trapped (completed)

11. sippy cup

"Tita, papunta na po ako dyan, do you need anything po?" Jay often messaged Nic's mom when he was on his way to the hospital.

"Okay. Wala naman."

"Sige po, see you in a few minutes po"

"716"

Jay wondered what these numbers meant. The ICU of the hospital was on the 6th floor. Jay thought that maybe Tita wanted him to give the gift to a fan on the 7th floor.

He took the elevator from the basement parking of the hospital to avoid the crowd. He was in a jacket, baseball cap and shades and crouched quietly in the corner as the elevator filled. Because he had his earphones on, he could not hear most of what the other people in the elevator were saying. When he stepped out of the elevator on the 7th floor with a group of girls, he noticed Marla, the president of the JaNi (jay-ni) Friends Forever fans club.

"Hi Jay!" Marla greeted. She was with Jill, a fanclub member.

"Hi. O, anong ginagawa nyo dito?"

"Ah..eh...sira yung vending machine dun sa baba...sira din pala yung nandito..." Marla quickly replied. "Sige...baba na muna kami...punta nalang kaming cafeteria..." Marla said

"Ah sige..." Jay said, as he scanned the wall of the 7th floor to read the directory.

Room 716 was at the end of the long hallway. It was empty of people and only the occasional paging of doctors and other hospital sounds could be heard.

Marla and Jill, the girls Jay met at the elevator lobby, walked quickly behind the wall and called Mommy in the room. Jessica, a younger nurse, came out of the room with a tray. She smiled and nodded at Jay as he approached. Jay thought he could hear crying from inside the room.

"Shh...tahan na...malapit na..."

The crying was interrupted by gagging and squeals of pain.

"O ayan...finish na...shhh....tahan na....shhhh...."

Jay had his head down slightly as he knocked and pushed the door open.

"Good evening po..."

"Shh...shh...ayan na sya o..."

The crying simmered down to heavy sobbing and coughing. Nic's mouth had just been suctioned.

Daddy, who was closest to the door on the couch, stood up. "O Jay, buti andito ka na..."

"Tito?" Jay said as he blessed. He wondered why Nic's dad was there in the same room.

"Tata, look whose here o..." Daddy said.

Mommy, who was on the left side of Nic's bed moved to the side. Cielo, on the other side of the bed, wiped the drool from Nic's mouth.

"Ta? Tata?" Jay said when he saw Nic on the bed.

"Bee!"

Jay looked slightly confused but rushed to Nic and hugged and kissed her. "I love you...abooo!" he kissed her and cradled her head in his arms.

He moved to bless Tita but soon returned to cradle Nic's head.

"Bee! Wag OA ang hug...easy lang...abooo!"

"When? How?"

"She woke up a week ago pa..."

"Actually, gising na gising ako the whole time..."

"Huh?"

"Opo, nung September 5 po..." Cielo piped in.

"Ah Jay, that's Cielo, she'll be Nic's nurse..."

"CIelo...from the ICU..."

"Opo. Hello po."

"...September 5...wait, that was the day na dumaan ako sa ICU pero wala po kayo...I left for Baguio that evening pero nakabalik kami ng Manila late afternoon of the 7th na...tapos yun, puro rehearsals at meetings na po ako since then....Sorry, Ta, i wasn't able to tell you na..."

"...We moved out of the ICU just yesterday..."

"That's good...buti nakuha nyo tong room...it's pretty big..." Jay scanned the room. It was bigger than most rooms he knew of in hospitals. Some gifts and balloons were in one corner and the table was loaded with food. "Ah, Tita, yung gift na pinabili nyo po..." Jay said as he handed Tita the wrapped box.

"Gift? Ah, thank you. This is for Nic...O, Ta, open it..." Tita said as she took the gift and put it by Nic's right hand. Cielo ripped a small portion so that Nic could grasp at it while Cielo gently tugged at the box.

"She has limited motion on her right hand..." Tita explained as they watched Nic rip more of the paper. When it was just the box, Cielo presented Nic the present and opened it for her. The sippy cup had a handle on the side so Cielo slipped Nic's fingers through it so she could "hold" it. She then demonstrated how to bring the straw to her mouth. "Carla said that Nic will have to relearn most everything again..."

Jay took Nic's hand after Cielo took the sippy cup to wash it and fill it with water and kissed it. "Oh Tata..."

An hour later, Cielo, who excused herself and went out of the room, returned. "Excuse me po, mag-r-ready na po kami for bed..."

Tita and Tito ushered Jay out the door when Jessica came in. She assisted Cielo in preparing Nic for the night – sponge bath, personal care and nighttime feeding.

"Nic is like a baby again...she won't be able to do things on her own and only time will tell when she'll return to normal..."

"I understand po..."

"...are you sure that you're up to it? Para tayong mag-aalaga ng baby...her brain wasn't affected by the GBS but the nerves she needs to use to make her body move were...sa ngayon, she can control a little of her right hand, breathing, some swallowing and her head...she started on learning how to stand and take a few steps with a walker..."

"Parang baby nga..."

"Baby na may sakit..." Daddy added.

Jay fell silent for a while and then spoke, "...Nic has always been there for me when I needed her most...I want to be with her, too..."

"Thank you, hijo...thank you..." Tita hugged Jay.

They invited Jay to dinner and updated him more on Nic's progress since she woke up from her slumber.

"...I know how expensive the ICU stay was so, ako na pong bahala dun..." Jay offered.

"...maraming salamat, hijo...maraming salamat..." Tito said as he shook Jay's hand.

"Hi Ta! Welcome back! Ang daya mo naman, di mo ako inantay. Pero, this has been the best surprise I ever received. Natalo mo na yung pagpunta ko sa Boracay for your birthday!

Nagpprepare na talaga kami ng mga productions para sa concert. May kanta at sayaw and stunts! Oo! May stunts. Natakot ako at first pero mas nakakapagod nalang sya ngayon kesa nakakatakot talaga. I fell a few times in the beginning kaya ang dami kong pasa sa legs at arms. But it's better now. They adjusted some moves kasi hirap ako...hehe! It's all good.

Sana you can watch the concert. I'd really love for you to be there..."