It all started one Monday night. During our cell meeting, I felt aches ripple through my body. Earlier that morning my throat had started itching. When I got home I felt worse. I awoke the next morning groggy, everything was spinning. “Need ug bantay ni mama unya. Naa ko’y ilakaw…

Whenever I got sick as a kid, my mother would make a simple medicine concoction. She would crush a half of Biogesic in a spoon. To neutralize its bitterness, a teaspoon of sugar would be added. To make it easier to swallow, the dry ingredients would be dissolved by adding…

One thing I noticed about Filipinos is how much we value Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, indeed. We forget all the hardships and challenges we have faced in the previous months. In December, our resiliency is on a different high. We temporarily forget those who have…

I didn’t know if my mother celebrating Christmas at home helped with her condition, because she grew weaker in the following days. This was not the result we wanted. But honestly, it was something I feared would happen after her premature release from PGH — my mother going back, and…

During one afternoon class Fritzie, my seatmate during 3rd year high school, handed me her Nokia phone and told me that my mother had responded to a text I sent earlier. Hoping to receive good news from my family in Pasay, I took Fritzie’s phone and opened the message. …

My mother, being the friendly person that she was, had made a handful of friends while she was confined in PGH. Amidst the stench of death across the ward, a sweet scent of humanity persisted. After all, we are all social beings, despite our physical afflictions. …

When I came back from my book haul at Booksale, not much had changed — my mother was still lying on a metal bed along the corridor outside the ER. This would continue until the next day. That night, the NGT was removed. Around 11 AM the next day, I…

How does it feel to have no full control over your body? How does it feel to realize that you can only do so much? You may try to eat healthy or avoid stressful situations. But that’s just it. How does it feel to realize that your body has turned…

Finally, after a couple of hours procrastinating, I left and went to PGH. Because we were allowed to leave earlier for work, I clocked out around 5 PM. The walk from the office to the jeepney stop-over felt like a journey. Time stood still. My bag grew heavier by each…