I arrived in the Philippines to visit a friend. We had never met, only visited online. We had great plans for fun and adventure planned upon my arrival. It was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime for both of us… that’s what I had promised…Unfortunately, Shortly before my departure, I injured my foot. I thought it had healed by the time I needed to make the go, no-go decision. So off I went… sadly I did not count on the confusion at the baggage check, what was allowable and what was not… the confusion had me running all over the airport looking for an extra bag… only to be told afterward the airline made a mistake… great… then there was the 2 hour line at security… seems 75% of the flights to Asia leave at the same time… and that was followed by 19 hours in an economy with hardly a drink the entire flight… by the time I arrived I was exhausted and my foot was in terrible shape. By the time my hotel let me into my room 5 hours after landing, I was in horrible shape. My friend, who only met me face to face for the first time when I stepped off the plane, amazed me…
I kinda figured that the friend would take one look at the wounds, maybe tell me the name of a good Dr. and say thanks but no thanks and vanish into the night… call me a pessimist… I’d never met a native-born Filipina before… I didn’t know that friend still meant something there… I never expected any of what followed…
My friend immediately got me off my feet as soon as we got into the room, took my shoes and my socks off, almost threw up at what she saw, quietly went to the restroom got some clean towels and water, gently cleaned the foot up, then sat for about 5 minutes examining it, making a list of things she would need. She asked to borrow about 500 pesos ($10.00) so she could go to the Drug store and get supplies.
I gave it to her and she ordered me not to let my feet touch the ground while she was away… there was a drug store on the corner she didn’t think it would take to long… as she left I sat and figure that was the last I would see of her. 500 pesos probably would cover her cab fare home…
Much to my surprise she returned about 20 minutes later with bandages, antiseptic, tape, a good cleaning solution and scissors… she cut and cleaned wrapped bandages, and cussed my shoes… dug through my suite case found some Sandals and said they would make do.
By now it was getting close to 5 pm so she called her mother for advice… they talked about 10 minutes in Tagalog then she hung up and asked me, do you think you can walk at all?
I said yes… and she got on an app ordering a Grab Car to the hotel. She was my leaning post all the way to the front door, where we met the car that took us to her house.
It was just after Dusk when we arrived… for an American it was a very scary-looking neighborhood… all tin roof home-built structures with high fences and lots of barbed wire. She led me down an alleyway I could reach across at its widest areas, had to duck under roof awnings in its tighter areas. She opened a padlocked Gate with plenty of razor wire on top, helped me up 3 steps and into this tiny little house, maybe 150 square feet.
She sat me down on a very stout bench built from 2x4’s, and introduced me to her mother… apparently a genius of herbal medicine. Together they made a poultice to bring the swelling down and moved to the next room where they had another animated discussion in Tagalog…
She then returned saw that the swelling was down, cleaned my foot up again, packed a baggy full of whatever it was and took me back to the hotel…
On the way back she asked how my finances were for the trip? Said I absolutely needed to see a dr the next day and probably would be told to go home.
We spent most of the next day searching for a Dr then going to the emergency room, and yes the Dr did recommend going home ASAP… but I said that’s a very expensive option, is there anything here that could be done?
Basically, he said I’ll need a lot of nursing and probably would have to check into a hospital for a week or longer if I wanted to stay.
At that point friend spoke up and she and the Dr again reverted to Tagalog… talk about being kept out of the loop. At the end of which the Doctor said she thinks she can handle the nursing you need, and she does know her stuff, so if you want to try that I’ll say go ahead, but be back here in 5 days and we will decide what needs to be done then…
She ended up playing nurse daily for the next 2 weeks. The furthest I was allowed to walk in that time was to the hotel cafe.
Heck of a way to spend the Vacation if a life time…
But if you ask me what I think of Philippine people… I will swear they are the kindest hardest working people on the planet, I truly believe that.
it’s been almost a year since I wrote this answer, and 2 years since I took that trip. I have been back again. Would have been back this year also had Covid-19 not intervened. We have now been together both online and real for three years. The health of my foot has been a roller coaster and the main reason for the limited visits. But in January it (the foot issues) hit rock bottom. On the dark side, I lost a toe… on the bright side there has been no sign of the problem coming back.😁
In the meantime, our relationship has grown and strengthened. Life for both of us has changed dramatically from the time we met. But I feel closer to her today than ever before.
there is a reason why we were drawn together, I don’t know what it was. But I am convinced this is a true long-term story. She is strong, beautiful, a force to be reckoned with and so full of love I am learning every day. This woman changed my life and made it much much better. I stand strongly by my original answer and I would upvote it myself if I could. It’s not often in this world of throw away everything you find someone worth keeping through good and bad. Someone you look forward to seeing tomorrow more than you did yesterday. Someone who simply makes life seem better. I did, she is that person. I am so lucky.
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