Episode 0-1 Aftermath (2)
Tuesday
The phone ringing my alarm clock tone, I wake up in the morning like a zombie and look at my phone ringing like a damn rooster then turn off it to sleep more since the season is done, its vacation now for the players to rest of the year until January preparing for the spring league in February.
As I put myself into sleep again, my body can't sleep voluntarily since I'm used to exercising every morning to maintain physical health especially mental since I'm playing a strenuous game like League.
I go off to my bed and stand doing my usual routine, Take a shower, prepare my own breakfast, and go for morning exercises. I take a quick bath then go for a quick P&B sandwich and banana while I prepare breakfast before going out. Since the accident, I got to calm down to my morning routine quite a bit since my body is recovering so I get back to the starting routine;
100 pushups, 100 situps, and 10-kilometer jog, well maybe that's too much but that's how I got started and it must be more than what I usually do before but first I need to do stretching first.
The stretching exercises that Ate Kyle told me is a set of basic exercises mixing of both flexibility and fluidity of muscles since I'm in an aging body as to where it improves the flow of blood and lowers muscle mass since I don't need big muscles for playing League. It's painful but it stretches all my muscles for a fast and wide range of movements.
As I ran through the neighborhood, the sky is still dark since its December right now. The sun doesn't come up yet and most of the people still sleeping while others preparing to go to work. After an hour, I go to the plaza to complete the rest of my routine to do pushups and sit-ups, I saw someone walking towards me.
"Good Morning Jon!"
"Good Morning to you too, Tito Emman." Emmanuel Montemayor, the CEO of the Montemayor industries. They do a vast range of business in the Philippines mostly to foreign clients but mostly from real estate business.
This old man, even though his age is in the early '50s, looks like in his early 30's. He likes to exercises in the morning since he is maintaining his health due to his heart ailments. I don't know the story but he told me that he had a hole in his heart, a hereditary disease that needed strict guidance to his health since he needs to cover it up naturally by regenerating the heart muscles to heal it.
We talk about what happened to each other these past few days since this is the first time in a while we meet again. To him is the business, while mine is about the physical rehab I took up yesterday. Tito Emman has a problem in embezzlements of one of his trusted Colleagues in his company that's why he didn't show these past weeks.
He got that fixed by removing him from the company but the mess he left gave the company a minor setback. It's kind of a long talk when it comes to mine since it got out to the public of what happened, he was worried that he got to visit the hospital while I was in a comatose state. There is something he wants to ask but hesitatingly shut his mouth which I got curious.
"Hey Jon, my wife was about to cook dinner tonight. Since your alone, how about dinner at our home then?" he hopefully said to me. Ever since then, I got asked to come to their home once in a while. I'm a bit shy about this kind of invitation but its free food (hehe).
"Why not? I'm alone anyway for dinner, what will Tita Mari cook tonight?"
"Roast Beef." He excitingly said
I got my eyes open wide of what he said, Tita Mari's Roast beef is delicious. No hesitation to go to their house.
"Well, then see ya later tonight?" I said with a smile then we both laugh.
I talk to him further about what time will I come there and there is anything I will bring later, he said that I don't need to bring anything since Tita Mari made salted caramel ice cream for dessert that I just need to come by later.
As I come back to my house, I prepare my breakfast together with my lunch while commuting to my rehab. Rice cooking in the rice cooker, I take out the can of spam then cut into strips, a portion of bacon, boiling water to put the instant pasta noodles there later, 5 egg yolks and whites, chopped onion, cheese, and cucumber.
When the pot of water is boiling with oil and salt, I put the noodles while I cook in the separate oiled pan of bacon in high heat and put a pinch of salt. I see that the bacon starts caramelizing; I put the chopped onion just to make it sweat then put the excess oil out and turn it to low heat to maintain the temperature of the pan, get the yolks into the pan mixing it with the almost cooked noodles and grated cheese while gradually pouring pasta water in the pan into a creamy sauce.
In turns out to be a creamy golden yellow sauce covering the noodles perfectly to the point that some bacon and onion sticking it, and you smell the mix of the aroma of bacon, cheese, onion and egg it in with garnishes of egg whites.
"Fuck yeah." The only thing I can only say about the taste and a clean plate in front of me burping on it.
Then I take the nori wrapper, kimchi, and rolling mat to make a nori maki containing stripped spam, long strips of cucumber, kimchi, and the sticky rice I made in the rice cooker with rice wine. Wrapped in aluminum foil, once I make a bunch of it I wash all the things I used in the morning then take a bath preparing to commute to do my everyday rehab.
Its typical day shit for me when my neurologist comes in the rehab. Her name Maria Lue Galvacion, you can tell by the smell of the rose perfume she uses together with her favorite rosy dress inside the doctor gown on top.
She walks toward me with a simple greeting then I can only smile because of the pain of the exercise when she saw that she walks toward to my cousin of the progress of the rehab then notify me about the results and talk about it later in her office on the second building before leaving.
After the session, I go to the 15th floor of the building where all doctor offices to get appointments and such using an elevator, I walk to the opposite end of the floor to where the office of Dra. Lue Galvacion is wearing her black rosy dress and skirt. Her natural dark brown hair has a bun on its back to not too loose down her hair. Her Chinita Face is evident because of her eyes and her round jaw.
As I open the sliding door I saw her secretary namely Susan and wave my hand at her then she points me to the waiting chairs lined up there.
I was the only one sitting while there is an ongoing appointment; I sit there playing online chess on my phone while waiting. The soundproof door opens hearing them talking to one another.
"Oh, really huh? Well then, see you later I guess?"
"Nope, I'm busy until next week."
"What a bummer." Pouting at her then she pushes him out of the office, while he was forcefully pushed away, he sees me recognizing my face.
"It's the gu-----" he was been shut by the door
"Let's move on shall we?" She said to me and I stand up and follow her
"Seems like a suitor eh?" I said to her
"Umm, maybe?" She said in a not sure tone.
"*laughs* Oh, its complicated then."
"You got that right." She smilingly said
"How long?"
"It's been on and off through the years, but we got closer recently."
"Well, at least you're happy with him, good for you then." I said to her shrugging my shoulders
She looks at me like she discovered something about me and suspiciously said "Right."
I sat on the front of her desk smelling faint scent of roses, kind of hypnotic sense I feel while she opens a file about the result "Where is the file, 'Jon Jacob V. De Palma' file (repeating 5 more times). Oh here it is. Open then tada!."
She moves the desktop to where I can see the file.
"Are you having difficulties this past month?"
" I feel so slow but It more exhausting even I do what I usually do during the day; for example; while I was doing my morning practice every day, even though it's lighter than I usually do it takes a toll on my body even myself have doubts if I can finish it. Next is what happening while I'm cooking, I have to take things slow because I'm getting more sloppy lately." I said as I think about what I have been doing this past month.
"Oh, then you must be taking the focus on what you've been all doing?" She knowingly said to me
"Yes, your right about that. I need to focus but it's not strenuous to my mind but it is paying it by my body that's why I take breaks even though it is frustrating to do on the first couple days I've been doing that." I said to her while she's been clicking something on her desktop using her mouse.
"As you can see here." She points and zooms into my nerves in my hand.
"You've been in a coma for two and a half months that most of your nerves were not functioning properly, you see the dark lines that are not glowing. The nerve called axon that gives information to the body was mostly dead. Only 55 percent are functioning properly only in your right hand, it's not just your right hand; all over is body has variety of percentages except the organs since it has been supported while you are in a coma." She said as she points it in different parts of my body, mostly the locomotive muscles which I need movement.
"Here is the odd part, you're an E-sport professional right?"
"Yes, Doctora. I'm an E-sport pro from the game called League of Legends. It's a pc game."
"Well, based on what you've said. Do you know the word myelin?"
"Nope, not a clue."
"Myelin is a fat tissue connected to an axon that gives info faster as you practice something in your body, getting thicker as time goes by to reduce the energy it escapes to efficiently deliver it to the body. Since you've been playing professionally, I have no doubt you must have that but the problem is; I didn't found any of that said tissue in your body, as if your body restarts to factory settings."
(T/N = google it, you'll be amazed by the neural system of the human body.)
"Umm, is it unusual to have that kind of problem?"
"Yes, because myelin is a permanent tissue that is apparent to your body. It will be an issue since most of your nerves have mostly dead, it will take more effort to do everything since it will be like to relearn your whole body again. It will be harder at your age now."
When she said that, it's the most horrifying thing I heard in my entire life. I need to know the answer if I can still play professionally.
"I need to know the answer to this, is there any way to recover from this?"
"Look at this." She zoom it 1000 more times.
"The half end parts of axons are permanently dead, it is highly caused of the long days of coma you've experienced that's why your body is ready to die in any given moment on those days, it's just that your family don't want to give up on you. there is no chance to get this back again. "
"Can you measure the response time of both of my hands?" I said, horrified of what will she said to me
"Yes, we've recorded that….. The results show the response time of left hand is 0.75s delay while the other is 0.89s."
Commonly, the response time of an average person is 0.25s since all people have been using hands in our entire lives. We aim as a professional player to lower that to efficiently play the game in offline tournaments. Since offline tournaments have no delays, it is in our ability as an individual to how fast we respond, think, and move all the same time that's why it's important.
While Doctora is talking more of the diagnostics, my head stop listening to her and thinking of what she said.
If I'm going to play professionally, I need to practice vigorously again but right now I'm more than 3 times slower than an average person to play League, the hard part is that I can't recover my original form for the rest of my life. I cry horribly in front of her as soon as I realized and Doctora saw that happening...…
I'm fucking done being a Pro-player.