(Editor’s note: I’m still lucky with atypical pneumonia. A small portion of politicians’ “pork” can build evacuation centers,  as noted by the author.)

MANILA, Philippines — Keeping it a secret won’t help others – about my atypical pneumonia – the kind that affects both lungs and skeletal frame. This is one hospital ailment only a big X-ray machine can tell, to be read by a hospital specialist in chest diseases.

Cough and fever

When I left Manila for a vacation in my hometown last September 20, I was coughing and running a fever. Walking from the pre-departure area to the plane was quite an ordeal. My wife Linda, said before the flight that I should see doctors at my suki – Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (OLLH). I overruled her and said something like “it’s only a cough with a fever of 38°C.”

Between bad and worse

In my hometown, my health was between bad and worse. On September 24, after leaving NAIA II, my wife and I agreed to visit the ER (emergency room) of OLLH. Tests for vital signs were applied to me. One bad sign was my chest X-ray that showed atypical pneumonia (and worser than this is called pneu-money).

My four doctors

ER advised me to stay at OLLH for as long as needed and called my four MDs: Ross F. Sese (internal medicine), Isabelo Ongtengco (cardiology), Enrico Veloso (nephrology), and Daniel Tan (pulmonology).

Dr. Sese came home from Beijing (Sunday) and examined me the following Monday. Dr. Ongtengco heard my story – extreme hardship from shortness of breath. After Dr. Sese came Dr. Veloso who said that the test showed my kidney was okay.

Wasn’t okay for me

But I was not okay and felt it. In my room there was an IV (intravenous) tube above my chest. Full meal was served but tasteless – without fat and salt that I enjoyed for decades from high school up.

And the fourth to examine me was Dr. Tan who stood 5’10” tall. He said my kind of pneumonia was rare, but my immediate medication was working fast enough and still in full throttle.

Fever and BP

On the fourth day, my fever was gone. According to Dr. Sese my BP was 130/70 and he started counting the end of my confinement. As I write this article (Sept. 30) Dr. Ongtengco asked for my 2-D Echo with findings that resembled a magician’s incantation, but not a cause for worry.

Defying vaccine

Dr. Tan explained my atypical pneumonia is a kind that defied my vaccine given by Dr. Sese. Then he talked about Winston S. Churchill, my favorite hero, and the irony or absurdity in his life. Winston’s father, Lord Randolph, once saved a boy from drowning and he helped the boy graduate as M.D. Years later, politician Churchill was suddenly taken ill.  The boy his father helped through college became his personal doctor.

‘Pork’ to build evacuees’ center

When a storm crosses the country (some 20 of them yearly), we see people clinging for dear life and running toward a public building (mostly schools).  LGUs in Northern Luzon and the Bicol Region cannot afford to build permanent centers for evacuees who badly need temporary shelter for two or three days.

Two more coming

This month “Pedring” lashed the extreme north of Luzon down to NCR with strong winds and heavy rains. Two more storms were tracked by PAGASA, “Quiel” and “Ramon.” They’re forecast to hit the country in the next few days.

Café council

Two or three members of our Café Council have practical and lasting solutions: Ask the congressmen to contribute 15% or P10.5 M from their pork of R70 M each yearly.

This concept of an evacuation center made of concrete, steel and wood can be likened to a rowhouse with the following features:  1)  20 rooms measuring five meters by nine meters (45 sq m) each, 2) elevated flooring (about two feet high) made of wood or thick bamboo slats, 3) partition between rooms made of plywood, 4) GI roofing, 5) two restrooms measuring three m by six m, and 6) long hallway three m wide for a total of 900 sq m for one rowhouse.

Second to none in importance

Each room can shelter 40, including children, for a total of 800 evacuees, with an empty hallway for food, cooking, etc.  “Pork” for some congressmen is spent for development of the province/district. The evacuation center is second to none in importance in communities that regularly suffer from storms. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).