A Series of Unfortunate Events

No, this is not Lemony Snicket's but my own version of unfortunate events happening one after another. A month ago, my great-Aunt died. She was my grandmother's sister, and a second mother to my mom (my mom was actually led to believe she was her mother and sired by an American soldier, being a spinster herself. But that's another story to tell). So, she was very close to us, being the primary nanny to us siblings from the day we were born. She was apparently healthy in her 91 years, apart from the progressing dementia and had no previous complaints of any kind prior to the incident. After taking a bath that fateful Saturday, she experienced an epigastric pain, one that she would not admit to me despite her facial expression of pain and the obvious way she pressed her epigastric area. She kept spitting her saliva and I urged her to "sleep on it" (she had a history of ulcer 2 years prior). I had checked her vital signs and it didn't show any warning signs of impending doom. Nonetheless, after about an hour or so, my brother found her on her bed lifeless. We immediately brought her to the hospital though it was permanent (she was diagnosed of AMI--shucks! how could I miss it? And I call myself a medical student. I feel so inadequate, I should have considered that in the differentials). But she lived a good 91 years so it was not too hard to accept. It was bound to happen sometime. And she was lucky she had a quick and graceful exit. That brings a total to 3 living survivors of the 9 siblings of the Dael clan. A few days after her burial, her brother woke up, having difficulty in moving his body. The day before, he had been apparently healthy, going about in his tricycle, but had exhausted himself chasing after Chippy, the dog, who got loose from his chains. He was immediately brought to the hospital and was suspected of having a stroke. But it was ruled out as his symptoms were not really consistent with stroke. A few hours later, he had difficulty of breathing and was rushed to the ICU for ventilatory support. We later found out he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare disease that struck once every million persons (if this was a lottery, then my great-uncle is indeed lucky). He had never been hospitalized all his life but made up for it now, as his medicines are so expensive (8K x 8 x 5 = 320K). Anyway, this is another major blow to our family, afterall, his sister just died, I don't know how we can cope up with another death so soon. Fortunately, this disease is curable but he is 79 afterall, anything can happen (good thing now he is recuperating slowly, but he still needs the respirator though, so he's still in the ICU). A few days after this happened, a news came that would shatter my dreams. We have a school activity scheduled on the 21st. Originally, 3 of my classmates and I had planned a short trip to Singapore before we embark on our duties as clerks. We were scheduled to leave on the 20th. It would have been an easy decision--be absent on the 21st. BUT, our dean made this event a formal testimonial dinner/bequeathal and it is mandatory that we attend, or else we can not proceed to clerkship (*CRASH! there goes our hopes and dreams...) It was our finals week and it was so hard to study with this bothering our minds. Our plane tickets were nonrefundable, nonreroute-table and non transferable...how to solve? I checked with the airlines on the internet and there were no available seats for subsequent flights (*pouring my eyes out at this moment). We had a talk with our dean if it is possible to reschedule the said event however, the dean's schedule is also tight. If you think things could not possibly go worse, that afternoon, my mom messaged me and she was frantic. She said our mango tree cracked in half, and the smaller branch fell to the road, disabling the vehicles to pass. CRAP! I love that mango tree. I used to climb it for fruits when I was little, actually, even up to now, if my father doesn't find out. I felt like my spirit just left me. How could these things happen? I told my friends and one said, it's my own series of unfortunate events. Another said, when it rains it pours and right now, bad luck is pouring on me, but then, maybe, a string of good luck may follow it. I was depressed for maybe a couple of days. My intuitive mother bought me a half gallon of ice cream to cheer me up. And then I received a comment on FB that basically made my day. I was suddenly feeling optimistic. My classmates and I went to check again with the airlines, this time in their office and we manage to rebook our flight (though with 8K additional fee). I thank God that I'm an optimistic and cheerful kind of person. I refused to let it affect me because one, i have a lot more to be thankful for; two, I have a great family and great friends who support me; three, I'm in good health; four, I have good grades and five, everything is manageable.