In keeping with the age-old tradition of All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2), let me reprise this article I wrote on Dec. 29, 2002 published in StarLife Sunday of the Visayan Daily Star.
Although the protagonist of my article, Dr. Maria Teresita “Tessie” Sy-Sinda, who used to be my superior in the university and my former graduate school professor, has crossed over to the Great Beyond a few years ago, her story of courage, firmness, faith, and the unwavering will to live is one that we can get strength from as we pay homage and remember always our loved ones, who just went ahead to pave the way for God’s appointed time when we can be reunited.
In July 1999, Tessie suffered a heart attack. Being a registered nurse by profession, she wasted no time to have an angiogram at the Cebu Doctors Hospital, all the while thinking there wouldn’t be any need for invasive surgery. But, her cardiologist thought otherwise. She was recommended to undergo open heart surgery or a heart bypass operation. The high-risk operation was performed on Tessie in September 1999.
“I had six clogged cardiac coronaries, the highest in Negros Oriental,” she said with a smile.
Hardly had the family recovered from the anxiety and the financial drain of her heart bypass, coughing up P600,000 for a 10-day package at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Manila, not to mention another six weeks of cardiac rehabilitation, when she had to undergo a cardiac stent exactly a year after. The doctors had to correct one cardiac coronary which was again clogged. Although she stayed at St. Luke’s for a couple of days for the stent, the procedure still amounted to roughly P400,000.
After a one-semester leave, being the workaholic that she had always been, Tessie became the Dean of the Silliman University College of Nursing, a position she vacated when she became Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
Everything went normally for Tessie until that fateful Sunday morning of January 13, 2002. In three days, on the feast of the Santo Niño, she would be celebrating her birthday. She recalled: “We were preparing to go to church when suddenly, I felt an intense, stabbing pain on my left flank, the kidney part of our back. The pain would not go away, settling on my groin and I was perspiring heavily. So, I asked my husband to bring me to the Medical Center.”
Owing to her background as a nurse, it was Tessie herself who gave instructions to the medical personnel and decided what would be best for her.
“At the emergency room, I was diagnosed as having acute pyelonephritis. I wasn’t given any pain medication because the doctors feared it will hamper further diagnosis of any eventual complications. I was already having dyspnea (difficulty in breathing). My kidneys were failing and my lungs sympathized with my kidneys. My lungs no longer inflated nor deflated and I was bloating fast as a result of my failed kidneys. I had respiratory arrest and they were trying to resuscitate me through a respirator. In medical parlance, they were performing Code Blue on me,” narrated Tessie. Before she totally conked out, she managed to demand ICU attention from the medical personnel.
She underwent hemodialysis with the solutions passing through her jugular vein (somewhere in the neck part) which, henceforth, she would have three times a day, each time an ordeal of excruciating, unbearable pain.
At this stage, all her organs failed, except her heart which was functioning well. “It was then that I saw God’s wisdom in all that happened to me. I went through the bargaining stage, asking why me and why I have to go through this pain and all that,” narrated Tessie. “But, who can question God’s wisdom? Looking back, I now realize that He purposely prepared my heart for this ordeal,” she continued.
She lay semi-comatose in the hospital for two and a half months. “While I initially questioned God, there was no time to be angry. I was also totally humbled by God’s immense power,” countered Tessie.
While on the brink of life and death, she saw vivid visions, which she recalled, strengthening the fact that in death, good and evil forces compete for the ownership of one’s soul. At one point, she saw two of the ugliest women she had ever seen hovering around her, their faces all black and very angry, while at her feet, seemingly fixing the linen, she saw an extremely beautiful woman bathed in clouds, smiling at her. She also recalled talking to an ordinary-looking man whom she asked, “Am I dead?” The man, according to Tessie, answered: “No, you’re going on a journey.”
She also saw her life, from the time she was yet a child, being reviewed or flashed before her. A devotee of the Santo Nino, she also saw His image in lieu of the cross on top of the Dumaguete Cathedral Church. At one point, the Child Jesus also appeared before her with red flowers abounding His side. She likewise claimed to have seen her body inside a coffin, while she sat in one of the church benches, prompting her to give explicit instructions to her husband, Walter, regarding the details of her necrological service. She was prayed over many times and was administered the Last Sacrament. In all these, Walter was the epitome of the devoted and loving husband, remaining strong and resolute despite some low edge when Tessie, stressed and exhausted, would be tempted to let go.
In retrospect, Tessie speaks to humanity as she described her life: “I’d like to compare my life to the four seasons. The beauty in the way God designed the four seasons is that though each one is distinct, they all work together to bring life and growth. Spring is a period of freshness and new life. Summer sees growth and productivity. Autumn is a time for harvesting the rewards of past labors. Winter is the season of dormancy and closure. Each season has its unique beauty and makes a significant contribution to life. Just as God planned seasons, He planned seasons in life as well.” | NWI
