Timely

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Jetpack prompt today is too timely. Among the four of us at home who had Covid almost two years ago, I was the only one whose sense of hearing was affected. When I had Covid, I heard loud sounds like several rolling drums. When I got well, my sense of hearing was affected. Initially, I could not hear ordinary conversations with people with soft voices. It went back to normal for a while or so I thought. It took me a year before I consulted an audiologist and an ENT. My ENT was not satisfied with the result so I underwent CT scan because eventually my left ear was infected. That was a painful experience. I was supposed to go back to my doctor these days for another check-up after more than a month but she was not around. I’ll be there again next Monday.

Quite apprehensive to use hearing aid. Besides being so expensive, I read somewhere that once you start using one, you ‘ll never recover having a normal hearing sense again. I need to undergo another audiogram.

COVID, you suck😷😠😢

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This Pandemic…

It is really sad that after more than two years of this Covid, lockdowns and people especially kids who were not allowed to go out, has a negative effect afterall. And it showed even if you were not affected by Covid.

Nissa and Obet brought Nate to the eye doctor for check-up over the weekend. His eye grade reached 300 both eyes. Being indoors has an effect according to the doctor. His eyes haven’t been trained for more than two years to far places/sites. The eyeballs have elongated so he is now nearsighted. You can count the number of times in your finger when they allowed him to go out.

Now wearing eyeglasses at the age of nine.

If I may say, Covid has changed my sense of hearing. I could not fully understand videos, songs, group discussions etc. It is slowly coming back now although I’m still finding it hard to listen in enclosed places. It’s just so noisy.

I wonder when this Covid would finally be eradicated. We still wear masks in going out. Lately, the Department of Health has reported around 3,000 people affected in the whole country.

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Let’s Not Be Complacent

If the reports of the Department of Health are true, we are now at the lower risk of Covid-19 averaging 500-600 positive cases for the past 4 or 5 days. One thing though, they still could not locate the passengers of an airline who came from Africa. I guess contact tracing is still nil. I wonder if they do administer tests upon arrival at the airport. Sure they have closed our borders to some countries because of fear of the Omicron. Sounds like Voltes 5 back in the 80s.

DOH says about 34M Filipinos are now fully vaccinated. And some frontliners are having their booster shots. I am still in a quandary if I need to have that booster shot come December 15, just six months after the effectivity of the vaccine. My question is, will everyone be vaccinated again after these six months? It would be a non-stop endevour as long as Covid-19 is still in our midst.

Some people are afraid if the government will declare lockdown again if someone is found positive of Omicron.

I ventured out again yesterday without Jovy and Josef, riding in a UV Express to go to the Ortigas Center to fix my problem with my change of PIN at Union Bank and to have my account updated at PNB. Killing two birds with one stone, that’s what.

I am planning to attend the 12th Sacerdotal Anniversary of a priest friend at EDSA Shrine on December 9. That would propably be the last trip on my own this month.

Oh, and it’s barely seventeen days to go before the much awaited event – CHRISTMAS ❤🌲🥂☃️🎄

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Welcome August

Took this shot yesterday of my Ruellia plant. I have three colors in the garden.

My gosh, time flies as always and before we know it, the BER months are here.

July has been too quiet except the time I had my second dose of Pfizer vaccine middle of the month and two trips to the grocery store across our village gate.

How often do I hear these words, follow your road. Life has been a little too quiet the past one and a half year since this Covid pandemic began. I learned that appreciating silence is so much better than going around town to see every one. Aside from being afraid of this Covid (I should know, coping with it was hard enough), I got lazy the past days so I usually read. Almost done with my Goodreads’ 2021 reading challenge with thirteen more books to go.

Gardening is another thing that I am focusing on. Except for trimming the carabao grass, I’m done pruning and weeding too. I enjoy shopping online, looking at cheaper items that I could buy. Delivery fees are cheaper at Lazada than going out. Fares have doubled since March last year.

Yesterday, I bought these button flowers which are commonly called Globe Amarant, nice mix with my other purple flowers.

I hope I will be able to propagate the seeds when this plant matures.

Follow your road. It maybe hard with all these problems our country is facing at the moment. Sometimes, it is also hard to just stay at home being quiet. This is the life we hve right now.

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Delta Variant…Scary!

WordPress reminded me again that I am supposed to write a blog today.

This Covid 19 Delta variant is quite scary. Although I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer, I am worried about this. Josef and Jovy haven’t been scheduled yet at JP Morgan. Nissa will have her second dose of Moderna on Monday. My son-in-law will have his first dose on August 13.

Research say that once you had the virus, your body builds an immunity for up to eight months and when you are vaccinated, your antibodies will work up to six months. What if in six to eight months, Covid is still active? These mutations like the Delta variant are formed the more people are infected. And once you have experienced Covid like I did, you’ll be wary of it.

We will be on enhanced comunity quarantine (ECQ) again from August 6 to August 20. Even everyday Catholic masses were suspended starting today until August 20 but you can attend online. Delta variant is now here in our country. I guess no matter how many CQs this government declares if some protocols are not met, Covid 19 is here to stay. No contact tracing, lack of vaccines and they blame the people when the number arises. Know what I think,they really don’t have concrete plans to address this pandemic.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, basic commodities that we need in the next three weeks. I also ordered food online that we could stock in the ref. Going out is limited during this lockdown.

When will this Covid 19 ends? We are still so far away from that herd immunity that they are talking about.

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I Am Fully Vaccinated

It is an uneventful week except waiting for my second dose of Pfizer vaccine which was done this morning. The wait was even longer than the first dose but it was very organized. You go through another interview (consent by the patient), taking of blood pressure and pulse ( they’ll write on you papers if you could be vaccinated) then the vaccination area. You have to wait for another 20 to 30 minutes for them to take your blood pressure reading before you could leave. The nurse confirmed that it was Pfizer by showing the vial. Nice 🙂

Taking photos at the vaccination area is not allowed but I took a shot of the auditorium. Good thing even if it was a three-hour wait, the place is so convenient because it is so wide. There were ushers who took charge of the movement of the people.

The other day, March 13, I celebrated my 12th year in remission. Thank God for second chances at life.

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Life As It Is Now

I think the last time I wrote a post was almost two weeks ago. This has never happened before even when I was on chemotherapy twelve years ago when I have just started blogging. I was able document my treatment.

I guess the longest time when I haven’t even visited WordPress was when I got sick with Covid. Having Covid and fighting it is not really worth blogging about, it does not deserve such.

To tell you the truth, I suddenly lost interest in blogging and sharing my thoughts in cyberspace. Maybe I deserve this hiatus, maybe not. And again I am sorry that I haven’t commented on your posts lately.

I could do just about anything now except gardening though I was able to trim some of our Pandakaki plants and Josef started cutting the carabao grass, finished a third of it. Some of our stepping stones are showing now. It may take several afternoons yet before we could put it into order. Really need to replant.

I took shot of our large jackfruit fruits which have grown bigger while I was sick. Our lone papaya tree has lots of fruits too. Our kalamansi trees are presently flowering but there are large fruits that we haven’t harvested yet.

I got engrossed again reading. An eclectic mix of historical, romance and lately started a book by Thomas Merton. It isnot the type that you read in one seating so I am biding my time reading it.

I haven’t been to the doctor yet. I still don’t have a normal sense of hearing. Still afraid to go out.

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From The Lens

No, Covid is not my favorite subject. In fact I am trying to avoid discussing how we were during the three weeks that we were on strict quarantine. It had a big impact though in our lives.

It seems like my life has drastically changed. I still feel its debris because every now and then, I have slight fever every day. There are times when I wake up but I don’t feel rested at all. I am taking Melatonin every night now to help me sleep but it seems it has no effect. There are times when I wake up and still feel so weak.

I read an article that it is not just fourteen days. Post-covid symptoms suddenly arise. My sense of hearing has become weaker. Ordinary conversations are high-pitched to my ears and noisy. There were times when I would hear those angry and strange voices.

I watch videos to pass the time when I can’t sleep (mostly about doggies) but I put off the sounds. I can’t stand too long to take a bath so I sit on a stool. I have a friend who almost lost his life because of pneumonia and his sense of hearing and his eyes were affected.

The effects of Covid manifest themselves one by one when it is gone. I have low immunity because I am a cancer survivor so I take vitamin D, sodium ascorbate with Zinc and my usual maintenance medicines. I alternate drinking green tea lemon,ginger juice and honey citron tea every morning.

It is hard to adjust but I have to. Thanks to a loving God who give us second chances at life.

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Don’t Downplay It, Covid Is Real

I think I’ve forgotten how to post. Last week, our LGU finally declared that we are now Covid free. I don’t want to go into details anymore how I suffered. For almost two week, I was not able to eat. I had body weakness but thank God,no pneumonia.

Until now I still have slight fever every day which my doctor friend says is the debris of the virus. I cannot stand for long. My sense of hearing is affected. Sometimes I hear voices. I could not understand videos because they are high-pitched and noisy. I talk to my friends via Messenger just typing words like this.

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Oh My!

Gosh I was quite alarmed yesterday morning when I came in from gardening and Josef told me he had fever. I get anxious when a member of the family is not well. At first, it was a slight one but last night it reached 37.9 centigrade. He took Biogesic and had patches of Kool Fever. Jovy’s cousin sent an oximeter yesterday.

It’s a good thing they have a 24-hour online doctors at JP Morgan so they had an e-consult. His fever has to be observed for 24 hours before they will suggest swabbing for possible Covid infection. Thank God, his temperature went back to normal early this morning.

Maybe he was just tired because the other day after his shift from work, he went to BGC (Bonifacio Global City) where their office is located and had some transactions at the bank. I even asked him if he could drop by Bank of PI later to withdraw some cash for me. All my transactions nowadays are in the form of cash. Since the pandemic, I stopped using my credit card for online transactions. Utility payments which I have enrolled previously before I left Bank of PI twenty one years ago are still made online, I still check my account balance online too.

Going back to this Covid alarm, I am still wary of it. Until now, they have only vaccinated about a million of our population, 770,000 of that had completed the second jab. Vaccination in our town for senior citizens has stopped because there is no available vaccine. I still blame this government for the “oh so slow” response to this pandemic. They’re not that concerned about the people. I wonder where the billions they borrowed supposedly for Covid had gone to. People have to make their own initiative of putting up community pantries to help our fellow citizens – seniors, jobless, stay at home heads of families with no work, jeepney drivers who can’t go to work.

Oh my, Covid is really alarming. Be safe everyone.

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