Circle of Life

The life of man is really interesting.

You start as a baby, oblivious to the realities of life, can barely walk, can't intelligibly speak and really needs nurturing.

As soon as the man grows up, given the proper care and nutrition; he could speak clearly, can now walk or even run.

Fast forward to a man in the latter stages of his life. He goes back to phase 1. He can barely walk, can't speak and hear well and would find difficulty walking around.

I saw this first-hand when I personally took care of my 57-year old uncle during my Christmas break. 

He has undergone numerous surgeries a year ago. He had a brain surgery to remove the water which is accumulating in his brain. He stayed in the ICU for almost a month. He couldn't speak after the operation because he also had a surgery in his throat to clear the passage of air and phlegm. 

It was painful to see him that way knowing that during the prime of his years, he was stocky big fellow. He loves to shares stories, he loves to joke around. You could recognize his voice when you are inside the room even with a lot of people because he has a booming voice. The kind of voice that would let you sit back and listen to. I rarely saw him sad. The one event when I saw him sad was when his wife, Auntie Nora, succumbed to stage IV breast cancer.

He tried to go back to work as the MTC Clerk of Court in Baguio as early as June of this year. He walks around the office with a cane. His hearing was a little off because of all the medications he has to take. The doctors told him that it was the natural side-effect. He can now speak. Though, he could no longer drive, he has his trusted aide to drive him to work.

I thought his recovery would go smoothly as possible. 

For some reasons I wouldn't know, he basically became deaf. Even with 2 state of the art hearing aids couldn't help his hearing. He could no longer walk even with the cane or walker.

Hope he could still recover his hearing this year and regain his mobility. Or just his hearing. We could only communicate to him through writing in a white board. I hope this will happen the next time I see him.

As I go back to Manila because our Christmas Break is about to end, I bid goodbye to him and he high-fived me. 

That is the most touching High-Five I ever got in my life.