#soibustback

[upperoomsociety-blog]

Epistles From The E.R #1

The day I was born I was already ‘hospitalized’. As ironic as it sounds, I’m being forreal. My parents told me that my birth put my mom’s life on the line. For some reason, I didn’t want to come out. I wouldn’t know, I was just told that I almost didn’t make it as well because of low-oxygen levels.

I’m glad that nothing bad happened that day, even though I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Two weeks later, I would end up back in the E.R. for an asthma attack. It’s as if all the forces of this world were trying to suppress my growth. I wouldn’t know.

I’m 24 now, I think back at all the times I found myself waking up in an ambulance or on a hospital bed and I can’t even think of a number. What can I say? I’m a survivor? Or am I just defiant towards the sting of death?

Either way, my story continues. When you’re in that off-white colored room, with the “hospital” smell (there’s no other word for it) you just think so many things to yourself. I think the first thought that comes is, “Where the hell am I?” There was this one time when I was involved in a car accident in San Diego, California. Just a week prior, I was having the time of my life in the Philippines. But I’ll save that story for another blog.

Anyway, I woke up speaking fluent Tagalog and I truly believed I was in the Philippines. After all, San Diego + Hospitals are flooded with bloody Filipinos. So I guess that added on to the amnesia I was experiencing. I reached for my phone and called my big brother. I was dialing his number in the Philippines, I kept getting a “call cannot be completed as dialed message.” I’m like, wtf? So I asked the nurse in Tagalog, “Po, anong hospital nito?” She replied, “Sunnyside.” I asked her if we were in Manila or back in my home province, Bataan.  She laughed and said to me, “Your in San Diego, California sir.” Again I’m like, wtf?

I didn’t believe her. I was thinking that I was just in my hotel room a few hours ago, but no. My friend Adrian walked in and I knew for sure I wasn’t in the Philippines. Can you imagine having amnesia? It’s the most delirious and confusing experience. The next thought was of course, what happened? They explained to me about the car accident, I still couldn’t fathom the fact that I was in California and not in Manila.

I must have washed away a week of memory from that accident. The doctor came in gave me some meds for pain and I walked out of that hospital (no I was actually wheel-chaired) like a champion. You get this rush every time you cheat death. Or at least realize it, in my situation. It’s the biggest relief that you can’t explain.

It’s just the joy of knowing that you’re alive.

The present of receiving another chance at life - but with a more serious and deeper desire to live everyday as if it were your last.