Living, leaving

By Al S. Mendoza

MY WIFE’S TWO SISTERS have arrived from America. Ofel J. Magturo had flown in from Los Angeles, California, Ching J. Fernandez Phoenix, Arizona.

The reason for the sudden homeward trip is, well, their mother.

No, their mother isn’t sick.  She herself keeps saying, “No, I’m not sick. I just feel sleepy all the time.”

Upon learning of Nanay Alud’s sudden habit of sleeping mostly all day the past four weeks or so, Ofel and Ching decided to come home, foregoing usual plans to jet home this December.  In exchange, they paid rather exorbitant penalties for flight rebooking fees.

        But at the sight of Ofel – and then Ching – Nanay Alud (Salud) suddenly changed sleeping patterns.

“I hate sleeping,” Nanay Alud keeps saying these days.

At 95, Nanay Alud is in the pink of health.  Her blood pressure measures regularly at 110/70.  She has a virtual 20/20 vision. She eats three normal meals a day. Her blood sugar is normal.

She’s lucid, can engage you in an educated conversation even at 3 in the morning.

But she’s hard of hearing, which she refuses to admit.

One time, we offered to buy her a hearing aid.

She got angry. 

“Are you crazy?” she bawled at us. “I am not deaf!”

“We know that, Nanay,” my wife said, craning her neck to put her lips close to Nanay Alud’s ear.  “But..

“What did you say?” she said.  “There’s no anay in this house or I’ll sue Mapecon for insufficiency of pesticide treatment.”

Time has withered her skin, slowed down her reflexes and bent her bones and knees.  But she refuses to surrender, dreads staying in bed and loves “wheelchairing” around the house and the front porch.

Nanay Alud will turn 96 on Dec. 1.  A big bash is in the offing for her.

The case of Jake P. Ayson’s father, Apung Fidel, is different.

Apung Fidel, 90, is bed-ridden. By choice, he refuses to get up. Although still strong and capable, he has totally abandoned walking around the neighborhood in the morning.

“He just suddenly called it quits,” Jake said.  “He is not sick, he simply surrendered.”

I saw Apung Fidel, handsome and looking sixtyish, in bed last week, in his home in Angeles City.  Because he refuses to eat, a hose has been inserted in his nose for liquid food to pass through to keep him alive. 

Apung Fidel’s wife, Blanca, whom we called Ima, died two years ago. Old age. 

Two weeks after Ima’s internment on July 21, 2005, Apung Fidel started losing his appetite   for food – then his appetite for life.  He now sleeps most of the time. 

Is death just around the corner for Apung Fidel?

“We are all resigned to that,” Jake said.

Although we live on borrowed time, we are what we choose.  Only God can make the final choice.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/ Readers may reach columnist at also147@yahoo.com . For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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