It’s Been A While

It’s almost five days when I last posted an entry here. Come to think of it, I got so lazy the following day after my visit to my new doctor/endocrinologist. Imagine waiting for almost five hours since I left the house. Her schedule says she has clinic hours from 8am to 12am. She arrived at 10am and it was just a ten-minute consultation. I showed the results of my lab tests and she explained everything to me. Her words were: medyo okay pero pababain meaning that at my age, my FBS seemed okay but it needs a little more lowering down to a level more comfortable. She has requested more tests in three months. Yes, I will have my next lab tests before the end of June, eight in all- FBS, HBA1c, Crea, CBC, NA, K, ICa and PPBS. I don’t understand them all so I have to make an online research. She is more thorough than my previous doctor. My main problem is, my medical insurance will expire on June 30 so I will have to shell out cash for further check-up and lab tests. Life nowadays is going back and forth to the doctor but at least the interval is getting longer.

I haven’t visited WordPress for quite a while, I am not even updated with blog posts from my friends here. Presently reading a series of Julie Garwood books about highland life. They are stand-alone stories about those lairds and their clans. I have always been fond of historical novels. I remember I almost completed reading Diana Gabaldon’s works years ago. I can imagine those horse-drawn carriages and those people who used herbs to cure ailments. The vista of clear and green fields that run from end to end…precious.

Checked my dasboard, short of 20 more followers to reach 5,000 and my stats showed a total of 691, 074. Not bad at all.

How are you finding the Jetpack switch?

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Wednesday Blues

I left the house early around 5 :30 am so I could buy breakfast at KFC after my FBS. I was on an 8-hour fasting last night for FBS today aside from three more tests that I had to undergo. I was early but I didn’t know The Medical City Clinic opens now at 7 am so I didn’t have to wait long.

I looked at the bill they charged for the series of tests, my, so costly. Imagine, four syringes of blood from both arms. Good thing, it was not so painful. I’ll be going back to my endocrinologist on Saturday. It’ll take two days before the test results are out. My endo has replaced my internist, she is both an internist and endocrinologist. My left ear is acting up again, sometimes painful but unlike before, the pain is tolerable. I like to see the result of my lab tests first before I go back to the ENT. The latter said my ear infection has a connection with my abnormal blood sugar. The things one has to sacrifice for one’s health. I am glad though that I lost more than a kilo since my check-up almost a month ago. Maybe my morning walks are helping😊.

I am not as worried with my health as I was before because I left everything to God’s will. I pray every day that I still would like to get well so I could take more care of mom and my kids. She is becoming so forgetful every day.

Our liver line Shih Tzu is already four-month old. A chubby little puppy. So happy to play with him every day.

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My Last Difficult Goodbye

So I am trying another Jetpack app this morning. In a few days, WordPress would have another algorithm. Good thing I already installed it on my tab.

They were asking what was my last difficult goodbye. It was when I lost my younger brother Alden last May 15, 2022 due to colo-rectal cancer, the same ailment that my oldest brother had back in 2003 and mine was colon cancer last July 2009. My oldest brother and I had gone through chemotherapy sessions, me with oral chemo tablets too and my brother with radiation treatment. Both of us underwent sigmoid surgery before chemotherapy while Alden chose an alternative cure and he was given three more years after being diagnosed. He was worried about the additional financial burden to the whole family. We regularly sent them financial help back then.

It was one Friday afternoon May of last year that Nissa and I went home to visit him. The day before that, no hospital in our place would accept him. When he reached home, he could no longer stand and had to be fed by his wife. We reached Pangasinan around 9pm and their driver, a cousin of ours fetched us at the bus station. My heart bled for him when I saw how he was, no longer talking but just nodding his head as I whispered in his ears. Sunday morning, that was May 15, Almeda, his wife woke me up and told me that Alden felt so cold. They called an ambulance but we talked about it. I thought it was a useless exercise bringing him to the hospital again. Some of our relatives came over to visit him. Nissa spent the longest time talking to him that Sunday morning we were due to go back to Manila. We were somewhere in NLEX when I received a text from my oldest brother that Alden is gone. I felt that was the longest trip we had.

It is so sad to lose a family member. The sadness could not be quantified and the sense of emptiness is greatly felt. That Sunday morning when we left for Manila was the most difficult goodbye. Memories with Alden will always be treasured.

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Another Visit

Yesterday, I went back to The Medical City Clinic to get the results of my lab tests. My internist endorsed me to another doctor, an endocrinologist. Since her clinic was held in the afternoon, I had to register and be counted before I went back home. I was her first patient yesterday afternoon.

She asked me about my medical history including when I had colon cancer. She also asked how long I’ve been diabetic. I told her I’ve only known it when I had my check-up after Alden’s funeral last year and Covid 19 was slowly leaving our shores. She changed my medications and I only have to take the two once a day but I could continue with my previous medicines until maybe after a few days more. I’ll be coming back for another check-up in a month after my lab tests in more than three weeks.

I breathed a sigh of relief that I have these brief days taking that much needed rest. She told me not to rely too much on Google when researching about my illness. It’s DM 2. It is really exhausting going back and forth for consultation almost every week. I still have to see my ENT probably in three weeks after my lab tests. The two nurses at the counter gave me a thumbs-up sign when I left. I told them I am a cancer survivor and one of them said I was so brave.

The doctor suggested that I drink plenty of water and eat fruits. I bought a kilo of grapes and several pieces of apples. These fruits are diabetic-friendly including nuts that I buy once a month. It is hard to choose what food to take every day.

And exercise is the key. A ten to fifteen-minute walk would help.

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It’s World Cancer Day

Today February 4 is World Cancer Day.

It is not really a celebration but to raise awareness to those who only know it as a word. Let us pray for all those who died of cancer, suffering from it and those who are survivors like I am.

Back in 2003, my eldest brother Royden had undergone surgical operation, chemotherapy and radiation because of colo-rectal cancer. I had sigmoid surgery in 2009 followed by six cycles of chemotherapy hand in hand with Xeloda tablets. Kuya Roy and I had the same surgical oncologist but we had different medical oncologist. Dr. Samuel Ang who operated on us was referred by my long-time OB Gynecologist from the UST Hospital. We are both survivors now but Kuya Roy had a brain operation almost three years ago at the height of the pandemic. It is one of the reasons why he couldn’t take care of mom. His doctor advised him to avoid stress. My medical oncologist told me that there is just a probability of 10% for cancer to be hereditary. I tell you, the long-term effect of chemotherapy is really that – long-term. One’s immunity becomes so low that we are easily affected by other illnesses, even after all these years.

My other brother Alden suffered for three years. The doctors eventually found out that cancer cells had invaded his body. He chose alternative cure instead of an operation. He left us last year and I am still thinking of what happened.

Cancer sucks. As I have always said before, I started this blog because I wanted to share my plight as a cancer patient and survivor. Back then, people visited my blog and shared their stories. Some were brothers/sisters of the patients. I met an oncologist Filipino doctor from the US who shared his experience when his father had cancer. Another doctor from the south asked me about Dr. Sammy Ang who according to some is the best surgical oncologist in the country. When Nissa was confined at the UST Hospital, her doctor told me that Dr. Ang’s son is also practicing in the hospital. Nissa underwent thyroidectomy in September 2019. They removed her entire thyroid because of a mass and smaller ones on the other parts of her thyroid glands.

PRAYERS for all cancer patients who are undergoing treatment right now. Believe me, it is not a walk in the park.

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A Bit Of Pampering

When I was done with my check-up yesterday,(that’s waiting for a few hours to be seen by the ENT for five minutes), I dropped by David’s Salon to have my hair trimmed.

I let my hair grow for a few months and it went wild this way and that. My health is my priority. Going to the doctor at least twice a week and having those lab tests every two weeks taxed my strength. So yesterday, I went to David’s. I was the hair stylist’s first client. Hair trim has gone up. The latter suggested if I want my hair colored so the gray infront of my head won’t show. I told her I don’t because I am waiting for it to grow all white but it is taking so long. I have very fine strands and somehow have become thin over the years.

Do you know, it is quite liberating (if that is the right word) not putting on make-up when I go out, it’s just a touch of lipstick and pressed powder anyway. Most of my face is always covered by face masks. My brother brought home several sets of ten face masks each when he and his wife came home for vacation.

I’ll be free for more than two weeks, that is without scheduled visits to my doctors. My ENT agreed that I’ll just visit her when I get the result of my FBS. Hooray🫠😀🥰

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After A Week Of Rest

Check up again. Waiting for my ENT to arrive at 10:00am. Been here since before 7am because I have to wait at the ground floor of the mall until 8 am with all the arriving patients of The Medical City Clinic. Better be early so my medical insurance would be approved early too. Never mind waiting for the doctor until she arrives.

My ear is no longer painful, thank God. It is a great convenience when you don’t feel anything. Josef and I are done gardening, the garden just needs finishing touches.

P.s.

At home now, will be back in three weeks after I am tested with my blood sugar. 1:00pm

I’ ve been blogging daily since before the end of December and yesterday WordPress informed me that I have blogged for thirty days. So glad really that I reached another milestone because I have set aside reading because of it. I have also new followers, they are all just starting at WordPress.

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Something To Think About

Cling to your faith like it’s the last leaf, hold on to the fact that getting well is not in your hands but in God’s ❤🙏💛.

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Thursday Visit

Finally, I’ll have a week rest from doctor visits. My next one would be on January 26. Josef and I might be able to prune the plants and trim the carabao grass. I am doing it little by little. I don’t want to tax myself too much. Good thing I also won’t prepare meals for a day or two. We still have the adobo I cooked two days ago and the embutido rolls sent by Nissa yesterday.

I asked my ENT if I still need to take antibiotics, she said it is not necessary because there was no growth when the ear wax was cultured. I breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t mention surgery although she emphasized that as long as my blood sugar is high, it would be difficult for my infection to subside.

I checked the meds I purchased from Mercury Drug last Tuesday, they are all sealed in boxes by the thirties except for one which contains 28 tablets and the pharmacist forgot to add two more. I dropped by the pharmacy after my check-up to buy Advil and I showed the receipt of all my meds. No questions asked, she gave the lacking two tablets. It’s what I like when people understand the plight of senior citizens like me. As they say, every centavo counts. Even the guard at The Medical City is always ready to assist the information nurse when my name is called because I could not hear well.

There are more kind people in the universe than those who rudely act as if they are smarter and brighter than you are.

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Crazy Friday

I went to Pasig Rosario branch of SSS, they said they don’t accept application for disability then I looked for their Taytay branch a little further, same thing but one of the staff there was very helpful, she wrote everything on what I should do. She advised me to e-mail Pasig Mabini first before going to an appointment. I asked her if my mom’s renewal of her survivor pension for this year was approved. So glad to know it was already processed.

I don’t know where Taytay branch is and those I asked kept pointing further still. Gotta walk far. I asked a teenager last and he pointed me to the exact location. I am not used to walking under the heat of the sun. The jeepney ride was quite far from the place. Exchanged e-mail with a senior staff of the third branch and he promised to accommodate me on Monday instead of another week because they also have number coding in servicing clients and my SSS number falls on a Friday.

My audiogram was three months ago. I worry that they might request for a newer one but my ENT said it is useless for my right ear because it is not yet well. I could not hear a thing.

I’ll be busy until Tuesday. Tomorrow, I am opt for another check-up, Monday, I’ll go to SSS then on Tuesday, I’ll get the result of my FBS then back to my internist for consultation. Will have to get mom’s meds from the pharmacist of our town on Tuesday too. I applied for a free monthly supply of Amlodipine for her ten months ago care of the Mayor’s office. It was supposed to be delivered today but they said nobody was home. Josef, Jovy and mom were here. Crazy! I don’t know if they knew how to use the doorbell instead of knocking at the gate. Even the dogs didn’t even bark. How’s that again, are they pulling my leg?

It’s tiring to go out almost every day but I have to do it. And fares and eating outside are more expensive these days. Everything is going up, up, up.

Special mention goes to a friend and fellow blogger Anne Mehrling who posts those lovely prayers for me. I cried this morning when I read her comments on my wall. So touching🥰😍😘 When you meet people along life’s journey and they make you feel truly blessed, you can’t help but be emotional. Warm hugs and tight embrace to you Anne❤👏👭

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