By: Merdeka Pravda

I was diagnosed with diabetes in July of 2001 as doctors tried to save my life.

Weeks before that day, I was rapidly losing weight but I thought it was just because of my extreme schedule. The country was in another upheaval. The media knew no rest. I hardly slept and ate at abnormal hours. I was in denial even as I felt my energy ebb out of me like a punctured water balloon.

Finally, a few days beforer that fateful day, I called in sick and decided to stay home. I felt so weak, so tired, so I decided to sleep it off. And I did, for almost two whole days. Curiously enough, I did not get better. I got worse. I could barely keep awake. My family was worried but my stubborn streak would prevail. Until the 10th of July, when I moved downstairs to lie down on the couch. My memory is fuzzy after that.

I was told, I called my own ambulance. I recall being revived by a blast of air, oxygen. I faintly recall the ambulance siren. Then, blackness.

THREE DAYS AFTER, I woke up. It was an in-and-out-of-consciousness, very much like some scene in a movie. At one instance it was my mother, looking down at me. Then it was my dad, stroking my hair. Then my husband, looking sad. I wondered why they were just looking and no one was saying anything to me. I wondered too, why I wasn’t saying anything to them myself.

Then it was my dad again. I was fully aware of an unbelievable thirst. So I asked for water… Or tried to. All I heard was a croak. My throat hurt so bad. My dad tried to understand me… and eventually he got it, that I wanted water. He was misty eyed as he passed a wet cotton ball on my lips. I needed more… more water. He said, it was all that was allowed. Then I passed out again.

The next time I woke up, the first thing I was aware off was a reflection of a parasol. Violet and Yellow. Then I realized, it was an awning of an ice cream parlor. I looked around… I was in a room that looked like an aquarium. One wall was fully made of glass. There was a male nurse, moving about. Then he went to the foot of the bed, and started to cut my toenails. Weird, I thought.

I looked around some more. Medical equipment. Lots of them. Then, I was aware of a faint beep…beep…beep… I turn around and it’s a heart monitor. Wow. I have never really seen one close up. Then I realized, I was hooked up to it.

Wow.

Why?

I tried to call the attention of the male nurse. Another croak. My throat hurt even more. The nurse approaches me and checks the equipment, check my IV drops. Drops. Oh my God, I had two. On each arm. What the heck? I tried to speak again, but before I could muster up enough strength, the nurse walked out of the room.

So there I was, alone, and it felt like I was just starting to really wake up from a deep deep sleep. I try to shake off the cobwebs in my mind and try to get a clearer grasp of where I am, and why?

I tried to move and what a shock to be aware that I was restrained to the guard rails of my bed. I felt panic welling up inside me, just as the nurse came back in. I thought I was either in some sick nightmare, or I have been abducted and being kept against my will. The nurse probably saw the light back in my eyes because he immediately came to me… trying to soothe me. I motioned to the restraints even as I felt like gagging when I tried to talk.

The nurse told me to calm down, told me I was intubated. I had oxygen tubes up my nose and that I was tethered to the bed because I have pulled out both the gastric tubes and the IV needles several times already, in a state of delirium. He said I was thrashing about…

Shock was an understatement at what I heard.

The nurse talked to me more. He was good. He was obviously well trained. He made sure I was in some state of lucidity and when he was satisfied, he told me he was going to remove my restraints if I promise not to pull anything out. Tears were already falling unbidden from my eyes as I nodded.

He took off my restraints. I saw my arms. They were all bruised, black, blue and yellow. I was trying to find answers in my blank head. Was I in an auto accident? Was I kidnapped? Where was my daughter? Was she ok? Where is everyone? Where was I? Too many questions! I was too weak. I fell back asleep.

When I woke up again, the first thing I was aware of was the beeping sound, so I was able to immediately connect my memory from when I was awake last. There was a different nurse on duty. She greeted me a cheerful good morning. I nodded my head. She proceeded to tell me that my records say I woke up last night. I nodded again. She asked me if I knew were I was. I shook my head. She asked me if I knew what happened to me. I shook my head again.

She told me not to worry. That I was going to be alright. That it was a good day today for me because I woke up.

She explained to me all the monitors and equipment connected to me. I motioned to the tube down my throat. She knew I was so thirsty. She went out of the room and apparently she asked the doctor in charge if my tube can be removed and the doctor said yes. It was an unpleasant experience. She told me to take a long deep breath. So I did, as she pulled the tube out. I underestimated the length of the tube. I was gagging when the tube was halfway out my body. Yuck. Ew. Yuck.

She gave me a nutrition drink. I was so hungry, so thirsty, it was unbelievable. Then I noticed the nurse was smiling.

Thirty minutes later, the doctor came in. She finally gave me answers to my questions.

I was at the intensive care unit of St. Luke’s Medical Center. I have been for three days. I was in a deep coma. My chances for survival was 30%.

What was wrong with me?

I had four conditions. One of which was enough to have killed me.

EXTREMELY HIGH BLOOD SUGAR (off the charts, the meters wouldn’t even give out a number)

KETOACIDOSIS (my breath smelled of acetone)

SEPTICEMIA (my blood was poisoned)

EXTREME DEHYDRATION (my veins on my hand have collapsed and they had to do a cut-down defined by wikipedia as:

Venous cutdown is an emergency procedure in which the vein is exposed surgically and then a cannula is inserted into the vein under direct vision. It is used to get vascular access intrauma and hypovolemic shock patients when peripheral cannulation is difficult or impossible. The saphenous vein is commonly used, but antecubital and femoral vessels are also suitable.)

The doctor said, I was one of their miracles.

Continued on Part 2….

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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.