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Chapter 8

Terraces

http://www.zcgvaz.com/i/TR.htm

Started 1 July 2008

Last Updated 23 October 2008

Terraces.jpg

Ancient inhabitants of the Mountain Province carved rice field terraces along the sides of entire mountain ranges about 3000 to 5000 years ago without tools.  They have been self sufficientsince.

1942 - 2008

    “Where do I start?”  Lynn asked.

     “ … Right here.”  Her guest replied.

     “This is where it began.  I was born here.   I even know which room.”  She pointed it out to the president of the WOWI club of the nearby city hosting the coming WOWI District Conference.  This is where I had my earliest lessons in communications and developed stage presence.  This was my grandfather’s porch.  Minus the area occupied by the stairwell, it was a  room size playpen with a roof and wall to post or post to post windows topped ‘barandillas’ around me to keep me in but still allow me to watch everything and everyone through spaces between the individually hand carved wooden bars.  There must have been a child’s gate at the top of the stairs leading to the front yard.    My aunts had the house remodeled after his demise much later.  I used to sit in the middle of the floor.  I sang, recited a poem or skipped around pretending to be a dancer.  The neighbors South of us watched through their window and cheered and clapped after each performance.  Sometimes, passersby stopped to watch for a short time.  Everyone laughed and applauded.  I was captain, toastmaster and star of my showboat.  The river was high.  The water level reached almost up to the upper floor.  It was flooded in the bottom floor.  This was not the first time.  The townsfolk were used to this kind of occurrence.  Most of the houses were built on stilts.  The shaded ‘silong’ or space  under the houses were used for protecting animals, doing household tasks or conducting small businesses.  Hardly any furniture were kept there except those that can stand water or are needed to keep animals in place  or can be easily moved upstairs when needed.  Most home owners enclose the lower floor with bamboo walls allowing the cool breeze to circulate and minimizing accumulation of odors.  The dirt floor was usually left as is but are covered with concrete in some homes.  Some homes converted the lower floor to more permanent living space but kept expensive furniture upstairs.  Those with small businesses had to move paraphernalia upstairs in the event of floods.  It did not happen every year.  Also, the flooding is variable and sometimes affect only a part of the backyard of residents on the river bank.  My grandfather’s house was better built than others.  He was, among other things, a carpenter.  He was not another hammer and nail worker.  He actually planned the layout, contracted workers and built homes.  This house is slightly higher than others.  The porch was at the upper floor, to the side and halfway to the back.  It is higher than the bamboo fence and front gate.  He had a spacious sloping backyard with a dock for his ‘banka’ and a small bamboo  ‘tulay’ sticking out of the back fence like a diving board for utility purposes and to serve as a pier.  During the worst flood, when people actually moved in the streets aboard their dug out canoes, it was possible to float out from the porch to the street or around the side to the back and then the river.  So, I was told later.  I have no recollection of such a thing.  In fact, I do not remember anything except a few incidents before I started attending school.  Why I kept staring at a certain point in the river is a nagging question no one ever explained.”

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‘Capiz’ shell and wood sliding windows stretch almost from one wall to the other providing a panorama of the backyard, river and opposite bank along with the bridge, her grandfather’s cousin’s house and the church.

     “It is probably just as well since the the forgotten period was during World War II.”

     “I wish I can empty my own memory bank as far as that era is concerned.”

     “I do remember some stories that my mother told me.  There was an old lady who showed up occasionally.  She came walking with a little girl from church to that bridge over there to the North.  Others thought they came from the clouds.  One of my cousins explained that it was probably just an illusion since the men who saw her were usually sitting on the handrails of the bridge late in the afternoon to just before ‘Angelus’ chatting.  The church patio is elevated to avoid flooding in the church so from where they sat, the two figures looked like they were coming from the sky.  My mother said that the statue of Sta. Ana with the child Mary sometimes had someone’s gift of a slice of ‘puto’ rice cake sitting at their feet on the pedestal.  No one ever saw who brought them.  That was the thing that made me remember.”

     “ … the mysterious benefactor?”

    “No.  The ‘puto’.”  That’s my favorite dessert and snack.”

     “Is that the Sta. Ana Church we see just beyond the foot of the bridge on the East bank?”  The WOWI club president asked.

     “You are looking at a four century and almost another half old Spanish era historic church.  It is funny that I never heard it called by that name.  We just referred to it as ‘simbahan’.  It was the only one in town when I was growing up.  The yearly River Procession used to start right at the stone formation jutting out of the water partly hidden by the columns of the bridge.  The Sta. Ana and Maria statue is carried from the church to a floating pagoda right there.  Then the procession proceeded towards us on its way to the adjacent barrios close to Lake Lawin.  It did not go into the lake.  There can be high waves there.  The mother and daughter team are not known for swimming.  Some had visions of them aboard a ‘banka’ that was cut at one end and patched up with a piece of metal.  The mother was not paddling.  Anyhow, more recently, the procession starts wherever the river is wide enough and stops where it gets to narrow to continue.  So, it starts on land before and after the river portion.  I think we have a good chance of seeing it close to here if not from our own backyard and windows.”

     “You know, we share the same river system but I have never been to the fluvial procession.”

     “Before the river dries completely, you should experience the centuries old tradition that goes with it.  We call it ‘pasubo’ or sharing.  People throw fruits and other delicasies securely wrapped in banana or palm leaves at each other.  I was well known as a poor catcher and a clutch so the older folks usually paddled right into our ‘tulay’ and handed me the goodies.  Someone mentioned the possibility of ‘Pandanguhan’ before the procession starts.  In the olden days, celebrations lasted as long as a month.  Dancing in the patio was the main event then.”

    “I’ll make sure to make it to the next one.”

    “In the meantime, pray for heavy rain before the third week of July.  The river has to rise and clean itself so lots of ‘banak’ fish populate the waters. That is the reason for the celebration.  We thank Sta. Ana and her daughter, the Mother of God.  The ‘Lola de Dios’ is also our grandmother.  She looks after our welfare.”

     “Are the details of the event going to be published anywhere?  I should at least know the date and where to go to have a good view.”

     “The city’s website should have all that information.  It should be on July 26.  Check the Catholic calendar for the date of the feast of Sta. Ana in case I’m wrong.  I have been away a long time.  I’ll call you before that week.”

     “Is the Malaki River in front of us?”

     “Yes.  It does not look capable of allowing two bankas tied together side to side to pass through  it right now.  We are still in the dry season.  Things should change at the start of the rainy season. The Maliit River heading East used to flow from just South of here to the side of the original Elementary School.  The buildings there were on stilts and there was an elevated walkway all around to connect them to the Administrative Office and Flag Ceremony area.  The water usually filled the playground during floods.  The river dried years ago.  Now they have to water the grass if there is still some..”

     “Where is the school?”

     “ … Just beyond the line of bamboo trees at the edge of that field across us.”

     “That is a field?”

     “It was till the irrigation ditches refused to fill up.”  Lynn sighed.  That entire strip of land on the North bank of Maliit River was a landfill.  Maliit used to be further North right beside where the bridge is now.  It was moved to where it was to reclaim land for a pasture for the parish’ horses to graze in.  Then cars obviated the need and the land was sold.  My grandfather’s cousin bought the lot at the corner of Malaki and Maliit Rivers.  He built a house right at the edge of Malaki.  It looked like a houseboat in the water.  Later, he built a two story house slightly behind and East of it.  After the war, it became the first local High School.  During the war, it was the Japanese headquarters.  The family was banished to the old home.  The Japanese lady was kept as hostage and interpreter.  My grandfather’s sister and her family move to a different town South of here.  One of my uncles stayed in their home across the river and farther North.  The rest of my grandfather’s family crowded in here.  I and a cousin just a few months older than me slept in the same swinging ’duyan’ crib.  Her oldest sister watched the proceedings on the church patio plaza through our kitchen window.  She later narrated everything to her mother’s father who wrote a short very non-judgmental book about the town later.

     “So you still do not know who were the good and who were the bad guys.”

     “ … Right.  People said conflicting things plus there was more than one group of guerrillas.  Only members of the ‘official’ one are listed in my cousin’s grandfather’s account.  He probably copied the list from the town’s official record.  Everyone did their thing and each individual is an unsung hero.”

     “I bet you were confused.”

     “I was confused enough at home.  My aunts taught me the three R’s.  My uncles taught me crazy stuff.  I was often asked to solve problems in Arithmetic to surprise people about my brain.  They gave me slightly complicated ones for my age.  To everyone’s surprise. I always had the correct answer.  I was told to reply ‘2’ each time.  The answer changed after I celebrated my third birthday.  They teased me about my ‘absent’ nose and claimed they couldn’t feel it when they passed a hand from my forehead to my chin.  Of course I felt it each time I did the same maneuver.  I retaliated.  Next time I was asked my name, I said ‘Linda’ meaning pretty with or without a nose.  ‘Me … Linda’ stuck.  They tried to change it to ‘Daldalinda’.  I objected loudly.  I knew ‘daldal’ meant ‘talkative.  I refused to answer any question about my name later.”

     “Did you go to school here?”

     “Yes. We moved to Kaharian after the war but my father was worried about my safety in the city.  So, I was enrolled in the Elementary School here.  I stayed with my grandfather and aunts during the week and went home on weekends.  By Sunday, we were here attending mass.  The older aunt took me with her to work on Friday afternoon where my father picked me up.  It was in first Grade that I found out I was not a good singer after all.  Children usually do not notice things like that but Dala was much older than us.  You see school was closed for years during the war plus she missed enrolling at the right time when it reopened afterwards.  She laughed.  The teacher who was doing a good job not reacting to my  bad performance broke out laughing too.  The other kids followed their example.  The following day,  the teacher visited my grandfather to tell him to tell my uncles not to teach me more poems.  Apparently I recited one about local gossip.  Dala laughed at that too but we became close friends anyhow.  She taught me a lot of things even adults did not know or opposite what they did.  She protected me from ‘know it all’ boys and bigger kids.’

     “I bet that included the rest of the class.”

     “ … and Dala too.  One day, we played under the school as usual but my right wrist was swollen and painful by the time I got home.  My grandfather questioned me thoroughly about possible reasons for injury including how Dala pulled or possibly twisted my wrist or bent it forcibly and so on. I think she was simply bigger and stronger and did not realize how extra fragile I was.  They used to call me ‘lampa’.  He examined my hand and wrist carefully and then applied a poultice made of ginger and wrapped it in a thick bandage.  He then took me to a friend for a ‘second opinion!!!’ as practitioners do today.  My father was upset when he found out about it later.  He asked why I was not taken to a real doctor.  My grandfather simply stated that he and an experienced friend both determined that there was no bony injury.  That was the end of the discussion.  I was well by then.”

 

     “Did you study locally before med school?”

     “On the first month of the third grade, my father announced that he was being transferred to Baguio City.  My teacher begged him to leave me in her care so she can raise the next Valedictorian from the family.  I objected.  I told them both the source of my exceptional knowledge … Dala!  She will be the Valedictorian for sure.  I had no reason to stay and every reason to see the world.”

     Lynn, her parents, young brother, grandfather and a female neighbor who would be their maid took a public bus to Baguio City in early August of 1950.  She never saw such narrow crooked mountain roads in her life.  There was a typhoon and parts of the way seemed to disappear in what was called ‘fog’.  Parts of the asphalt turned red.

     “That’s mud.”  Her mother said.

     Suddenly a whole side of the mountain turned red.  People became very quiet but visibly tense. They have seen this before.  They were lucky enough not to be buried by the landslide.  The driver forsaw the event and managed to speed through it and around a tight twist of the road.  Her grandfather did not say a word.  He stood up and walked to the driver and talked him through the rest of maneuvers on Zig Zag Road.  He never drove a land vehicle but he was used to maneuvering a dugout wood ‘banka’ in a twisted and narrow rivers clogged with water lilies and other boats coming and going not necessarily on the right lane.   Additionally, taking public transportation to visit Kaharian quite frequently gave him more than enough mental practice in difficult moves throughcrazy city traffic.  They somehow made it to the bus station.

     “Are there people alive in the city?  How long are we going to last?”  She asked.

     It rained for another whole week.  Her grandfather built a dining table with carved legs and skirt plus other simpler pieces of furniture.  They were provided with military style beds, mattresses, blankets and pillows.  They had to use the military bus for transportation between camps for social activities, the Academic site and schools.  They shared military jeeps with other officers and their families and took public transportation jeepneys to the market and other public places.  Then the rain stopped and Lynn was finally enrolled in her new school.

     The Holy Name College admitted her at the third grade level although she was behind by two months.  Their schedule did not match that of the public school in their hometown.  There were lots of notebooks to copy, past homework to do,  workbook exercises to complete, and special reading assignments to catch up with.  To start, she had to come up with  samples of different textiles plus write a composition to submit the following day.

     “What is a composition?”  Lynn wailed.

     “It is a letter with a different format.”  Her father walked her through.  She did it.  Her mother cut pieces from clothes or rags to represent linen, cotton, silk and wool.

Her father pasted the samples on her blank ‘Social Studies’ notebook.  He left enough blank spaces for her to fill with notes to copy from that of a classmate.

     Her English was not adequate for where she was.  Her Arithmetic was sluggish.

     “What are problems?”

      Her father helped solve the first one explaining that it was meant to calculate an answer which is the result of combinations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  She JUST HAD TO PAY ATTENTION to each step and progress from one to the other.  It was important to analyze and double check each step because if one is wrong, the final answer is also wrong.

     The medium of Instruction was English.  It was mostly Tagalog and some English where she came from.  No one was allowed to speak the dialect including Tagalog even if it is the national language.  There were too many heavy books.  She did not mind reading them at home.  Having to carry them was not going to be easy.  They had lots of pages and unfamiliar topics.  The characters were different.  She was used to Pepe, Pilar and Bantay or Juan Tamad and Juan Tanga.  She started wondering if they entered a different world during the land slide.

     The teachers spoke fine.  The sisters sang their words.  That sounded beautiful but she had trouble with her classmates’ pronunciation and vice versa.  She eventually managed to catch up wih late paperwork but still was way behind with study lessons.  She faked that since no written evidence of compliance was needed.

She was caught when she was unable to answer questions about those subject matters.  Her next lesson was how to comply with ‘punishments’!   A few tmes, she was ordered to write ‘I must do my homework everyday.’ a hundred times or more.  The cadets at the Military Academy taught her how to hold two or more pencils and write two or more lines at a time.  There is ALWAYS a way.  They were supposed to know how to make the impossible possible and use ‘unavailable things’ if needed.  She adopted them as brothers.  She did not realize till later that they automatically adopt themselves into officers’ families regardless of existence or lack of invitation.

     There was another typhoon. The Military supplied school bus did not come or was not ready to come that early.  They may have been dismissed early because it was a bad storm. She was the only student from their camp attending that school.  Others went to Aedificat School. 

     She followed the basic rules of survival.  First be alert to anything that may be out of the ordinary.  She realized that the school bus was not there for her.  She did not know about the storm and the fact that she was out too early for the bus.  The next rule is to decide a course of action.  She walked towards the marketplace where ‘jeepneys’ park to wait for passengers.   It started raining.  She put on her hooded raincoat and held her school bag behind her to keep it protected from the rain coming from the front.  Then the wind started blowing.  She tried to open her raincoat, pull one arm in to carry the school bag inside the plastic rainwear.  The wind was getting stronger so she gave up the attempt lest she lose her waterproof coat.  The wind got even stronger blowing rain into her coat and blowing her backwards or sideways depending on the changed direction of the wind.  The rain changed to a torrent and she was getting cold. 

     The next rule is to assess the effectiveness of her original action.  She obviously made a mistake.  The accompanying rule is to decide on an alternative plan.  It was too far to turn back and even farther to proceed to the jeepney station but she would find a ride home there.  She could not get close enough.  She flagged a cab.  It kept going.  It was on the other side of the street.  Perhaps it already was carrying a passenger or was not allowed to make a ‘U’ turn at the area.  She kept fighting the wind.  Then she noticed a cab on her side of the street moving slowly towards her.  She waved her free hand vigorously till the cab stopped and the door opened. 

     “Hurry up before you get blown away.”  The driver said.  He asked for her address and then slowly found their way to camp.  She showed the driver which row of cottages she lived in.

     He went down the concrete steps on the side of the hill.  Her mother was with him when he returned.   Lynn was soaking wet.  The book she had in her bag was in sad shape.  Her mother let it dry and carefully separated the pages frequently.  The covers and all the pages survived but were wavy.  The print remained beautiful.  The Mother Principal was not happy.

     Lynn made arrangements to pay out of her recess allowance.  The principal spoke with the Mother Superior.  The latter looked at her calmly and said something to the principal in Belgian.  There was a flurry of Belgianese from the principal after that.  She was not singing her words.  It was the typhoon all over again.  The only word Lynn caught and understood was ‘libra’.  The Mother Superior looked at her more studiously and said something to the principal.  It was probably an irrevocable final statement.  She turned around and left quietly.  The principal took a deep breath and resignedly accepted Lynn’s deal. 

     “You were made for business.”  The president remarked.

     “I just wanted to compensate them for their property that was damaged in my possession.  I had no idea how stupid a bargain I made.  The Mother Superior obviously appreciated my effort and intention.  She knew of course that I would have never been able to pay for the book.  It was a complete loss that she forgave.”

      Lynn recalled the Mother Superior asking her gently if she really wanted to pay for it herself AND if she thought she could really manage to do so completely.  She would forever remember the Mother Superior’s smile at her determination and unfounded confidence.

     At the end of the year, Lynn’s parents transferred her to Aedificat School so she would be with others from their camp next time she gets stranded.  It would not be as high class but the same sisters ran both schools so the standard of teaching should be the same.  At this point, they were probably informed of a remaining bill if any.  They were advised of the incident.

     Years later, a former Holy Name classmate transferred to Aedificat.  By then Lynn’s English and diction were a lot better and she was an honor student.

     “I thought you were dumb.”  The girl said frankly and amusedly.

     “Everything was different from where I came from.  I was ‘LOST’.”

     Holy Name College reverted to a Parochial School status.  A new School named St. Catherine was built close to their camp but Lynn’s parents and the other parents decided to keep their children enrolled in ‘Aedificat’.  In the meantime, students of Holy Name transferred to the new school which became the preferred school by the more elite.  Members of the less elite called it ‘Holy Cat.  This former classmate in Holy Name was not a snob.  She did not mind mixing with children of ordinary citizens or market vendors.  There were some Igorot students under the care of the sisters.  There were some of Igorot ancestry but born and raised in the city.  Lynn heard about the ‘sexy’ customs of the natives in the mountains..  They must have been part of the group of ancient tribes scattered around the Pacific basin now called ‘Simtribes’ by Archaeologists because of their similar customs. They used to wear scanty and revealing clothes.  They were head hunters and pagans.  This particular subgroup believed in Apo Baket and anitos and had their own rituals and prayers.  The people of the lowlands made fun of their dances and music but these were of religious nature.   They were actually prayers.  The olog was regarded as a dormitory of ill repute but it was actually a home for learning customs, traditions, religion, and skills in the Murung or school section.  There were separate ologs for males and females so teachers can focus on which skills to teach to the individual groups.   Interestingly, the sisters in school adopted the same division of classrooms and changes in certain items in the curriculum.  There is a girls’ and boys’ department.  The girls are taught different types of handicrafts and make projects for home or for attire.  The boys do carpentry, handle machines and so forth.  Once a year, each department has an exposition to display projects. The displays were not limited to crafts.  They included academic, artistic, scientific and other subjects.  These are held at different times.  The girls have theirs earlier in the year so the boys make it a point to be there so they know how to outdo the girls.  The girls wait the following year to outshine them.  The teachers took advantage of these events to test the quality of learning of the opposite camp.  One year, one teacher in the Boys Department quizzed Lynn repeatedly about a the same display.  It was an Anatomical illustration of the Human Renal Excretory System.  He wanted to see if she would get confused about the different structures and their functions.  Her answers stayed consistent.  He happened to bump into a man attending the display.  He made a comment about how she stood by what she knew and never waivered.  He did not realize that the man was Lynn’s father who naturally beamed wth pride and narrated the incident later to her mother and some friends in camp.  It was not till Lynn was in Medical School that she realized that she had a few things backwards.  They must have laughed at her expense. This was in her third year High School year and she was adamantly resisting the suggestion of going to Medical School at that time in life.  Well, she manageg to figure out her mistake later but she stood by what she thought was right as she heard from the teacher.  She had a way of listening to others instead of reading her assignments.  Reading was slowly getting more difficult for her.  She did take the time and patience to read preferred literature.

     It was all for fun.  There was no ill feeling and it stimulated more proficiency and ambition.  Occasionally, there were combined classes probably for the sisters to learn from.  Lynn was often a studentin such classes.  One time they had a class on family living.  Another time, it was about interaction and mutual support in different occupations.  It was clear that there were no men or women only professions.  It was also clear that there are physical limitations that may necessitate help from one or the other and cooperation was the key to success.

      Children in the tribe go to the  ‘olog’ after weaning at about two years of age.  Courtship is under permission and guidance of elders.  When a girl gets pregnant, men vie for her hand in marriage. In ancient cultures, survival was difficult and procreation was a priority.  The Kalinga tribe was the only one  in the Mountain Province group that allowed divorce.  The only accepted reason was inability to have children.  In the Native American Hopi tribe, there even is a way to counsel proposed couples about possible inheritance of genetic problems from different family lines.  Lynn was not aware of any undue excess of congenital problems among the Igorots.  She had ONE classmate who died of a congenital heart anomaly.  They carved the marvelous rice terraces on entire mountain ranges about two to five thousand years ago and remained self sufficient since then.

     Lynn’s father was assigned to the PC, now NP Headquarters in the summer of 1957.  By then, she had three brothers all younger than her.  She was enrolled in a Catholic Girls’ School in Presidente.  The sisters belonged to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary order.  Her classmates came from around the area.  They were homogenously blended lowland city folk.  One of her classmates challenged her to join the exclusive choir.  She declined.  She CANNOT sing!

     “I bet you will get in anyhow.”

     Lynn knew better than to bet against her.  She was the president of the class.  She obviously knows of a way to get her past the very strict and particular sisterin charge of the choir.  There would be a singing audition, reading of music and the like.  She was notified of her membership a few days later.

     “I told sister it would be an insult to subjectyou to an audition because you were one of the better ones in the choir in your school.”

     Lynn did not dare get her new friend in trouble.  After all, she was the one who said she wished she could join them on their trips to other provinces to sing in other schools.  The next trip was to her mother’s province which she saw only once at about the age of four or five years.

     “Someone is out of tune over there.”  The sister said during practice one day.  She was standing clear across the auditorium from Lynn.

     Lynn mouthed the words.  The sister did not hear any out of tune note thereafter.  Lynn went on the trip to her mother’s province and met members of the family of one of the sisters who travelled with them.  She also went along during guest appearances in different schools.  She just was careful not to make a sound.  They won against a prestigious boy’s college one time.  The sister in charge never found out about her adventures.  Years later, when she started singing in the OR or DR, everyone complained except the patients in labor.  The babies usually came out crying.

     “You made it that far.  You have a CV with you?”  The president of the WOWI Club in the adjacent city asked.

     “It is more than four pages long.  You may want to just mention highlights or the attendees will start yawning.”

     “OK.  I’ll leave copies of the complete version on the table for those who are interested.  How did you manage to do all these work in less than a century?” She asked after glancing at the different entries on the pages.

     “I couldn’t divide myself, so I allotted a day here, a few ours there and so on.”  Lynn explained.  “At the beginning, I had to find whatever jobs were available before we were finally allowed to take medical licensing examinations.  You’ll find repeat Internship, Residency Training, House Physician work, etc. until we moved to Arizona.  Then the concurrent jobs were due to different needs of the population.”

     “How did you manage to go to the right place everyday?”

     “I had some kind of fixed schedule so I can predict which week I have to do the Monday morning or Thursday jafternoon ob and so forth wherever/  I only showed up in the wrong place one time.  The nurses where I was supposed to be almost notified the police about a missing doctor.  I showed up at the nick of time.”

     “That was lucky!”

     “Then I had to gradually drop some special procedures because of my Retinitis pigmentosa.  That became a major factor for switching to General Medicine in addition to the malpractice insurance premium crisis.”

     “What is Retinitis whatever …?“  The club president asked.  “I never heard of it.”

     “It is a hereditary eye disorder characterized by progressively worse night blindness (low light eyesight) and tunnel vision (loss of ability to see the outer borders of the visual field going on  to something like looking through a smaller and smaller peephole).  There are associated difficulties such as poor depth and color perception, decreased ability to adjust to changes in light level and recognize faces.  All lights artificial and natural except bright  and/or direct sunlight get dimmer and dimmer.  The stars go away but the moon sticks around a lot longer.  Some have intolerance to bright sunlight and glare.  Those with RP are more likely to be nearsighted and /or astigmatic than farsighted.  Cataracts are not uncommon.

Cause???: genetic miscoding of the rhodopsin molecule so it does not assume the correct configuration required for transport through the intercompartmental membrane of the photoreceptors (rods and cones).  It therefore cannot carry out a subsequent series of steps in the process of receiving and forwarding light/vision messages and in the photo cells' maintenance.  The latter in time waste away and die.   This eventually spells R.I.P. for eyesight.  No, we do not say Amen.   

Cure: None

Precautions/Preventive Measures: Sun exposure prevention, protective eyewear  (protect from both UV and blue light).

Helpful Supplements and foods: Vit A rich foods; Lutein 20 mg a day (avoid taking at the same time as antioxidants); Lutein rich foods (spinach, mustard greens, kale, brocolli, yellow corn 5 times a week); Zeaxanthine rich foods (yellow/orange fruits and vegetables; take but limit Vit E to less than 400 IU a day if you want to see better, 400 IU/day to prevent Macular Degeneration (take with a little fat).

Body & Mind Care: healthy lifestyle, eye rest, eye massage, adequate sleep; positive attitude, strong will, support, prayer, visualization, meditation

Technological Aids: computer aids, reading aids, visual aids, mobility aids  

Seeing eye dogs (I actually saw more seeing eye spouses and relatives or friends than dogs during the conference.  I prefer the human touch myself.”

     “We all do.”  The WOWI club president added and kept studying Lynn’s CV.

CV

     “Is there anything that can be done to at least postpone complete blindness?”  The WOWI club president was curious.

     “There were proposed experimental procedures presented back in the late 1980’s.  Retinal transplant was one of them.  It was successfully performed in dogs in 1990 but did not work in humans.  Retinal cell transplant was done on humans,  The cells took but eyesight was not improved.  Gene therapy was talked about.  So was use of chip implants in the brain.  Then high dose Vitamin A was whispered around.  We knew that for ages.  However, they meant HUGE doses.  The amount used was secret for years.  Then 15,000 IU leaked out in 1993.  I was already taking multivitamins with the highest available Vitamin A component.  I took Vitamin A capsules not knowing the dose needed.  I increased that to two 8,000 IU Vitamin A capsules only to find out that the study used the .palmitate’ form.  I had good results with the Vitamin A in oil capsule so I did not swithch to the recommended form.  Besides, the authorities admitted that the recommendation was based simply on their experience and lack of a comparison report using the more available and less expensive capsule form  There were talks about stem cell therapy using the patient’s own stem cells present at the periphery of the iris..  There was no further report o that.  Last November 2007, a Japanese and an American study simultaneously came up with a way to produce non-embryonic stem cells.  At least, the religious aspect can be skipped.  The possibility of contamination with Sialic acid and production of antibodies that may lead to degenerative conditions and malignancy still have to be overcome.  Even without the Sialic acid contamination, the possibility of disorganized cell division and abnormal changes characteristic of malignant change cannot be ruled out.  CURRENTLY, WE ARE WAITING FOR THE RESULTS OF THE TRIALS REGARDING INJECTION OF Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor gathered from ciliary bodies from chickens’ eyes.  The safety has already been proven.  We are hoping to know how much to inject right into the eye and how often.  As usual, it is taking too long.  Such therapy will focus on prolongation of the life and function of the retinal cells still alive in the patients’ eyes.  I should be the ideal candidate I survive till that time.

     “Here are the new recommendations: 

 A. Patients just starting Vitamin A proceed with Vitamin A Palmitate 15000 IU by mouth daily and DHA 600 mg by mouth 2 x a day.  RBC DHA level monitoring is advised.  Stop DHA after 2 years.  Shift from DHA to Omega 3 fatty acid rich foods.  B.  Patients already on Vitamin A continue Vit A and add Omega 3 fatty acid rich foods to the regimen.  DHA plus diet change will not increase benefits further.”

     “What do you plan to do?”  The WOWI club president inquired.

     Lynn detailed her ‘Modus Operandi

NOW:  Modified Treatment Regimen B for patients with Retinitis pigmentosa 

 Increase fish and other Omega 3 fatty acids intake to benefit the eyes, brain, skin, Cardiovascular system and reduce effects of aging, menopause and Arthritis

 Continue Vitamin A

LATER: CNTF

LIFETIME MANAGEMENT

1.      Take 3 oz. Cold water fatty fish (salmon, anchovies, sardines, mackerel, herring, trout, eel, Pollock, tuna, tilapia, shrimps,  etc.) 1-2 x a week.  Fish oil derived DHA and EPA are biologically superior, present in higher concentration and more readily incorporated into plasma and membrane lipids and produce more rapid effects than ALA derived DHA and EPA.  The amount derived from fish oil is not dependent on conversion of ALA to DHA and EPA. 

2.    Use fish sticks only when other fish are unavailable.  Fish sticks may have been deep fried in partially hydrogenated oil not labeled as such by the bottler and unfortunately stamped with ‘No Trans Fats’ on the container.  Hydrogenation makes the cell walls of the body behave like plastic not allowing the flow of toxic and necessary materials for metabolism into or out of the cells.  It reduces formation of EPA and DHA from ALA.  High heat destroys ALA and other biologically active elements.  Re-using the oil causes further degeneration.   Adding extra Omega 3 fatty acids DOES NOT make hydrogenated oil good or even better than non hydrogenated oil.  It compensates only for the reduction of formation of Omega 3 fatty acids but not  the inability of the cell walls to exchange necessary ingredients for metabolic and ingested poisons.  Compare that to the lungs not being able to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide.  It gets unnoticed initially but eventually kills.  Most grocery samples have been refined and processed with chemicals and high heat resulting in variable loss of ALA and/or its ability to produce DHA and EPA.  This is the less toxic effect.  This is the only one remedied by the addition of Omega 3 fatty acids to the commercial products.  Closing of the pores is the deadly effect that needs to be corrected.  Opening up the pores of the cell walls do not get done by additional Omega 3 fatty acids.  The cell walls have to be changed first.  If there is no unhydrogenated oil in the body to use for replacing non-porous cell walls, the old ones do not get changed to healthy functional ones.  The body is stuck with non-functional ones.  All the antioxidants and anti-cancer substances we take do not get into the cells and the carcinogenic and destructive ones accumulate.  Metabolic enzymes do not get in.  Blood sugar does not get metabolized properly and bad fats, degenerative disease causing wear and tear products stay in. 

3.    Take nuts at least 4 x a wk.  It lessens the incidence of fatal heart irregularity.  Use unsalted mixed nuts.  Increase the percentage of TRUE nuts.  Add unsalted almonds (also available at the grocery).  Get walnuts when able.  These have the highest Omega 3’s in the nut group.  Peanuts are vegetables and cashews are seeds.  They have Omega 6 oils.  However, peanut oil is close to olive oil in composition, i.e. 2 gms. Saturated fat, 5 gms., polyunsaturated and 7 gms. Monounsaturated fat vs. 2,2, and 10 respectively in the same 1 tbsp. serving of olive oil.  Cashews also have high monounsaturated fat.

4.    Use Olive oil for most cooking and food preparation.  EAT fresh avocados.

 They eliminates the misfortune of using hydrogenataed oil not labeled as such. They can be used for baking and cooking except for deep frying.  Diced avocados are great for sautéing and stir frying.

5.    Use olive oil in my personal skin cleansing formulae and moisturizing lotion.    Add Vitamin A to the lotion but not Vitamin E because they interfere with each other's absorption and excess Vitamin E dampens the good effect of Vitamin A. on vision.  Swallow Vitamin E at a different time.

6.   Different types of beans can be used in place of or with soybeans.  Reduce Soy  protein to 20 gms. or less per day because soybean oil has both omega 3 and omega 6 oils.  Omega 6’s compete with omega 3’s in the use of available enzymes to form EPA from 3’s and EPA and Arachidonic acid from 6’s.  However,  it also is rich in monounsaturated fats, forms GLA (for brain function), and prevents breast, endometrial, prostate and intestinal cancer.  It also prevents Osteoporosis, reduces menopause symptoms, and is easy to incorporate in a calorie counting endeavor.  All beans have similar effects but not as advertized as soybeans.  Along with fresh fruits and vegetables and bran not cooked with harmful oils, artificial sweeteners, MSG and other usual ingredients in commercial products including some advertised as health food.  Avoid relliance on chronic use of Glutamate and Glutamic Acid for ‘good memory’ and taste.  The receptors may be overtaxed with chronic use and become non-functional when most needed later in life.  One useful drug reserved for management of moderately severe Alsheimer’s Disease depends on this receptor.  It would tragically be rendered useless.

7.    Continue Vitamin A USP instead of the recommended Palmitate form because the former is derived from soybean oil and fish oil plus it is in oil form and therefore does not require the concomitant intake of fat for absorption.  It worked for me.  Also,  these two forms change from one to the other as needed in the eye.  The main reason the Palmitate form is recommended is because it was the form used in the original study and proven successful.

8. Proceed with Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor {CNTF} Therapy as soon as it becomes available to the general public.  

     “Aside from trying to prolong the life of your retinae, I see here that you retired from everything including WOWI.  You told me that you are writing a book and planning on speaking to different groups to talk about the interrelationships among climate changes, socio-economic distress, war and religious upheaval.  What else is under your sleeve?”

     “I just got consecrated as a bishop.” 

     The WOWI club president almost avoided spilling her coffee.  Lynn pushed a paper napkin towards her.

     “Deep in the Mountain Province, the natives took much larger steps than I did without handrails to hold on to!”  Lynn continued.  “Across the globe, another group of brown people built terraces of stone from which they offered sacrifices to their feathered gods to ensure the continuity of world and life cycles.  As the situation became more critical, the number of offerings increased.  When things became dire, they offered more choice victims such as maidens and even their own rulers.  When it was thought to be the end, they offered their own children.”

All Rights Reserved MMVIII

Submitted for Copyright 2008

Magdalena D. Guerreo, M.D., FACOG/GP, (dr G)