My ‘Big Win’ in 2025
I survived a quadruple bypass in September. My ongoing recovery, to quote my doctors, is nothing but “miraculous and magical.” My friends, when they see me in the church, school, barbershop, mall, grocery or elsewhere, tell me, “Na-bypass ka ba talaga?” I always have to take a look at my battle scars on my sternum area and my left leg to believe that, indeed, I went under the knife. I truly did.
A new lease on life is my “Big Win” this year.
My new life is a gift from God. It is also a gift from people who prayed for me before, during and after my operation. I remember asking my students with all humility to also ask their parents and siblings to pray for me. Some students gave me rosaries. I brought those religious articles with me to the operating room. I woke up in the recovery room with two rosaries around my left wrist—and the small image of Padre Pio, a gift from my youngest brother Rod, safely tucked by my side.
The recorded “first” pertaining to my surgery, to quote Dr. Zara Salazar, a cardiology fellow at St. Luke’s BGC, was when I woke up “less than 20 minutes after operation.” I was told I was the bypass patient who woke up fastest post-op. She explained that it was important for a CABG (coronary artery bypass graft) patient to wake up quickly because of extubation, a medical term that refers to the removal of the endotracheal tube, which is the last step in liberating the patient from the mechanical ventilator. The earlier one gets extubated, the lesser the possible development of complication post-op.
Prior to that, my cardiac surgeon, Dr. Ramon Diaz, told me I was “an excellent patient on the table because there were no complications.” What was supposed to be a five-tosix-hour off-pump operation became 3.5 hours. My cardiologist, Dr. Leni Iboleon-Dy, always way ahead of planning, organized a nine-doctor team just in case any complication arose. The prayer was that no one among the doctors on standby like the pulmonologist and nephrologist would be needed in the operation. Thank God the standby-doctors just stood in delight and praise witnessing a miracle before them.
The first things I said when I was weaned out from mechanical ventilation was a display of my faith and fancy. “There is a God,” I muttered in my hoarse voice. I thought there was an upo (bottle gourd) being taken out of my throat when I was extubated. After praising God for my successful operation, I became Ariel and sang “Part of This World.” I was still heavy on anesthesia that time and the song was the last thing in my mind the night before surgery when I was asked by a bedside nurse what songs I wanted to be played in the recovery room. The choices were praise, gospel or Catholic songs. I said no to those songs because I was already heavy on favors I asked from God. Baka marindi na ang Diyos, I said. So I opted for Disney and Broadway songs. But I was already singing in the recovery room long before they could play my chosen music.
When I was transferred to the coronary care unit, the ICU for heart patients, my winning streak continued. Less than 24 hours post-op, I could already walk. How on earth I did that is beyond my imagination. I just knew and felt I could walk with all those contraptions in my body. I just prayed. Next thing I knew, even before I began my cardiac rehab, I was already walking. There was applause from the nurses at the CCU. I only walked for a few minutes but it felt like a perfect recital. “God is good! God is good!” the nurses at the CCU told me. Before all of us was a miracle performed by God on me after a high-risk operation.
It helped that I was a strong body when I checked in the hospital for my quadruple bypass. Mas malakas pa ako sa kalabaw bago ako operahan. Mine was a body of a biker who rode his saddle every day for three to four hours. I also had a strong mind. My mindset when I finally embraced the reality that I would go under the knife was not only of survival but of victory. I claimed it that with God on my side, I would be victorious in my operation. God did not fail me. My life now is a new gift from the divine.
Many said that it was divine providence that the occlusions in my heart arteries were caught in time during a routine checkup. Then angiogram disclosed my major arteries were all blocked. I was sustained only by the collateral arteries but they, too, would give up soon. I was told I was a walking time bomb and I could die anytime.
What caused the blockages in my heart?
- Men are more predisposed to cardiovascular diseases, according to Dr. Leni. That’s the design of nature. It’s in my genetically male genes.
- My age. I was 53 when I had my bypass. The cardiovascular disease begins to manifest at the age of 40. Men who are 40 up should have their hearts checked.
- Hereditary. My mother underwent angioplasty in 2022. She passed on after a year because of multi-organ malfunction.
- Lifestyle. I was a smoker for more than 35 years. I only stopped last May. (That’s my story next Friday.)
My outlook in life was changed the minute I opened my eyes in the recovery room. I checked if I was really alive not by pinching myself but by feeling the warmth of my breath on my palm. And when I saw my family and friends at the waiting area of the OR cheering me on, I thought that was the feeling of an athlete bagging a gold in an Olympic sprint. That moment, I wished my parents were alive to see my joy, my triumph, my new lease on life. (My last thoughts when I was sedated were of my mother and father, for them to accompany me in my battle.)
Two days after my surgery, I was already doing basic cardio rehab—tiptoeing, exercising my hands, moving my feet sidewards. Three days after, I was already on the treadmill and stationary bike, no matter how slow my speed was. Four days after the operation, I was already dancing to Golden. From the time I checked out of the hospital on Oct. 4, I have never touched my pain meds. God is good.
The list of my wins is long but this one stands out: My doctors allowed me to go back to biking two months after my surgery. The earlier projection was I could go back to biking in February 2026. Biking has been my life since the pandemic, more so when my mother died in 2023. When Dr. Diaz found out my wounds were healing faster than expected, he gave me the go signal to take my bike out of the bodega and ride the wind. Dr. Leni agreed as long as I would not yet do competitive biking. I was in heaven. On Nov. 28, I took my first bicycle ride post-op. The people in the neighborhood who saw me biking clapped in disbelief. I also could not believe that I was riding the wind.
My new lease on life is my big win this year. It’s a miracle I will not waste. It’s a miracle I will celebrate every day.
Merry Christmas.
