What happened last Thursday reminded me of the fragility of life...
Of how things could easily change in just a few minutes.
It was already past 6 PM when we decided to go to Balasan, at first, my brother only wanted to go to a vulcanizing shop, in a different barangay, just a few minutes away from us. But then, my mother said she wanted to tag along as well, and then my brother asked me if I wanted to accompany them too. At first, I didn't want to because I knew I need to rest, we had a scheduled meet-up with a friend of our older brother, going back to the States. But then, I don't know why, but I decided, I'd go with them.
So we left, at first we passed by the vulcanizing shop, and got the tires checked, then we went to Balasan, he went inside the supermart to buy some groceries, I didn't go with him because I was only wearing pambahay, and refused to be seen in public.
Then we went to Andok's, he got out to buy food, and when he got in, I asked him if he also bought me food, because earlier I said I wasn't hungry, then changed my mind, and Mama also said she wanted to have some as well, this was when he was doing a U-turn, and he got irritated because we didn't tell him beforehand that we wanted to eat as well, he parked the car, across Andok's, before he got out of the car, he said to us, "daw ma high-blood man ko sainyo ah!". But he went out and bought us what we wanted anyway. Then he got back inside the car, I was looking outside, and heard Mama asking him what was wrong, and I looked over, she was trying to pull his leg out of out because at first, she thought his leg just got stuck, then he started convulsing, and he could no longer move his limbs, they went frigid, I was trying to reach his seatbelt to unplug it, then he turned his head at me, and he screamed my name, his eyes were pleading, and that's when his mouth started frothing, his lips went blue and his eyes rolled back, then he lost consciousness. I was frantic, and Mama was distraught, at that time, I was aware that I was scared, but didn't entertain the feeling of it, then I started calling for help because we were in a different town, and I didn't know their Responder's number, I got out of the car and asked the lady's help if they could contact their ambulance, and she didn't know, thankfully, her kid volunteered to get help and people across started noticing how frantic we were. They helped us until their patrol car arrived. My brother regained consciousness, he was unconscious for 5 minutes, and even after regaining consciousness he was disoriented, he still couldn't move his body. And last Friday, we had to go to the city to look for a neurologist, and yesterday he had his EEG and bought the meds that were prescribed to him.
Thinking back, I'm grateful that it didn't happen while he was crossing the street, nor when he was already driving. What would've happened if we didn't ask him to go back to Andok's to buy us food, he would've been driving and we were in the car with him, also when I was outside talking with some of the people, while the others are helping Mama and my brother, I noticed the vehicles passing by and most of them are trucks. Like massive ones, if we didn't ask him to go back, we would be in the middle of the road, possibly with no other people to help us.
I am truly grateful to the people in Balasan, they didn't think twice about helping us. Even the Barangay tanods and the police officers who drove the car to the hospital (I'm not very good at driving). Also, the staff in Malbog, even though it took them a while to attend to us, it was understandable, and of course, the doctors and nurses in Mission Hospital in Iloilo City.
Lastly, I am grateful my brother is alive, and that we were guided. Regardless of what you believe in, I'm just glad that someone out there is looking out for us.
Life, should never be taken for granted. And so is your health and well-being
