I call my grandmother Nanay... and last August 28, she passed away in the ICU of Makati Medical Center, after weeks of being hospitalized and having been brought to the ICU twice. We got there while they were still trying to resuscitate her, trying for almost an hour... my mom finally asked them to stop and just let my lola rest in peace.
I think my last blog post mentioned that she was recovering well after a surgery...she was actually, and every week after mass we would pass by their house because it's been a tradition for us. Every week, we would see her and sometimes she would be lucid and happy, other times you could see she just seemed really tired. The last time they had to bring her to the hospital, during the first week of August, was because she was not eating, and she had a slight fever.
During her confinement, they surgically inserted a peg into her stomach so that they could feed her, inserted a DVT filter to fight blood clots, had to deal with Atherosclerosis and stenosis, and her veins were very thin and collapsed easily which made it very difficult to draw her blood for tests and to insert lines for her IV, and this was on top of the usual care she had to go through, for her bedsores, her wound, her medications, her therapy... it's a lot to go through, I could tell. And whenever I was there, I could see how difficult it was for her, how difficult it was for my mom, my aunts and uncles... it was painful even for me.
On Thursday, August 26, I visited the ICU and learned that her condition just went from bad to worse. I was rattled the entire day, couldn't focus on work, and would cry at the slightest provocation. I was very emotional, I'm sure some of my colleagues could tell, and all I could do was keep praying for what was best for my nanay. All I could do was visit her and spend as much time with her as I could, my aunts and uncles from abroad were asked to come home, so that they could spend time with her... unfortunately, Nanay's body gave out before they could arrive. Today, on Mama Mary's birthday, she was finally laid to rest in Manila Memorial.
My fondest memories of Nanay are almost always connected to Tatay as well...Maitz and I were the first grandchildren in the Espiritu clan, so you could say we were the most blessed to have grown up with them. When Tere came along, she became Tatay's favorite, and most of the time the three of us, along with Nanay and Tatay would go out to Megamall to play at Dreamscape (or was it Glico's). They would treat us to lunch at Triple V, take us to Tagaytay and Baguio, we were at their house every week. We loved spending time with them, and we knew how much they meant to each other. When Tatay passed away, I saw how depressed Nanay became...they must be happy now that they are together again.
My grandmother was truly an amazing woman, she raised 8 kids, became the superintendent of Pasay and was also a papal awardee! She was kind-hearted and selfless, and the values and virtues she taught my mom, my aunts and uncles...these are the same values I have with me today. So I guess you could say, I owe them all to my nanay. I'm going to miss her so much...Rest in peace Nanay, say hi to Tatay for us. We love you!
