Dunno how to translate that Bisaya expression “naibtan ug tunok,” but yes, literally naibtan ko ug tunok kay natunok ko ug bukog sa isda.
Well yes my little greed got the stupid in me. One morning, I gorged and chomped the pritong isda belonging to the first kingdom. Little did I know that the bones were embedded in the sweet tasting flesh of the small “maya maya”. And one of them got stuck in my throat.
Friends taught me to eat banana para mawala. One said I should eat rice so it could push the bone in my throat. Then another said I should allow a kitten to scratch my neck so the bone would just vanish.
Desperate, I tried but nothing happened. The bone embedded itself in the privacy of my throat.
But I carried the itchy pain daily hoping it will just disappear. So I went to Cotabato City leading my team of staff and coordinators for the Mindanao Sports for Peace Caravan launching. For three days we executed our plan with the leaders and officers of BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).
The launching of the Mindanao Sports for Peace Caravan was the start of many Sports for Peace initiatives in BARMM. All for the love of sports. The Maguindanaoan who heads the Sports Commission of BARMM said it eloquently: “The language of sports is a language of peace.”
But while we conducted clinics with our national athletes who are all with the AFP services, I could feel the itchy pain in my throat intermittently. It looked the fish bone inside had found a home in me.
So when I was back in Davao I made it my priority to visit an EENT doctor. But not all EENTs can remove the bone. It should be a specialist, a doctor who can go deep into your esophagus with his medical instruments.
So I went to the Alexian Wellness Center to see the specialist. I went to his clinic at 10am and was served at 1:30 p.m. That long. It developed my patience because I wanted the bone to be removed from my throat.
When it was my time I had some uncomfortable moments. I really did not know if the doctor could find it then remove it. I was hoping for the best though.
After doing initial examinations, the doctor could not find it. He asked me to sit on a bigger chair complete with medical instruments to study a patient. He sprayed liquid into my throat and asked me to swallow it. The liquid tasted bitter but there was some sweetness in it. It was oral anesthesia.
Then the doctor used an instrument to monitor my throat inside. I saw my esophagus on TV while the doctor scurried inside. Then he found a silvery thing. It was the fish bone that found a home there. He clipped it and removed it from where it was.
Whew! What a relief!
Sir, the doctor said had you lingered long enough, you could land in the hospital because that area might be infected. In the hospital, you will be treated but you will surely shell out between P80k to P100k for this.
I was stunned silent over the prospect of being hospitalized for the fish bone that I just dismissed like it was nothing.
Naibtan jud ko ug tunok. Whew!
