraculously, my mother was responding to our whispers and caresses.

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Like what happened to the weather bureau spokesperson’s wife, nothing is impossible with God, as long as we trust Him completely, He makes all things possible.

One year after, my mother has since been feeding through her mouth, instead of the tube that goes through her nose. She can also now sit longer and with little support, sometimes none at all. Former officemates and friends who have visited my mother recently, told me how my mother would grip their hands while holding hers when they tell her stories and other stuff they would usually talk about.

My mother’s best friend also told me of a similar occurrence and added that when she came to see my mother, she can tell that my mother wanted to speak so much. But of course, at the moment, she still could not because of the tracheotomy tube embedded in her throat. I know how frustrating it must be on my mother’s part because a few months after going out of the hospital, tears would well down her cheeks, probably due to frustration of not being able to speak and express her thoughts.

One year after my mother’s stroke, my younger brother and his understanding wife have since relocated back to Davao to closely look after our mother so that she would not feel neglected as my three other siblings and I now reside outside Davao City. Thanks to my brother who is now back home in Davao, our mother is religiously brought to her check-ups and is monitored on her day to day condition.

My mother’s doctors are amazed at my mother’s progress and have scheduled the removal of her tracheotomy tube later this month which hopefully would pave the way to her ability to be able to speak again. Yes, we know we should not pressure and rush her into speaking again but with God’s grace, we know she will. We have been in close coordination with a speech therapist who gives advice on what the family must know in view of that likelihood. As always, we will turn to prayers for the success of the surgery that would remove the tube off my mother’s throat. I always believe that God provides and again, nothing is impossible with Him.

One year after my mother’s major stroke, my family has learned a chest full of lessons.

All my siblings and our respective families have since gotten life insurance policies. How I wish we could have gotten my mother and father earlier, too, but financial constraints have made that impossible years back. We have also learned to track our SSS, Philhealth and health card dues, just in case there is a need for all these. My mother was very efficient in tracking them even after we forced her into her retirement. Thus, when she was hospitalized a year ago, the use for these essentials was maximized.

A year after also, my youngest sister has left for Canada as an immigrant last month to seek greener pastures. While it pains our mother and our family to see her go, we believe it is the most practical thing to do. In an average family like ours, one has to go abroad for a quicker way of making our family financial status better. It helps though that my sister is still single, thus, it would not be difficult for her to extend help to our mother’s medical needs back in Davao. While we do not pressure her to do so, I know she knows it is implied and it is because we want to prolong our mother’s life.

One year later, too, my older sister and I have now created our own label for our organic health & wellness products. Inspired by our mother’s condition, we have slowly introduced it to the market through bazaars, and so far has been received well by the market. The entrepreneur in me has also hooked up since last month with a family member in selling food stuff from Manila at the Matina Town Square (MTS) to help augment my mother’s medical expenses.

One year after, too, my family and I could not believe that we would be able to financially pull through with my mother’s medical needs but we did. God is indeed good. I remember when our family was agonizing at the thought of subjecting our mother to the delicate cranium surgery, a relative told us that the aftermath of such would be very expensive and that we should really, really think hard about it. We are glad now, though that our family was unanimous in the decision to let our mother undergo that surgery. Now, she is still with us and for that, we cherish every minute with her.

When I turned a year older in February, I said that if I God allows me to live through 100 years old, I would wish to God instead that he give each member of my family several more years to live and enjoy life.

One year after our family’s biggest challenge, life is still truly worth looking forward to.