The Power of Caring (a guest post)

I welcome everyone who wants to share his thoughts through this blog. Below is the first guest post written by my son as he is still recuperating from a recent brain decompression surgery! Thanks for sharing Deboy!

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Now I don’t know about you, but I’m 99.9% sure that my Christmas break was just a little different than the normal person. Yeah, I had a gathering of people around me and we all had a feast, and we all opened presents. By a gathering of people I mean nurses and doctors, and by a feast I mean the “gourmet” hospital food that was served to me, and the only thing that was opened this break was the back of my head. Before you get freaked out by my (maybe) too graphic of a description, let me explain what happened to me this Christmas break so that you won’t get too confused. During the break, I had what was called a “Brain Decompression Surgery.” Basically at the end of the first semester, I started feeling tingling numbness on the whole left side of my body, causing some occasional aches and pains. Sharp excruciating headaches also accompanied it and that’s when I got it checked out. It turns out that my skull was a bit too small for my brain causing my brain to hang down and therefore causing me to have nerve problems. The Doctors diagnosed it as a Chiari Malformation. Now this article isn’t about the condition or my process into my surgery, so we’re not going to get too technical. Instead I will be talking about the overwhelming support that I got from my friends and family. Whether it’s my dad sleeping on the not-so-comfortable chair every night just too keep me company, or a friend texting you all day and all night so you won’t get bored, or all your fraternity brothers checking up on you making sure you’re doing well. Getting this major surgery made me realize that, I really do have a wonderful community around me. Friends of friends, family from the Philippines, friends that I’m not even Facebook friends with knew about it, and all of them had the decency to pray for me. I guess when it comes to facing adversity and difficulty, you find out who truly cares for you, in which you find out that basically all of your friends and more care for you. That is the true way to showcase the power of the human heart and soul. The support that I got was probably the best Christmas present I could have ever gotten (unless it was an Ipad or a new car, even then it still be hard to beat.) My point in this is that; don’t take your friends for granted, because they would do just about anything for you like you would do just about anything for them. In life you will have many friends come and go, which means that embrace the ones you have known because when you need them, they will be there and there is nothing better than the feeling when you know you’re receiving the true power of caring.

Between Comings and Goings

It is the dash.  In the tombstones of many, it means the lifespan,  between the year of birth and the year of death. In a job, it represents the period of employment between the starting and leaving. A dash, therefore, represents a  period of time. It could be very short or long as a lifetime! It could be the period between January 1st to December 31st!

Every dash contains a story or a history! And I found  Steve Jobs' dash so remarkable and awe-inspiring. I heard about Steve mostly in the primetime news, in things, well, related to Apple. His name did not get much of my interest at the start simply because ain't a Mac person. Until I was introduced to TED (www.ted.com) when I seemed to get to him upclose and personal. Posted on TED was his 2005 Commencement Address in Stanford University titled  'How you live before you die'. His talk was so loaded heavily with wits and wisdom peppered with humor. He can be quoted in practically  everything he spoke. Since then, I became his avid follower. Much about his life were revealed after his recent passing.And his person became even bigger with his death! Well done Steve! Humanity just lost a genius!

This might one of the shortest among the dashes. But its impact affects what seems to be a lifetime to many. On March 11, 2011, 2:46 in the afternoon Japan Standard Time, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit the eastern Japan what has been dubbed as 2011 Tohuku earthquake or the Great East Japan Earthquake. Considered as one of the five most powerful earthquakes in the world (and Japan's worst ever) since modern recording was available, the tremors sent powerful and massive tsunami waves, rampaging everything on their paths of destruction. Tens of thousands of lives lost, missing and destroyed,  countless people were displaced. Over hundred thousand  buildings damaged or destroyed. There were nuclear accidents, nuclear meltdown in some nuclear power plants. Most of the gut-wrenching events were recorded as they unfolded. The images of black waves rolling from the shoreline down through the nearby urban center, carrying everything on the paths- cars, homes, people, animals, etc, was so  surreal. It sent shivers down to my spine. I thought I saw clips of the futuristic movie, The Day After Tomorrow!

And while working on this topic, I did not expect something to happen in this year's dash, right there in the place I used to call home in the Philippines, in Iligan City! December 17 before the break of dawn, many people were roused from their peaceful sleep by rushing water. Flash flood caused by the heavy downpour brought in by Tropical Depression Sendong inundated a wide area in Iligan City as well as in Cagayan de Oro, which is about an hour drive away. This calamitous event was never expected, for these places had rarely been  hit by storms history-wise. And besides, Sendong (international code name - Washi) being designated a Storm Signal 2, with winds gusting around 60 to 100 kilometers per hour (kph), was not as dangerous as many people would imagine.  The continuous downpour of heavy rains which rapidly soaked the denuded areas was blamed for the inland-tsunami-like waters which swept and rampaged thousands of homes and establishments, waking thousands of   people up from their sleeps.  Unfortunately, the same rampaging water unforgivingly drowned hundreds of innocent lives in their sleep. This incident happened just a week before Christmas!

The scene of dead people lined lying like logs on muddy roads, the morning following the inundation, was horrendous and heartbreaking. Included in the fatalities were some of my relatives, and few colleagues at previous work. Many of our friends though they considered themselves lucky for being still alive,  were not spared from the unexpected inundation with murky waters reaching from hip-level to the rooftop. Most of their belongings (household appliances, furnitures, books, etc) were damaged, some of them with only the clothes on their back! For certain, this was not the way they want to celebrate Christmas of 2011!! But it happened! As such, I offer my condolences and deep sympathies to the families and relatives of victims whose lives were lost in the tragedy. I share my hopes and well wishes to relatives, friends and families whose households were damaged, as they start to rebuild their lives again!

This year's dash is highlighted with countless milestones which will surely merit some pages down in the history. And some of these mementoes will continue to shape the future that's been unknowingly stored for us. The year 2011 is almost gone to history but we must be thankful and grateful for what this year had bestowed for us. For they help us make through to the upcoming year, 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The Day My Son Went Under the Knife

December 20, 2011. My wife's cell phone rang. It was 4:00 this morning. A wake up call so to speak! Time to get up and prepare for what could be one of the longest days in our life. My son is scheduled to have a major surgery early this morning!

More than three months ago, my son was complaining about recurrent headaches and neck pains. Then he had numbness on the left side of his body. We thought that his symptoms were just few of the common discomforts sleep-deprivation and probably stressful college life may cause. He is a college sophomore pursuing a degree in journalism. But the doctor in the university he attends did not take any chance. Diagnostic imagings were ordered. The blood vessels around his brain were checked and all seemed normal. No aneurysm (thanks goodness!). His brain MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) images caught the attention of the, I believe, general practice university physician. He was referred to a neurologist. Additional MRI was ordered, this time on his cervical spnal cord. Then I got one of the news I did not want to hear. My son has Chiari Malformation type 1 with syringomyelia!

It was my first time to hear about this disorder. But I can easily understand what it is! Chiari is not a disease. In common terms, his skull is a little bit smaller relative to his brain. So there is a little compression going on in his brain and in particular, it is his cerebellum that is affected. The pressure caused a portion of his cerebellum to come out of the skull by way of the foramen magnum, the big canal which serves as the passageway of the spinal cord from the brainstem. That herniation, the cerebellar tonsils which come our of the hole, might (it can only be speculated) have caused the symptoms he has been having of late. But it could be something else!

It could've been less alarming if our son has only the herniation. The MRI conducted on his cervical spine showed a syrinx inside his spinal cord. A syrinx is a cyst which results from the accumulation of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which normally the CSF should be circulating inside and outside the spinal cord. This poses a major risk, considering the size of syrinx. The neurosurgeon looking at his case recommended an immediate surgeon lest the syrinx may cause permanent damage.

This recent development caused changes in our plans for the winter break. In September, we made flight reservations to visit our aging folks in the Philippines. It's been three years since we last visited them. So all four of us were excited to spend the 2011 Christmas holidays with our loved ones back home. Not anymore! We decided to have this surgery conducted immediately after our son was done with school. And it was only Alison, our daughter, went ahead with the trip!

The thought of surgery sends chills to my spine. With my son undergoing a major surgery, scares me to hell (if hell exists!). For it's not just removing an appendix or a gallstone. He is going to have a brain decompression surgery. A portion of the skull bone that's covering his cerebellum will be removed. Am scared about the risks associated. Am scared about human errors that may do more harm than good to him. I can only hope with modern technology and the expertise of the team working on his surgery, everything will be okay!

At 8:35ish, we were told the surgery started! The procedure would take about 2-3 hours, give or take, the neurosurgeon told us before our son was wheeled in to the operating room. Must be a long wait for us in the waiting room. The wifi available in the waiting area has helped us while away the time. Just like anybody else in the waiting area, we are eager to hear any information about what's going on inside the operating room.

Finally we get the chance to have a brief audience with the neurosurgeon, two-and-a-half hours after. The surgery went well, we were told. A chunk of his skull was removed as well as his cerebellar tonsils. Then it was going to be another two-to-three hours before we could see hear about him again, hopefully, when he wakes up from sedation. But I dont know if we could come close to him. He is expected to be in the intensive care unit (ICU) until his recovery process improves.

The day has gone long, and we're only halfway through yet. I know it's going to be quite a long day for us, but longer for our son as his body has yet to get rid of the anesthetics it received earlier. I know it's going to be a long road to recovery for him. We could only hope he will get a relief from the unpleasant symptoms he had been enduring in the past months along with the recuperation.

We received well-wishes from a lot of people who knew about our son's forthcoming decompression surgery. Prayers inundate the heaven, asking for the intervention of the Great Healer for his safe and rapid recovery. All these were very much appreciated. Your abundant emotional and spiritual support have helped us through this rough time. Thank you so much!