“Diagnosis: Dengue Fever & Pneumonia, Part 2.”
I had rushed my asawa to the Provincial Hospital in Guimaras where we received the grim news. My wife had a case of dengue fever and pneumonia. Her white blood platelet count was dangerously low, 106, with 150 being the normal range. The physician on duty advised us that my spouse could be at risk for internal bleeding due to the dengue.
It’s hard to beat a cold bottle of San Mig while relaxing at a beautiful beach resort in the Philippines.
9:15 pm Monday. I was already in bed trying to get to sleep. My asawa and our helper, Mera, were upstairs watching a Filipino soap opera. Suddenly I heard a loud explosion! Lights out! Everything went black a split second after the boom. Transformer blew. Heard that sound many times in my almost six years of living in “paradise,” the Philippines.
Philippines Super Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) gains strength and is now heading towards Eastern Visayas according to a report from ABS-CBN News and Yahoo! News Philippines. Guimaras, the island province headquarters of this website, Philippines Plus, is located in Western Visayas and will likely face hazardous weather conditions as a result of this super storm which is now packing winds gusting up to 250 kph (over 60 miles an hour for those Yanks out there.)
Graphic Source: Yahoo! News Philippines
Lolo has finished his nightly prayers. I’m on the living room couch. It’s 11 pm, Easter Sunday. Mosquitoes are buzzing me like unmanned drones over Afghanistan searching for Taliban militia. My asawa is stationed in the nipa hut located in the front yard of her home in Guimaras. She’s keeping a watchful eye on her tatay (father) who has become very delusional.
(The intervention crew, from left to right: My lovely asawa, Lolo, Cousin Emma, Cousin Roberto)