5 minutes… All the time you can spare is 5 minutes!

Can you imagine waking up at 6:50am and

your OB exam is barely 5 minutes away???!

KazzZZZaaaammm!!!! There goes chaos and there goes your adrenaline… Bam! Bam!
Bam! Run!!!! Oh wait, bath…have to take a bath… you remember the shower doesn’t work.
Shoot. Of all days… so you go grab the bucket. Argh. Too little, too soon, even the water
coming from the faucet’s no help. Think. Think. 2 minutes has passed. The gallon of mineral
water! Grab it! Swim in it if you have to. Soap. Shampoo. Hurry!!! Uniform. Has your
“labandera” brought your uniform?! OPEN THE DOOR! Thank God your uniform’s hanging
right outside your door. Hurry!!! Don’t forget to brush your teeth and your hair of course… now
RUN!!!!!

Whew! That was close. You make it just in time. Sweat from your forehead mixed with
water dripping from your hair. Sweat trickling down your back, your uniform soaked in God
knows what. Do your ritual later. Worry about your face and your hair and your cologne a little
later. There’s Question#1. Read the instructions carefully. Your mind goes blank. You freeze.
Oh no! mental block, with positive alar flaring. Darn. Darn. Darn.

That’s 3rd Year life. Hahahahah! Now, you still want a piece of it? Who wouldn’t, right?
It’s just a teeny tiny bit of our so-called “Med life”, but I tell you, it’s something else…

(Greetings…)

Yet on the contrary I woke up early today, no longer in a rush, in a hurried manner. I
opened my eyes and said to myself, w0w! I’m going to the prom… again! Can you imagine, a 3 rd
JS Prom? Not everyone goes to a 3rd JS Prom.. so I got up… fully recharged from a hard week’s
work, and a long comfortable sleep… I kept humming…. With voices proud and sweet…
through thick and thin we will… we stand as one at your command!... My Alma Mater!
Wow! Went to shower and then just kept singing…. But something struck me.. what does the
word Alma Mater mean? Whatever does IT MEAN? We hear it on and on and on but do we
really now what the words mean?... I went to ask my best friend, Mr. Grolier… Oh sorry, Mr.
Google --- Alma Mater – used in latin Rome as the title for various mother goddesses and in
Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary… Alma Mater , in“Latin – Nourishing Mother.
WOW! I didn’t know that!
Powerful word, huh? Powerful, especially if you come from an Alma Mater as great and
as grand, from an institution we call Liceo de Cagayan University.
 I stand on this podium once more filled with a sweet voice so proud and worthy to be
called a LICEAN. I’ll tell you later why…
But what I can tell you is that Mrs. Henson and Mrs. Tamparong can attest to me being
late one time or another, when I was about your age.

In 1st year, I was late during 1st Period, under Mrs. Henson. Our classroom was on the 3rd
floor, there were spaces on the bottom part of the wall, just beside the corridor.. 1 time, I was
too afraid to go to the DSA for a late pass slip, that I creeped into the wall, thru that empty
space.. yep! I fitted in! I was smaller then.. and Mrs. Henson didn’t see me. Ssshhh.. I told my
classmates at the last row. I just sat there on the floor at the back of the room, until the bell rang.
But she still caught me, when she came back to the room and saw me on my seat! Hey! I was
young, and scared… I had to think of something… --- and then there was 4 th Year HS. All the
jeepneys were stuck in traffic at the highway that I got to school 15mins after the time.. What
was I to do?? TAXI! “Nong, sulod ta liceo, ipalahos dayon sa likod nong ha? Ideretso lang, dri
lang ko sa likod, magtago...” and I stuck myself at the back seat, while Mrs. Tamparong was
busy getting the names of the rest of the latecomers, for disciplinary action… this time I got
lucky! I wasn’t caught! … But I think during a later conversation, I confessed to Maam
Tamparong jokingly a week after that. Of course, I promised not to do the TAXI thing again..
nanilhig na ko apil sa school grounds the next time nga na-late na sad ko. Good girl na sad ko ui,
nagpasapon na jud..heheh.. Well, It’s just a teeny tiny bit of my so-called “HIGH SCHOOL
LIFE ”, but I tell you, HIGH SCHOOL is something else…

Prom. Everything that happened in this very room some years ago are still here in my
memory and in my heart.. . I can still remember , when we were Juniors, a class mate was paired
with his crush -- his crush by the name of Jasmin Chio.. (where is she? I think she’s in here
tonight, as a matter of fact.. Oh, Hi, Min! hehe..) hey! They were a sight to see!… but they both
have their own families now. But back then, my friend was one of the luckiest guy that night, he
got to dance with his crush. And guys! I was also lucky that night! Out of all the Juniors, I was
picked to deliver the Class Prophecy! Grabe nga pangurog nko, you know why? First paragraph
pa lang, I always made the same mistake during practice.. I always misread the word REALITY
into LEARITY… Imagine my speech Teacher at the corner, with his eyebrows, grabe ang saka
sa kilay!.. OMG! My partner/prom date then was so silent, from day1 of practice until the prom
night, that I only knew his name, but we never became friends.. kung shy xa, shy man pud ko!
Hahaha… I hadn’t seen nor heard about him after. Only to find out some years later that he
married a good friend, my classmate from Med School! Small world, huh? But dili pa jpn mi
friends till now. Shy pa jpn xa. Kami lang sa iya wife ang friends.
So am I making sense so far? I hope I am.. I didn’t mean that you should also do the
things I did back in HS. I wasn’t a notorious student, if that’s what you’re thinking.. Nope. I was
a good student in fact.
How and why? Because in almost half my life, I was with Liceo de Cagayan University.
I had all the “training”, from my “baby steps”, to dancing the “Waltz of Life”. My memories
take me to the days when we were all aspiring for Liceo to become a University, with its
Mission, Vision, and Values.. I remember them. Discipline. Loyalty. Integrity. Excellence.
Community Service… I know I have these values flowing through my veins.
Life can present itself in a lot of different ways for each of us. But in any case, we have to
be prepared for anything and everything. And I mean everything. I read somewhere that there
are 4 Essentials things in life… --- to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy…
To live when to fully use all faculties that has been given to you, to be human experience
life as it comes; to love all that is around you, love the life you have and the lives

In HS, I knew that I was going to be a Journalist, and a good one at that.. but my parents,
wanted me to become a doctor. I don’t know why. Maybe because I was the eldest and my aunt
is a doctor. I went to college and eventually finished Med School after years of painstaking hard
work. Especially on the part of my folks.

And in those years trying to get to the degree, the whirlwind of scut work and
endorsements and ambulance rides, and catered food or no food at all, I met some great good
people, friendly and heartwarming medical staff…. and our dear patients… and I remember
writing a blog about one of them,.

I saw one of our patients today… Nanay Minda. She was at Internal
Medicine Dept., ward9, bed 6. i remember it well because i had several moments
with her and her family… She was admitted for Cerebrovascular Bleeding, a blood
vessel ruptured inside her brain, and was referred to Neuro for Brain Surgery. At
ward9, I used to give her Mannitol injections, to decrease the pressure in her
brain caused by the bleeding, careful so as not to cause sudden flow of fluid into
her head,. I re-insert her IV lines or her foley bag catheter so that she could pass
out urine effortlessly., i monitored her progress… she’s 45 years old, a mother of 2
really great teenagers,. She’s a sister to her siblings and a daughter to her 78yr
old aging mom… her entire family was always there everyday… For a few days she
was comatose, then she improved, she had awaken, but still unable to talk, she
could only blink her eyes and move her legs and hands a bit or two.. the family
told me they had to move out to Neuro department for the scheduled operation… i
prayed with them and wished them the best… I even donated my own blood for
her procedure and encouraged my groupmates to do the same thing as well. the
next thing i know, bed6 was occupied by another patient… they were gone…

Yesterday our Neurosurgery rotation started… I was hopeful i’d see them
there… Nope, they weren’t there. No sign of them… I was so afraid if she made it
after her operation. Then we had Out Patient consults today… Someone from the
benches called me. It was her daughter! and there she was, our dear patient,
Nanay Minda, bald that I barely recognized her, yet up and about and smiling
Soo000 BIG that my heart leapt! i got the surprise of the day and it felt so good…
she was OK! she survived! i smiled back and went and talked with them for a
while… she had been discharged two weeks prior and was steadily improving…
they are good souls, Nanay Minda and her family… and i thank God that they
survived their ordeal…. i cudn’t express the happiness i felt..

but then again somehow my heart goes out to those patients who didn’t
make it… those whom the Lord wanted to rest. May their families and loved ones
be re-assurred that thay are now in the hands of the Great Healer and that
nothing more could surpass the eternal bliss that their dearly beloved has
received…

a few months being a medical intern has taught me a lot… but the most important
thing it has taught me is to humble myself to everything that comes my way… and
that Our Father and Creator is never too far…
i thank Him for everyone i met and got to know and have made friends with… and
to those I have yet to share my life.”

I wrote that blog sometime July, not knowing that 1 month later I would lose my dad. He
died and I wasn’t even there beside him. I was on duty in Cebu, helping other people survive. I
wasn’t there to help my own dad.

After my father’s funeral, I went back on duty. One of the nurses later on told me that
Nanay Minda and her family came looking for me. They told her that they wanted to thank me
for the care I showed them. They said I was different from the rest of the Interns at the ward. I
had compassion, they said. And the nurse told me all the staff see it in me, too. I cried some more
after that, I cried because of the overwhelming joy that I was appreciated. Cried because grief
was still with me.
I knew I wasn’t perfect, and I couldn’t even get to some endorsements right, but I must
have done something good. And eventually it was then that I gained respect, felt it and was told I
earned it. It was then that I realized I knew why I became a doctor. It wasn’t because was forced
to. But because I wanted to make a difference. Not only because as I am loved and raised well by
my family, but I was molded and taught the right way, the Licean way. I deal with human life
and waltz with it everyday, taking more baby steps if I have to, learn new things everyday. Lose
people I love along the way, and learn from other people; Humble myself in my mistakes, love
the nature of things and still keep learning. I am proud to say that I have the blood of a true
Licean. The pride and dedication I carry with me today, I owe to my family and a bit more to my
formative education. Thank you. It’s like me, being the patient, saying, my dear Teachers, my
dear Alma Mater, my family: I owe you my life. I am what I am because of all of you. I sincerely
thank you.
(Pause)
So dear Juniors and seniors, we go back to our 10 minutes – your school life at hand so to
speak. In that quick a time, you have to be prepared, like how you really should never forget to
comb your hair and brush your teeth, and how your mind should work hastily and sharply when
your shower runs out of water. The thing is to be aware and to always be on-guard. Consider
your comb and your toothbrushes the lessons you learn from High School. Brush your life with
them, comb to make everything untangled, make things right. This is what I mean when I said
be prepared. Sharpen your mind and strengthen your hearts that no matter where life takes you,
you will not falter because you are strong and ready… So when your water runs dry, you know
there’s always a well nearby.

I hope I made a clarity in your lives tonight and I wish you all to morph
into the kind of people that you hope to be. To slowly realize your dreams,
your passions. From where you are seated right now, it’s like you’re seated
in your own bucket, filled with hopes -- happy and content. Yet excited and
bewildered at the same time. Don’t be scared of what lies ahead, because
life is yet to unfold. It will come, so the rest is up to you.

That’s why it’s called LEARNING. Never be afraid. I was once afraid too, remember?
So again, comb your life, brush it with fervor, love and prayers.

In the words of Emily Dickenson, a famous American poet, and in a

poem I learned from the our English teachers: If I can stop one heart from
breaking, I shall not live in vain; if I can ease one life the aching or cool one
pain or help one fainting Robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

I think my precious minutes are up. Thank you guys, for taking the time to listen.