Composed, Unruffled

Sunday, 16 September 2007. A year ago, two days off the exact date, our daughter Yam was admitted at the Asian Hospital where she had bone marrow transplant. Today, she is discharged from the San Pedro Hospital, Davao City and immediately flies off with Mom and Dad to Manila to be admitted at the Asian Hospital. Again!!!

For 13 days, she was confined and treated at San Pedro for fever and weakness due to depressed blood counts. But the real cause can not be ascertained after several and repeated laboratory tests, and two blood cultures. On the course of hospitalization, she had mouth sores and intermittent fever attributed to fungal and possibly bacterial infection. Medications were focused to control both but the viral aspect needed specific information. Suspicion is rife that the cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the culprit. But the test for this dangerous virus for immuno-compromised patients like Yam must be done within an hour of extraction. And such test was not available in Davao City.

Looking back, Yam had a successful bone marrow transplant on September 25 last year. She had an amazing comeback, engrafting in 12 days, getting out of the hospital in 35 days and being allowed to fly back to Davao prior to the critical 100 days post-transplant. She had an imbalance that manifested in involuntary muscle contraction in February and was medically cleared to go back to school in June. She then had a mild set back due to hives in July, a week of bacterial infection in early August, and then this 13-day hospitalization. Each setback episode was invariably preceded by a somewhat hectic schedule of activities which could have exposed her to an infectious environment under a stressful condition.

Always a fighter, Yam gathered her strength to enjoy the trip to Manila. Dad had to make arrangements with airport management for her to bypass normal passenger protocol and given the necessary assistance as a medical patient. Yam’s physician at Asian Hospital, Dr. Francis Lopez, personally arranged for her hospital admission upon arrival on a Sunday. Her Kuya Joseph was at the airport to meet us upon arrival.

Upon seeing the Asian Hospital’s distinct façade from afar, she displayed feelings of nostalgia. We breezed through admission, and then were assisted to Room 813, which is directly above Room 713 where Yam stayed for more than a month last year. Both rooms are fitted with a special ventilation system and an ante-room for bone marrow transplant patients, with the amenities of a five-star hotel. She went around the room, looking for familiar details, tried out the automated mechanisms of her bed, pointed to the built-in medical accessories, then lied down to wait for her nurse. In a few minutes, a couple of nurses came over with one so familiar that she blurted out Yam’s name immediately. The place seemed like a home to Yam as she identified with it quite intimately. But behind the comfort of the place, I would exchange this with the tough and adventurous home I’ve known from childhood - if only because of the health condition attached to the former.

Before sunset, Dr. Allan Racho, Yam’s pediatrician visited. He had comforting words – that Yam doesn’t appear toxic and her vital signs appear normal, except for the persistently depressed blood counts.

Overall, we feel composed and unruffled. Times like this repeatedly test our priorities. And indelibly cement into our psyche the things that really matter to us.