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Six June Since I have been down in the dumps healthwise since shortly after my arrival here in the Philippines, Georgie insisted that I get out of Manila and go to one of the islands to do some diving and just have a change of scenery. This sounded pretty good as this is what I came to the Philippines for. Nevertheless, I felt like crap and deep down inside didn't feel like it was such a good idea. I reluctantly agreed to go and on June 20 headed by bus towards Puerto Galera located on the island of Mindoro just across the water from Batangas. Batangas is a port city located in the Southern part of the island of Luzon (the largest island in the Philippines and location of Manila) and is the buses final destination in getting to Puerto Galera. The bus trips takes about 1 1/2 hours and then we board a fast moving Banca that takes you to Puerto Galera also in about 1 1/2 hours. There are two main areas to stay in Puerto Galera. Sabang and White beach. White Beach is almost in the opposite direction of Sabang and has a beautiful white beach and caters more to families and couples. Sabang is at least to me a somewhat seedy place with cheap hotels stacked on top of each other running down a brown beach that is completely covered during high tide. The town is also know for it's girl bars and prostitution. But then it is known for it's great diving and this is what I came for so this is where I decided to stay. I quickly found a place to stay being run by a kid named Jaime (from England). It was called VIP Resort. Pretty funny as it was about as low end as you can get. Nevertheless, it was still comfortable and a perfect fit for me. The plan was to stay until Sunday so I worked out a room rate of $9.00 per night and dives at $17.00 each for a total of a four nights/five day stay and seven dives over these five days. My first dive was scheduled for 9:00am the next morning. TUESDAY!!!! Well Tuesday came and I was up at my usual 7am or thereabouts. Took my morning meds which in hindsight was probably a mistake. At about 8am met Jaime and another guy in the dive shop. Jaime informed us about the dive which like most in PG would be a drift dive. This one would be in about 70 foot depth. Boat was due to pick us up at around 9am and it arrived right on time. Carried my mask, fins, bc and reg to the Banca. Tanks were already onboard. Got to the dive spot in another 5 minutes. Was feeling about the same physically but happier knowing I was going to finally get wet. Got in the water and proceeded to sink down to the max depth. Noticed that my freakin computer wasn't working. Must have killed the batteries which seems strange as I thought I had just replaced them. Jaime was kinda funny the way he swam/drifted the dive holding one wrist with his other hand like it was guiding him to finding water on land. This is fairly typical of a relatively new dive instructor. I keep my hands behind my back and went with the flow using perfect neutral boyancy but of course. Oftentimes, Jaime would lose sight of me as I would be directly above him by perhaps 10 feet. Cracked me up watching him freak out a little looking everywhere for his customer. I guess it is force of habit for me to stay off the direct bottom coupled in this case (a safety issue) with my down computer. Staying higher usually allows me scope out a larger area as was more practical when hunting back in Florida. Anyway, he kept motioning me to the bottom 10 feet lower where he was so I could oogle and awe the beauty up close and personal. Actually, it was pretty especailly the soft corals and to see anenomes and fans. But, on the other hand a little boring as the fish life was so small. He actually got really excited seeing a large puffer fish. Hey what can I say, I am a cynic both above and below the water. Nevertheless, I let him have his moment giving him a gleeful thumbs up when I saw the puffer hiding under a large coral head. After about 30 minutes the dive was over. Turns out the other guy sucked air like a rabbit breeds. In any event I was glad to have gotten wet and see some beautiful things. TheBanca picked us back up and we got back to the hotel in just a few minutes. Got out of my skin and washed it down along with the rest of my equipment. I then went to my room where I got showered and changed into some dry clothes. It ws now about one hour after the dive and little did I know the shit was about to hit the fan. All of a sudden a wave of nasuea came over me. I immediately starting vomiting into the toilet a clear muscus bile tasting substance. Finished with that I immediately noticed my left chest tighten along with a shortness of breadth. I knew something was seriuosly wrong. Went to the front of the hotel and asked Jaime where the nearest doc or clinic was and he pointed me in the direction. Got there about 5 minutes later and the sweat was pouring off me. Got inside and sat down in the doctors office and one look at me and she knew I was having a serious situation most likely a HA. Within another 5 minutes my previously dry clothes were now drenched in my sweat and it kept coming. I gave her my phone to call Ruby as she would know what to do. And sure enough she did. Rube arranged for a fast banca to Batangas and then a van to whisk me to the local hospital. Got to the hospital about 2 1/2 hours later where I was met by the ER doctor who administered me morphine and a clot removal drug that apparently got rid of whatever was blocking blood to my heart. Now feeling better, they took me to their version of ICU which was basically a room with a bed and a couple of full-time nurses. No fancy monitoring equipment and certainly nothing to write home about. Spent 4 days here and then transferred to Makati Medical in Manila. Spent 3 more days there doing tests, etc....On Wednesday June 28 they did a cardiogram and found my arteries to be clean and free of plaque and any blockage. The theory now seems to be my heart attack was caused by a spasm somehow brought on my my other situation with my joint and musle pains. June 29 - Middle October Many more health set backs and tremendous frustration. I Returned to the states on August 23 to get some second opinions and I returned back in October with better control and understanding of my health issues. UPDATE I have decided not to focus too much on my health issues any longer as it seems to be dominating my life and interefering with the intention of this whole blog. Be that as it may, I returned to the Philippines the second week of October. Of course my intial plan to travel the country seeking the best place to live has changed as well. It is now my desire to try and figure out that place from reading and talking to people making a visit and then deciding. After lots of conversations and research I have decided to take a look at the city of Dumaguete on the island of Negros. Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a girlfriend. Her name is Lynnette and she is great.
We met through a dating site and we have had countless conversations through yahoo, skype and email. Before I left the Philippines back in August, I made a trip to Davao where she is from and it was great. We hit it off wonderfully. While she may be from the province she is far from provincial. She is educated, well traveled and worldly. She is most of all a simple happy girl that is fun to be around as she is not cluttered or bogged down by issues many people tend to be affected by. Lynn always has a smile on her face and heart and I like that quality about her. Next we talk about life in the present. 2005
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