Travelling Amidst the Pandemic: A Family Reunited through God’s Favor

“Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

It had been three years ago when Vicky and I were together with our daughter Kay for longer than a week. At that time, Kay brought us to savor the tail end of the beautiful spring in South Korea and its exquisite cuisine that we came to be familiar with in Netflix’ K-dramas. Then she flew with us to Manila, then returned to her Dubai work base. That was a little more than a fleeting, albeit most enjoyable reunion that God allowed us to have.

Then, calamity struck the whole world. The Covid-19 virus developed into a pandemic that did not spare any country and wrought havoc on peoples lives and livelihood. And from late first quarter of 2020, the Philippines came under virtual lockdown, semi-isolated from the rest of the world. Senior citizens like me and Vicky became most vulnerable to the contagion and prohibited from going out of our houses.

Tales of woes and sorrows enveloped the land. Disrupted lives became commonplace. Our own (extended) family suffered grievous loss when an OFW nephew died of Covid 19 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

For the 3 of us, the prolonged inability to get together physically for such a long period, especially in such a fraught time weighed heavily on our hearts and so we asked God for help. We prayed and prayed, having in mind His assurance in Mark 11:24.

Finally, Kay came up with a plan to bring us to Dubai, got for us a 3-months visit visa, and booked us on an Emirates flight for March 28th. Frantic preparations followed. Like we needed to have pre-departure consultations with our doctors, get their consent for us to travel, take new laboratory tests and be issued new prescriptions for medicines, good for 3 months, to bring with us to Dubai. Then we closely monitored any change occurring in flight situations in both Manila and Dubai ends.

The Dubai sector appeared pretty consistent in allowing incoming flights. But the resurgence of Covid 19 cases in the NCR foreshadowed stricter lockdown measures including flight suspensions in Manila and threatened to upset our schedule. Just the same, we proceeded to have our pre-flight swab tests at home which, by God’s grace, showed negative results.

On our departure date, we were driven to NAIA 3 by Vicky’s nephew Allan, accompanied by his wife Lea, who is my niece. Allan works as president of Vertical Space Inc. which engaged me for 3 years as Facilities Maintenance manager at their project construction of Grand Hyatt Hotel. Two days after our departure, Allan caught Covid 19 virus at their VSI plant in Imus City and subsequently infected Lea and their daughter. They have all recovered, praise God.

Even after successfully checking in (we chose to ride wheelchairs for quick immigration check and faster trip to the Emirates flight ramp), we could not yet feel completely at ease until we actually boarded the flight, actually took off for Dubai and actually reached Dubai. But the knowledge that we were joined in prayers for safe and successful travel by our home church mates and other spiritual family members assuaged those concerns. All throughout our journey, God was always with us. He never left us.

After getting swab tests upon Dubai airport arrival (the results were sent us the next day – negative) we breezed through Immigration and Customs checkout of our luggage. A brightly smiling Kay behind the face mask picked us up and we’re (physically) family again!

Kay actually wanted us to celebrate together our milestones – Vicky reaching 70 years last May, and me hitting 75 years last June. (Kay is also a June birthday celebrant). God is so good to allow those to happen. Her other motivation was to personally see to our health, even if it’s only for 3 months.

But the roller coaster developments about the pandemic upset our original plan to be back in Manila by end June. We thought it best to extend our stay here in Dubai, though we had to work out ways to have our regular medical consultations especially for Vicky.

So, the laboratory tests we needed to have as required by our physicians in Manila needed to be performed here, and the initial tests results were not encouraging. The last test results for Vicky before we left Manila showed high creatinine and potassium levels and low hemoglobin level – issues that impacted on the health of her kidneys. On June 25th, we had blood tests done at home here. The results for Vicky were disquieting. While her creatinine and hemoglobin results were within limits, her potassium reading reached danger level at 7.2. When we conveyed that to her nephrologist at Cardinal Santos hospital, the doctor sounded so alarmed he actually suggested for us to go back to Manila immediately for his better management. Anyway, he required a retest which Vicky had July 1st. The potassium level went down to 5.3 (still outside of acceptable 3.5 – 5.1 range). So, another retest was done July 3rd which unfortunately showed even higher level at 5.7.

Dr. Cobankiat, Vicky’s nephrologist, finally suggested we consult with a specialist here. Meantime he required very strict diet which Vicky complied with under Kay’s no nonsense direction. So, we went to consult with a specialist at the Saudi-German hospital, a Syrian who is really good. He went through all the lab results, the medicines and treatment given by Dr. Sylvie Gunigundo (our common doctor) and Dr. Cobankiat and said he would have given the same. But he gave Vicky medication to address directly the high potassium issue. Then he scheduled a lab test for potassium at the hospital after one week followed by repeat consultation on the same day.

Now, here’s the best part. We have prayed and prayed for good results from Vicky’s coming lab test and perhaps because it’s always on her mind, (and in ours), Vicky had the best of dreams the night before our return to the hospital clinic. She narrated to us that in her dream, she was gazing at bright skies, and she very distinctly heard a pleasant voice that told her simply “YOU ARE HEALED!” She awoke in pleasant spirits and we all thought: THANK YOU LORD!

So at 8am, Sunday July 11th, at the hospital, she had another blood extraction with results expected after 2-3 hours. When it came out, God’s promise came to pass. From 7.2, then 5.3, then 5.7, the last test confirmed God’s miraculous words: It was 4.36, well within the 3.5 to 5.1 acceptable range.

I told the doctor (a Muslim) of Vicky’s dream, and he said: “Ma Sha Allah” – that means It’s God’s will.

Indeed, all glory to our God for His super-natural care and never-ending love for His children.