By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

AFTER more than 69 years filling up the pages of Punchline, started by my father in 1956, I find the need to pause, not to end,  possibly to reset, and hopefully give it more purpose.

This could be the reason why our Heavenly Creator deliberately stalled my mind last week, brought me down to my knees to bring myself to a long, long overdue medical check-up. Perhaps I was too proud to accept, some three years ago, that my health was not at its peak, so He decided to ask Dr. Efren Jovellanos to direct me to get my PSA test.

PSA test? I must confess that I was not very keen about such a test, so I readily complied and went to the laboratory department of Nazareth General Hospital.  Within the day, I got the results, and I honestly thought I passed the test with honors. My PSA test “100+! I never earned a 100 grade on any test at any time during my college days.  So, I cheerily went back to Dr. Jovellanos to give him the 100 PSA test result, but I was met with a grim look and was directed to see a urologist. That had to be Dr. Roy Serrano.

And what did sympathetic Dr. Serrano have to say? I should go see an oncologist because it’s an indication that I have prostate cancer.  He suggested an oral medicine to help my case temporarily.

I set off to see Mr. MBZ, a friend at the BGC who hosts our weekly fellowship lunch and who I knew was the vice chairman of St. Luke’s Medical Center. He called the chief of the Urologist Department, also the hospital’s executive VP at the time, to set me up for an appointment asap. So, I knew I had to go to that appointment.

At his EVP office, Dr. Dennis Serrano gave me the rundown after he gave me the usual rectal inspection. “Mr. Garcia, you have Stage 4 Cancer and please get a validating test in our lab for our records.” He set me off to my first PET scan, CT scan, biopsy…etc.

That was it. Will I die soon? What will happen to my Sunday Punch?

A 3-day talk with Julie Ann, our online administrator, sobered me up. We would keep my health situation a secret from the staff for as long as possible, and continue to set deadline assignments as usual.  That was three years ago.

Well, that day of planned revelation came, but not as I had planned it with the staff. I never had a chance to plan the meeting with the staff. I guess I waited too long. My body was already experiencing an imbalance before our all-around ‘Friday-Girl’ Julie Ann could call for a meeting.

And I sincerely apologize to my staff for this awkward situation when I should have discussed my situation personally and what our pending moving-on plans are with them. I will still be the editor-publisher, but crankier. Hehe. Our age still entitles us to that. Isn’t that right, Ding?

So, I will have to cancel my scheduled podcasts on Monday, too. My ‘pause‘ ends here. A rebooted Punchline starts next week.

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