SERIES 47 THE UNKNOWN PREPARATION After several months of mission work, life continued to be thrilling and exciting. There was no mortality with my surgical cases. If there were deaths, they were medical conditions beyond my control like far-advanced tuberculosis, pneumonia, cerebral malaria, severe malnutrition and other infectious diseases. Other doctors who had been in Mayoyao before could only stay a few months discouraged by the terrible primitive conditions. I lasted much longer than any doctor before. It must have been a God-forsaken place in the consciousness of others but to me—it was a beautiful spot for me. That was a dreamland for me. Mayoyao must be different now after more than forty-four years since I left the place. I heard a government hospital was built in the “poblacion.” There were two doctors employed by the government and they were residents of the locality. This is what I gathered last. The small miniature hospital I used to work had been closed but the buildings are still there. The instruments pilfered. I was turning twenty-nine years of age and my application for residency at Flower Hospital in Ohio, U.S.A. was accepted. My plans to go abroad had been long overdue. I had four months to serve Mayoyao community and I was not renewing my contract. Medical mission work was my craving and to serve the needy gave me an inner satisfaction, of well-being. I felt the pain for those afflicted when the hospital budget was cut. It was a pitiful sight to see patients dressed in their usual G-Strings squeezed out from their woven native-made wallet their last peso bill so they could pay. Patients sometimes paid in kind: a chicken, a piglet, a cow for major operations. I could afford to buy them so I took the payments in kind and raised the poultry. I built pig pens and had two cows moving the lower grounds behind my quarter. We could not afford to give them too much charity. People abused this and we felt it. This is the reason the Church cut the budget. Everything was not meant to be free. They understood this. Nevertheless, unknown events started to formulate against my future dreams. One day, I attended a conference in Manila. When I came back from Manila via Bontoc, a pharmaceutical sales representative introduced me to a pretty new graduate, Nellie Abeya, who was helping at the Bontoc Provincial Hospital. She was waiting for her Nursing Board result. I told her we needed another nurse in the hospital in Mayoyao and if she could work in our place that would be great! When I met Nellie the second time, my heart and soul fell for her. The Cupid’s dart she held pierced my heart. We got married in three months in her home town, Sagada, Bontoc, 120 kilometers away from Mayoyao. It was one of the biggest wedding celebrations in that town. The whole community was there and some folks from neighboring town of Besao were there too. There were a total of five thousand guests, at least, I was told. I realized then that the poultry, pigs, and cows I was intending to sell for my ticket to the United States turned out to feed a multitude in Sagada during our wedding day. I had that feeling afterwards that all those animals I raised was a preparation for this event. We went to Baguio City then supposedly proceed to Manila for our honeymoon for two weeks. However, while we were in Baguio City on our second day of honeymoon, we received a Telegram from the hospital administrator begging us to go back as there were emergency cases. They did not want to be referred to other hospitals. Back to work again! To me, it was a great pleasure to return to my task. The interruption of our honeymoon did not matter much. I adored the environment and the place was an excellent place for a honeymoon the whole year round. The beauty of nature can be appreciated from the hospital ground, near and far. The Philippine Jaycees built this 12-bed hospital in the 50’s. It had complete surgical and dental facilities. It was located from a leveled mountaintop flattened by manual labor. The location was five hundred meters above the town proper known as the “poblacion.” The town folk called the hospital building as “the hospital above the clouds.” Clouds covered the area occasionally and the setting would make one see the hospital sitting on the clouds. The scenery and grandeur of the rice terraces, was more beautiful that those in Banaue. Tourists could not go there because of the rugged terrain and frightening road condition. The inhabitants were friendly as anywhere else, as long one was not arrogant. There was no hotel where tourists could stay overnight. Though the hospital had a capacity for twelve beds, yet during epidemics it could accommodate thirty. Patients slept on the hallway. Sometimes the patients slept without a bed but on a locally made floor mat. Nellie and I decided to stay a few more months in Mayoyao. I had been there for 18 months already. According to my friend, the Mayor of Mayoyao, I was the only physician who had stayed the longest in that place at that time The hospital board looked for a replacement. My plan for further specialization abroad did not materialize. Maybe after another year it might come true. There was still hope dwindling in me. Deep in my heart I found solace in the jungles. I really did not want to leave the place as I felt for the people and I had satisfaction in my sacrifice. However, changes happened beyond my dreams and expectations. Change of the working environment was always sad difficult. My dear heart was restless and seeking a path unseen. What was the future for my family and me? My wife was already pregnant with our first child. I asked myself and my mind found the answer… “To accept things I cannot change.” Before my term ended, I was offered a challenging position as Medical Director and Administrator of St. Theodore Hospital in Sagada, Bontoc province. This was a 45-bed hospital with its seven out-stations. These clinics were manned by nurses. They were located in different areas of mountain provinces. After a careful study, I accepted the offer. There were two doctors. I did not have to be on call seven days a week. This was great! It was another challenge I met with delight. In another four months, April 1968, I would be in another mission.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:02:46 +0000
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