The heart of the matter

Luzie arrived last week with Sybil for a series of concerts for Ayala Malls. In between that, we had to take care of Nerissa, she needed an angiogram for her congenital heart disease. In the next couple of evenings, I dashed straight to the Philippine Heart Center right after work.

Yesterday.

I couldn't get off work, so Luzie had to be the one to check Nerissa into the hospital. I had the admitting papers with me, so during lunchtime I took my umbrella and walked all the way to the Mandarin Oriental where she was. On the way there, I sent her a message asking if she had any food in there. I didn't have enough time to grab lunch.

To get to the hotel, I jaywalked Makati Avenue. I slipped through the steel fences in the island. When I got to Luzie's room, the admitting papers were nowhere to be found. I called the office, but it wasn't there. Luzie and I just agreed that I would return to the office, and she would stop by later on her way back from a meeting and I'd run down and hand it to her while she waited in her cab.

I finished the club sandwich, which I thought was ridiculously priced at four hundred something. Luzie said that was life, those were the prices. She left for her meeting, I finished lunch, and jaywalked again across the highway like a crazy frog.

There.

In the middle of the island, sitting right in the middle of the grass and ornamentals, were the admitting papers. Probably got snagged by the railings out of my pocket when I slipped through before. It hit me that it could have been blown away by the wind, or swept away by the cleaners.

But it wasn't. It stayed there, where I found it, where I picked it right back up.

I sent Luzie a message that I left the papers with the concierge. After work, I visited Nerissa at the Heart Center, Room 324. She was there with Jane, my mom, her mom, and Paya (a younger cousin of ours).

They appeared to be enjoying the stay, much like the tour of hotels they get when Luzie is in town.

About how we came to find out about Nerissa's condition.

Luzie was here last February for a series of concerts for America at the NBC Tent, which I saw with my cousin JR. She was worried that Nerissa and Jane were thinner than the last time she saw them, so she somehow tracked down the pediatrician that looked after us when we were kids.

She went back to California and asked me to take care of the follow-on check-ups, where it was found out by Dr. Encarnacion that Nerissa had congenital heart disease. A blood vessel to the heart that closed by itself after birth had somehow remained open, and had to be closed. Couple that with finding out that Jane had primary complex, tuberculosis prevalent among children. I had that when I was younger.

So between that time and now, I started work in Salcedo Village Makati running US firms affiliated with Kelly Kampen. I slept about four to six hours every weekday, and on weekends visit my family and try to keep all my apples and oranges in the air.

What I especially liked about my work was that I could actually write while in the office.

People would be hearing more frequently from me from then on.