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.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

More Prayers Please

Josef and Jovy went to the hospital yesterday afternoon. Josef had fever. After a series of tests, he was negative of Covid but positive of Dengue. They waited until 12am at the Emergency Room before a private room was available because he had to be placed under infectious diseases. No one is allowed to enter the room except the medical personnel and nurses. Jovy came home around 5am, we didn’t have enough sleep because I was monitoring them. She had to report for work at 3pm, bring clothes and the groceries I bought for Josef. He could not ask anyone at the hospital. He is all alone. Jovy has to bring the items to the nurse station. Sad😒 They also saw something in his thyroid which needs an EENT. I hope it’s nothing complicated.

An hour ago, one of the nurses at OPD at the hospital called me and he told me that I am scheduled for biometry for my eyes at 12 noon tomorrow. I asked him if they could postpone it for a week, maybe by then, Josef would have left the hospital. I could not just leave the house because mom is afraid of being alone. Hopefully, my opthalmologist would understand. If worse comes to worse, next week I have to go to the hospital.

I need your prayers please for Josef to get well soon and for the whole family too.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH❤😘🌺

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

A Leap Of Faith

You might wonder how our family has been since my brother was diagnosed with rectal cancer which has metastasised in his liver.

Allow me first to thank you all for  your prayers and words of comfort. It is helping us a lot that there are friends who also hope for a longer life for my brother.

Since he left the hospital, I call them everyday. He needs that moral support that we can give even in our small way. He has let go and let God do the rest for his healing. He decided not to undergo that much dreaded operation and even chemotherapy later on. Just to give you an idea, we are four siblings in all and my eldest brother underwent surgical operation with chemotherapy when he was diagnosed with the same ailment back in 2003. I had mine in July 2009 with six cycles of chemotherapy. I had doubts that this must be hereditary. There might be something in our genes  causing the three of us to have the same ailment. I remember what my medical oncologist said though years ago that genes/heredity  comprises only 10%  when you are diagnosed with colon cancer.

I was listening to my favorite  radio program the other week when they had this one-hour segment called Kaibigan sa Kalusugan  and their topic was about cancer and initial cure. They are a group of doctors who believe in alternative medicine. I left a message in their program which was also broadcasted on their Facebook page. One of their personnel texted me and gave me the details of their clinic near our place here in Manila. I texted back that my brother is in the province and Manila is too far for travel. They have a clinic in Pampanga  (more than seventy km. from our  place in the province)  so last Monday, my brother,  sis-in-law and a cousin who temporarily drives for them went for consultation. I googled their way of treating patients with different illnesses and I was impressed. Even my brother was all praises for them. They are doctors too. I was even more in awe when I read that they are known worldwide and that the medicines they prescribe to their patients are BFAD (Bureau of Food and Drugs) approved here in the Philippines.  My brother was prescribed three medications and they have to come back on Monday and bring new laboratory tests that they have requested. They even told him to continue with his previous medications prescribed by his doctors at the hospital.

This is a leap of faith. Hoping  for a better health for my brother. I always remember that God does not give us crosses that we can’t bear. He will always be there guiding our paths. Going through such challenges is quite heavy both for my brother and the family but we remain faithful and hopeful  to God’s wisdom and mercy.  There is a place where He wants us to be and we are truly grateful for that.

May God bless us all. 

Read Full Post »

Just A Practical Tip

This is quite a domestic topic but I just remembered to blog about it.

I often hear and read about this, vinegar use as rinse in your wash but I only tried doing it about a month ago when a friend told me that I can use it safely. We don’t have  a dryer here. Most washing machines have spin dry tub attached to it. Since this is a tropical country, we make use of the sunny days to dry our clothes.  Clothes line with your wash gently swinging in the breeze is still I think the best way to get your clothes dry and feeling fresh. Vinegar removes that mildew smell in your towels  and clothes.

I seldom use fabric fresheners nowadays. Taking advantage of the sunny weather.  It is a blessing that those with practical uses are often in our kitchen but we just ignore them.

Do you know that vinegar just like baking soda is a multi-purpose cleaner too? It’s a great way to make a paste of it mixed with baking soda and dishwashing liquid. Josef cleans the lavatory using this mixture and it is very effective. Just use a little amount of vinegar.

Read Full Post »

Take That Power Nap

Wikipedia defines power nap as a short sleep which terminates before the occurrence of deep sleep or what they call slow-wave sleep (SWS) intended to quickly revitalize the subject from drowsiness.

Power nap can make you alert and productive  but only if it is correctly done. So how do you do it? It takes good practice to take a 20-minute nap and wake up renewed and alert once more for another four or five hours work.

First thing of course is for you to find a good place to nap. Back when I was still working, some of my office mates and I were so used to taking a 20-30 minute nap during lunch break. An hour break is good enough to take a light 10-minute lunch, another 10-minute walk from the bank canteen to the 4th floor and around 20-25 minutes of power napping. Of course, it is kind of different from your afternoon siesta wherein you can sleep leisurely to your heart’s content. Lying your head down on your desk for a quick snooze usually brings relaxation. Less stress at work makes you more productive. Research says that it is better to have that all important 20-minute nap than going back to bed in the morning for another hour of sleep.

Contrary to popular opinion, napping is not for the lazy people who’ve got nothing to do. Napping gives you that shot of physical and mental energy in the middle of the day. It’s like giving yourself that all important adrenalin shot, keeping you rested and energized.

Read Full Post »

The Green Thing

Back to the days when life was simple and the environment was healthier than today. Let’s protect our environment, it’s not too late!  May we all learn from this. The cost of digital age.

This article is not mine but I want to share it all with you.

THE GREEN THING by Rob Baldwin

When at a store checkout the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own shopping bags in future because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”
The cashier responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”

She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunt.

But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every shop and office building. We walked to the shop and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two streets.

But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 2,200 watts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the county of Yorkshire. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not polystyrene or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.
We drank water from a fountain or a tap when we were thirsty instead of demanding a plastic bottle flown in from another country. We accepted that a lot of food was seasonal and didn’t expect to have out of season products flown thousands of air miles around the world. We actually cooked food that didn’t come out of a packet, tin or plastic wrapping and we could even wash our own vegetables and chop our own salad.

But we didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people caught a train or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza place.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we oldies were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Read Full Post »

Those Aches And Pains

As we grow older, we experience body aches and pains that come naturally with old age. We try to find something that would temporarily alleviate it. Actually there are so many soothing balms, topical analgesic and anti-inflammatory rub and the like but over the years we have found our favorites too.

Soothing Balm

I swear by this soothing balm by Human Nature, a local company that makes use of local ingredients.  It  has Bergamot oil. Instant relief  when you have that headache. And it smells so good.

Betet Balm

Betet Balm is made in Indonesia. It relieves simple headache, stiff neck, rheumatism, painful muscles, common colds, insect bites and itchiness.

Taichi Ginger Rub

I love the scent of ginger.  It relieves minor headaches and pains, sprains, muscle cramps as well as itchy skin caused by insect bites.

Vicks Vaporub

An who could forget this age-old Vicks  Vaporub. There is even one for small kids called  Babyrub.

Back when we were kids, Mommy always had this tube of Liberol Ointment. I wonder if this is still in the market.  When us kids would have colds, Mommy freely rubbed it on our chests. Instant relief.

 

Read Full Post »

It’s Healthy

Picked some mulberry leaves early this morning from a small mulberry cutting I planted about three months ago. It was given by our neighbor and luckily it survived. As it needs pruning to produce those spuds, I harvested the healthy leaves and made them into tea.

They say that mulberry tea leaves have many health benefits including the reduction of blood sugar. Mulberries are filled with nutrients that are important for our body, including iron,riboflavin, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, phosphorous, and calcium. Hopefully in a few more months  I would be able to see those tiny mulberry fruits.

Read Full Post »

When You Have Nothing To Do, Read Labels

I love collecting journals, that’s a fact. I have at least a dozen more  blank pages to fill up. Of course when you love writing, you also love having so many writing materials at your disposal right? I won’t say, it is a love affair with tech pens, colored pencils, Sharpie  and Stabilo markers. It all started when I was in my junior year in college majoring in Economics. I was fascinated with graphs. I don’t know of any other course that uses more graphs than Economics. Theories are presented in pie charts, bar graphs, curves, the X and Y points and the like. Using graphs means using different colors of pencils/pens to make it more understandable (at least in our time).  I am digressing again so let’s go back to paper and pen.

Just this morning I noticed that I was half way through a thick journal that I started almost two years ago, when Nate was born  and I scribbled some notes while we were at the hospital. It was followed by several recipes  and baking tips culled from the internet. Lately it has become a hodgepodge of thoughts and  ramblings, friends’ contact numbers and mailing addresses, quotes taken from recent reads, books I want to have on my shelves and some scribblings that I haven’t published on WordPress. Haha, this is really funny 🙂  A friend gifted me with a Pilot tech pen labeled .7 so I asked Josef if the print is smaller than the three tech pens he bought me with a .4 mark. He looked at me as if I have forgotten to do simple Math or Arithmetic, hay!

Last Saturday, we were at the mall and first stop was at a bookstore. I was looking for a fine-point marker that I could use to label my grocery purchases. You might find it weird that despite the expiry dates written clearly but finely on each can and box of grocery items, I still write them in bold letters and arrange them in  the pantry by expiry dates. OC? Probably.  Sometimes, I get confused by the words Best By, Use By, Best Before. What do they actually mean when you see these words? When it says the expiry date is 12/14, will it expire right at the start of December or by month-end? Packing codes which are a jumble of numbers in a particular product  are mostly found in cosmetic  items, shampoos, detergents, toiletries etc. I  asked a shop assistant once in a grocery store how they know when an item like bars of soap are already expired. He told me that the dates displayed on the box is the manufacturing date and  the expiry is normally three years after  if they stay unopened.

Do you read nutrition facts on grocery items? I do, although at times even if you know that it is not that healthy, still you buy it. Junk food is plenty in grocery stores. It is your own look-out to feed yourself with such unhealthy snacks just because you are tempted  to grab them at the grocery shelves.  This  Christmas, I  am planning to cook my own home-cured ham, a healthy alternative to store-bought ones that are sometimes too salty for my liking.

Read Full Post »