Hearing Aid And Other Health Concerns

Noel brought home his spare hearing aid but only for the left ear. The amplifier for the right ear was detached so he told me to ask an audiologist later if it still could be attached. Hearing loss is hereditary according to my doctor. Noel uses them in both ears.

I am trying to practice having both ears with hearing aid so I bought a a cheap pair but it is made in China. When I have my ENT check-up this coming December, I will decide to finally buy. They are so costly here.

I’ll be back for another lab test (FBS) in two weeks. My blood sugar has gone down but it is not in the normal range yet. Normal is 5.5, mine is 6.6. Unfortunately, my blood pressure has gone up. Praying that in my next visit, everything would be normal.

Noel brought home 2 big bags of healthy trail mix for my plain oatmeal diet, several tea variants and he gave me dark chocolate for diabetics. The others have their Fererro which used to be my favorite. One bag of this trail mix costs more than 5K here which I can’t afford.

One of these is good for one mug of plain oatmeal.

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Such Is Life

Went back to my internist at the Medical City and also to get the result of my laboratory tests last Thursday. Thank God for His mercy, my creatinine and blood pressure went back to normal although my blood sugar is still elevated. My uric acid too is not good.

I’ve been to an ENT last week and she prescribed three lab tests which will be done at the main hospital but I have to call them first for scheduling. I need a companion to go there. My sense of hearing is slowly going back to normal. My internist suggested that I have it checked before thinking of my cataract operation. I could now listen well to solo singers on YouTube but not in a group performance. Praying it would go back to normal. My doctor laughed when I said I still could see even without my eyeglasses and he said all the more reason that I have my ears check up first.

Two weeks ago, I was about 116 lbs and my doctor friend told me we should not lose much when we are getting old. Now, I am pegged at 120 lbs. I think it is good enough.

When one is getting old, there are so many illnesses that crop up. I never like oatmeal before but the past three weeks, plain instant oat is my usual breakfast usually with cashew nuts and unsalted and plain peanuts. Nuts help lower the glycemic index. Thrice a week I mix the oatmeal with hard-boiled egg.

Such is a life of a senior citizen like me😉

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Sad Turn Out

I finally got all the results of my laboratory tests last Wednesday and was scheduled for clearance by the Hub’s doctor next week. That is quite too long a wait. I went back to my internist at Medical City yesterday to have the results read. He told me that surely, the doctor won’t give clearance for me to be operated on because I have a high glucose, elevated creatinine and UTI. He changed all my medications and they are more costly than before. I spent close to 10K for a duration of one month. I have to go back to the hospital after a week for lab tests – FBS and urinalysis.

I have a history of chronic UTI since I gave birth to Nissa almost forty years ago. Goodbye cataract operation for now. I have to change my diet too. Learned eating oats and my rice intake for the past week is quite nil. I nibble on nuts when I go hungry and eat whole wheat bread for lunch and dinner. Hopefully by next week, my blood sugar has gone down.

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Know The Difference

Got this on my feed at Facebook today. Sometimes, most of us are paranoid that a simple cough or runny nose is a sign of COVID-19. When I feel that I have a sore throat when I wake up in the morning, I  chew a little fresh ginger and let its juice slide down my throat and it helps big time.

I lately learned that in some hospitals,  in almost every case of death, they link  it to COVID-19 and some of them charge Philhealth so much. Did you know that there is a case of 15B missing in Philhealth’s coffers?  Corruption is rampant everywhere and I find it funny that every time we discover such, the heads of such likely corporations end up in wheelchair. Talk of Ex-Justice Corona, Pres. Gloria Arroyo, Pres. Erap Estrada and now the head of Philhealth begged to be excused from the Senate hearings because accordingly, he is on chemotherapy. The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) was created in 1995 to implement universal health coverage in the Philippines. It is a tax-exempt, government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) of the Philippines, and is attached to the Department of Health. A lot of people are clamoring for the resignation of the Dept. of Health Secretary but the president would not let him go even if it is obvious that the department is being mismanaged and they don’t even have complete plan to address this pandemic.  Philhealth is the only hope for us Filipinos when we are hospitalized and yet they are saying that by next year, there will no longer be funds that could be reimbursed for each patient/member  of it. Where could you find that the head/task force leader in this pandemic is a retired Army general when most nations have doctors/epidemiologists/ science researchers in their midst. Only in the Philippines.

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Cloudy Wednesday

This is fun. Twinings tea in all five flavors. Aside from the Wild Berry and Apple, Cinnamon & Raisin I ordered before, Jovy ordered three more boxes in flavors of Strawberry & Mango, Lemon & Ginger And Four Red Fruits. I’ve tasted Strawberry & Mango before and I loved it.

I thought I was the only tea drinker in the family but I was surprised that Jovy and Josef regularly drink it too lately. He said he is not giving up on coffee but he could drink tea in successive mugs. Ah, the influence of a mum, haha! He usually starts work at 4am until 1pm every day and he needs a morning fix. It is an acquired taste. I love lemon and ginger when I feel I have a sore throat. There is nothing better though than our good old kalamansi. I extracted almost a kilo of it, added sugar and put it in the ref. All you need is either hot or cold water.

This morning, one of our neighbors (she’s about six houses away from us but I don’t even know her name) passed by. I was at the garden uprooting weeds and she stopped outside and told me I must really love gardening. My plants are not so common and ordinary. I remember when we had it landscaped back in 2010, the landscaper asked me if I don’t mind having a green garden, meaning some of the plants he planted don’t actually bear flowers but they are all green. I said yes but over the years I added some in pots and some of them are flowering plants too. Back to my short conversation with our neighbor, she noticed that some of our kalamansi fruits at the top of the two trees have ripened. Yes, I could not reach them even if I use our small ladder but I gave her some fruits. She was so happy. When she saw one of my flowering plants, she again asked if it was easy to grow it. I was about to prune it. It was my Scarlet Bush. I only learned of its name too a couple of months ago. I gave her three stems. Haha, my social life is picking up.

Hmm… Shakey’s Angus Steakhouse Pizza for snack. These two (Jovy and Josef) are spoiling Mom and me. It is so costly for just an afternoon snack. I love it though because it is not oily and has crunchy potato strings and sliced mushrooms on top. Yum!

And the rain is about to fall. It is so dark outside. Happy midweek friends! Strawberry & Mango tea, anyone?

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Wednesday Thoughts, It’s 1st Of July

How many times have you ever thought of those people you meet every day even at this time of pandemic? Did you ever smile and exchanged a few words with them? Have you ever thought how they  are coping with this worldwide problem that we have?

Some may probably look happy because all is right in their small world, some are probably thinking what to have for their next meal. Maybe some are  having problems financially but do we ever know?

Since it was only the two of us, Mom and I, I ordered batchoy from one of our neighbors (a resident of our subdivision) for lunch  yesterday since we had snacks from McDo before Jovy, Josef,  Jovy’s grandma and a cousin went back  to Fairview. They stayed here overnight to get more supplies since the two will accompany Jovy’s grandma till Sunday. They carted off their laptops, Oreo’s food supply, a half sack of rice and a few groceries to tide them over.  My favorite pastime nowadays is searching online  and see what our neighbors are selling for the day. There are no fish vendors here, they are not permitted to sell their merchandise to the residents here. I bought these milkfish (6 boneless daing)  to augment our supply of chicken and pork.  The vendor I bought from in  another street gave me free papaya pickles so I could taste it when I want to order. I am getting tired of eating something without fish at all. But who am I to complain? There are more jobless people nowadays who could not even provide enough for their families.

Lucky me, a fish vendor passed by while I was watering the plants and he stopped by our neighbor’s gate. I was able to buy a kilo of fish, no need to make a bargain since I know how hard it is to sell something during these times.

Some thoughts for the day:

There was this prediction from UP that it would reach 40,000 positive cases by the end of June and this spokesperson from the government raised his hand and executed a fist pump while saying that we didn’t reach that number.

YOU ARE REJOICING but we haven’t beaten COVID 19 yet, stats keeps on rising. Why would you be glad that those predictions were not met? We are talking of life here.

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Natural Antibiotics

Some plants that we sometimes ignore are under our very noses. Our good neighbor gave me a packet of Turmeric powder which was sent by her daughter from the US. I sometimes use it in fried rice, a cup of tea or recipes that require a little of it. I love using garlic  and fresh ginger especially in cooking Adobo (a unique dish here in our country).

These kitchen condiments are natural antibiotics. I am not sure about colloidal silver though. Not too familiar with it.

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Going Green

Going green again. Trying to imitate my brother Alden who is into fish, green vegetables and red rice now. Broccoli and Baguio beans sauteed in a little butter topped with sliced squid balls. Yum 

Greens are healthy.

 

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Meatless Saturday (Healthy Eats)

I found fresh Pako (fiddlehead fern) early this morning at Cainta market. Made it into a salad, with Ginisang Tokwa (Sautéed Soy Bean Curd) in slivers of fresh tomatoes and pork topped with parsley and green onions.

Have to take photos of these because they are my favorites.

Our dinner for tonight 

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Gardening Again

Morning exercise…..gardening!

Whew! That was quite a heavy downpour last night saturating the garden.  It rains almost every day now either late at night or early in the morning.

It’s the perfect time to tend the garden for a while. I noticed some shoots of my yellow Iris  growing with small roots. Have to cut them and replant. Trimmed my Mulberry tree too, it is fast growing and I am thinking of removing it for good. Mulberries grow tall as high as 70 feet  and they need a larger space to spread their roots. I am afraid that when this  grows even bigger,  our septic vault would be affected.  I already cut the branches but the roots are still intact.  Good thing it is just about a year old since I planted it as a cutting. I googled about it and I was so disappointed to know that it will take ten years before it bears those tiny fruits.

I need to transfer and replant my prayer plants. The outer leaves are already dry. If it does not rain this afternoon, they are next.

Prayer plants

They’ll be good combined with the purple-leaf plant that I have at the back garden but I don’t know its name.

Yellow Iris

Really need to propagate this lovely yellow Iris. It’ll be perfect at the round bed where the Mulberry tree is right now.

So much to do but I find gardening so fulfilling.

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