Lunes, Mayo 14, 2018

Against All Odds,Granny Eying



                                                  
                              
                              


              Against All Odds,Granny Eying

 She was born on March 29, 1933 in a remote area, near the open shores of Lala, Lanao del Norte to a striving couple. She didn’t know where her mother got her name but out of curiosity, it was of German origin and it meant famed and shining. In her younger years according to folks, she was famous in doing lead roles in a musicale show in the locale and other neighboring  places. In her love  story, her powerful and siren-toned voice  lured the thirty-two years old widower who happened to witness one of her plays. She was sixteen year-old then. In  her tales to her grandchildren, she told them from that time on, Francisco never lost sight of her which made the young children burst into laughter. In almost all of her songs, Francisco accompanied her with his peculiar stroke of playing the guitar and soothing musical blending. His very manly figure attracted her much, though he was almost twice of her age.  Ricardo, her father, had high hopes and dreams of her being the eldest of  the eight siblings, so he got his long heavy cutter to drive off her suitor but she went away with him. They eloped for quite a long time.
          
                            They went back to her hometown after giving birth to Gabriel, the eldest of her children. The first grandchild made  the arms of her parents embraced them  with a joy of welcoming. They started to build a home for a big family. Lucio came blissfully to the family. Then Gloria, Alijandro, Francisco Jr.,Rufino,  Adolfo, and Judith had their historical entrances to the family stage where she and her husband bitterly played. Gabriel at fourteen ended his life due to severe diarrhea. At a young age, losing the first-born was metaphorically a loss of herself. She had little knowledge of  household responsibility, but seeing her children she thought that there was a great role to perform. At times, she could even make little grudges with her stepchildren who were of or almost her age.

                                  Francisco tried to make a living out of  the mean catch from his net fishing. She then sold a pail or two of  a variety of fishes in the neighbourhood. The family moved from place to place searching for a better life from fishing , farming, and other small businesses. Migration made the children lost the opportunity to go to school. She could vividly trace an account upon his arrival from selling fish and some root crops, their house was flamed into ashes. She then searched her brood and found them in her neighbors’ keeping. The boys were just primary graders, Gloria had her seventh grade, only Judith pursued and finished college. She brought them to Sunday church but none of them followed her affiliation.

                        Almost every night before resting, Francisco would then get his guitar. Upon hearing the strums, her children gathered around as she beckoned them to join in the family’s recital. Until her children grew up and had families of their own, music kept them intact. She was proud that all of her offspring grew up with the passion in singing, genetically from her veins. The boys were passionate also in basketball. She could still trace an instance where she almost slap the face of a fan over a mockery while watching a championship game. Whenever there was a gathering in their simple abode, Francisco Jr. would lead his siblings to sing their favorites. She sang soberly on Francisco’s wake with their theme song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”. Her husband died at eighty of severe pneumonia, since at old age he still made sacrifices out of a miserable life. He was well-remembered by his line, ”Those who sacrifice and persevere shall be saved.” He got his wisdom from his reading in their church weekly pamphlets and magazines about  the church doctrines.

                           Even when her children were already married, mostly when they became weary, they would come to her  house and stay overnight for a motherly care she could only offer to them. When the wife of  Junior left him for another man, she held her tightly in her arms and willingly adopted his children in her home. They stayed together until the last breath of  her guitar man son. She kept herself busy until old  age. She wove palm leaves for roof thatch, made broomsticks, did some preaching, jammed with her grandchildren in their karaoke jams, and most of all, watched(babysitting) over the little ones.

                                 Granny Eying, as people are fond of calling her is now enjoying her 85 years. On a toss of a medicinal wine, she loves to jam classic, folk, mellow, pop music with her twenty six grandchildren and the fast growing number of grand and great grand stepchildren. She remains a lively talker, an efficient palm weaver, a tuba(fermented from coco juice) drinker, a careful nanny, and a legendary singer of her time.

                           




Biyernes, Abril 20, 2018

Behind the Sweet Smile is a Multiple Valvular Cardiomegaly


  •  Marynell  Lou Solidum Donauto
  • Diagnosed at age 19 with multiple valvular heart disease,she is now 34.
  • Believed to get worse 2 years after the diagnosis.
  • She had attacks but survived.
  • Cardiologists offered  open heart surgery for a number of times but her family could not afford.
  • Complications(severe asthma,severe pneumonia. and cardiomegaly) recur unpredictably every year.
  • Lately,she almost collapsed due to oxygen loss.
  • Had been predicted to have a short span of life but her faith in the Lord has saved her not just once but a number of times.
  • Bypass heart surgery is again an option for a longer life but over a million cost is another option to consider.
  • She has dreams__a happy family of her own, a healthier and longer life, a hopeful future.
  • Due to financial constraint,God is her source of strength whether she may or not undergo surgery.








Miyerkules, Abril 11, 2018

Hello






                                        Frans Aldrew or Adi is a child who needs special care.
                                        He is twelve years old but developmentally acts like a two-iear-old boy.

My Very Special Child




               My Very Special Child
                    (A Special Diary)
At the dawn of November 22, 2005 at exactly 4;45 a.m., he   came into this world with a chance of zero probability. At 1.95 pounds, Adi was placed in an incubator filled with medical apparatus  which covered most of his body, that almost shattered my hopes upon seeing my four- day- old first-born. He could not even suck the colostrum he needed for those lips were so little to open for a  breastfeed. Instead, he was managed to feed on a dropper. Since the time I met him, a single  moment of my existence was a  contemplation of prayers in sobbing. No tear missed whenever his father and I gazed at him in the angelic corner of the nursery room. No sound of him was heard among his noisy crowd, only murmurs of cardiomegaly. He was pale, immobile, timid, unclosed fists, believed to have Edward’s Syndrome. I wanted to research about it but I was afraid of the truth of any discovery, so better  be ignorant. He needed to see his pedia in a weekly routine. Each meeting was a surprise for it enabled us to perceive a new if not another disability. His new born screening result was normal, but  his weight stagnated until the fourth month, so he needed to undergo different lab tests_ CT Scan, ultrasound, x-ray, and a number of blood sampling. To my surprise, chromosomal test was normal.
He was a hospital-friendly baby. It was not ordinary for a month that he failed to lay down in the hospital crib! Watching him grew ill each day put me into kneeling that words for prayers became a litany of thanking, asking, and begging moment by moment, time to time, day by day up to when I could no longer say those words but scribbled them on while pleading. ”God, You shouldn’t have been permitted my vows if the sacrifices would be done unto my child!
No focus, no motor progress, no talking, very slender, but sensitive. Never heard him crying only tears flowing on a saintly looking sad face. I thought I was financially unstable but       getting    along the fees of these pedias_ cardiologist, hematologist, neurologist, pulmonologist           internist plus  physical therapist, radiologist among others, their expertise made me realized my son had brought me blessings. 
At two years old, he tried to sit on his own and made it. At three, he did not walk on foot but made crawling. At four, he managed to grasp on his crib’s braces until he was able to stand on countless attempts, at last he made it. This had put me into kneeling again with arms widely open upward, ”God, am sorry for my worthless pleas, may I take back what I have been said and done, I beg You to bestow on me for a long time my son! Thank You for the joy he could only fill unto my heart. Please!”
I named him after his grandfathers_ my father Francisco and my hubby’s father Alijandro_ so he got Frans Aldrew, Adi by nickname. His father never missed a grand celeb of his birthday as the family’s thanksgiving for a blissful year having Adi around. The children's birthday songs and greetings were  accounted for a sprouting bud of life__a miracle.His developmental doctor rated his disability at age 10 he was just 1 year and 8 month-old. Whenever he was confined in the hospital, he was so loved by the doctors and the nurses for they could not find any tantrum over their treatment to him. He willingly gave his arm with a congenial gesture, rarest case among his group, medically evaluated. In SPED schools, teachers were amazed of his sweetness, friendliness, and generosity. At home, he had the most hospitable job_ to welcome the visitors with a waving “hi”, to offer them snacks or to lead them to the dining table, and most importantly to hand a mic for a karaoke jam.

As I watch Adi growing strong, sociable, religious, and worthy I could proudly say, “God, I am the most loved and blessed mother bestowed to a son like Adi.”His cardiologist who once predicted him to last only for two years or to any other medical diagnosis he was proven of or might have, my heart strongly believes in faith that God is the only Healer.    

Adi is now 12 years old and is actively participating in SPED activities. “Tutu” is his innate word for sorry, thank you, and I love you. To God be the Glory!


Mama Judith
(February 20,2018)

Martes, Abril 10, 2018

Mask

Characters are  reversible masks
👨😈💖❤👩👲💑💘💜💞💓💟;
 All yours to wear;
What fits you,
Accounts your blessing.

-frans aldrew

Linggo, Abril 8, 2018

My First-born Adi

Adi came into this world with almost zero probability to survive.A moment of prayers became a litany of praising,gratifying,begging and pleading before God for Adi to live another minute, another hour,another day.He was a sculpture of hopelessness embedded on a thin,pale,innocent face. The family's excitement to a first-born was shadowed with hues of a dark-gray facade of sighing and sobbing.Unexpected words of regrets and disbelief just came out in the rosary of prayers. Heart-throbbing days were over, he laid  very tranquil in a noisy nursery corner that only palpitations of divergent anomalies were his constant sound for weeks.Utterances could no longer be heard from a first-time mother,only traces of tears.Contemplating was a diary of asking forgiveness with hope that the merciful God would add more months of his unpredictable existence.
Frans Aldrew or Adi,was diagnosed of contrasting congenital anomalies,was predicted to have a life span not beyond 2 years old,who made a hospital a second home.But he was a survivor,he is our miracle and is continuously receiving God's graces. He is now 12 years old and is actively participating in SPED activities.To GOD be the Great Glory!