Operation: Take Two!

I was excited when I went home last Friday night. My husband and I wanted to surprise our kids for we had just bought an 8-ft Christmas tree!



When we reached home, Kaira was so excited to put up the tree. However, Keziah welcomed us with the wound on her sole. She told me in details the story of how she got the more-than-a- centimeter wound.



According to her, she was playing with her Ate Kei outside the gate that Friday morning. They were chasing each other when she stopped running and told her Ate that she's giving up because she is full. Probably they have just eaten breakfast then. She told me she felt something under her sole. When she walked towards the bench to check what’s under it, she saw blood on her right slippers. Her Ate Kei called up their Ate Arcie and they helped Keziah go back to the house. Her Ate Arcie cleaned the wound and put Betadine solution on it. As what Keziah told me, she still managed to go to school with her shoes on that afternoon. She told me that there was no pain with her shoes on. She seems to be fine that Friday night but since she looked so sleepy, I sent her to bed and asked Kaira to help me spread the leaves of the Christmas tree.



On Saturday morning Keziah woke me up, crying and almost crawling on the floor . She was suffering from severe pain. I decided to bring her to the emergency room. Luckily, her dad went half day in the office. But this time, he needs to be absent the whole day for he must join us to the hospital. I cannot manage to carry Keziah by myself. She can't walk at all.



Upon having the agreement with Lem, I helped Keziah took a bath. I suddenly felt that her body temperature started to rise. After rinsing her, I took a bath. When I came back to the room to dress up, Keziah was lying on the bed. She was complaining that her upper right leg was in pain- - - lymph nodes! I knew it! I can see that she really can’t bear the pain anymore so we proceeded to the hospital afterwards.

When we reached the Perpertual Help Las Pinas emergency room, many doctors---residents, pediatricians, surgeons, assistants---nurses, and even medical students checked Keziah's condition. People kept on coming from time to time asking the same questions over and over again---what happened, when that happened, what medications I gave, how did she feel, did she have fever--- and I kept on declaring the same story everytime a new person asked about it. I think more than 15 people examined her!



After more than an hour of staying in the ER, the nurse who attended to her most of the time (because it seemed that more than 1 nurse attended to her) mentioned that Keziah needs to be admitted to the hospital. The doctors said that an intravenous antibiotic was needed to fight the infection.



We stayed for more than half day in the ER. We're still on queue for the private room when our 'real' Pediatrician, Dr. Viola, came. He examined Keziah's wound and told me that he needs to have a surgeon check the wound further. A foot x-ray may be required to check if foreign bodies were left inside but a better way to check presence of a foreign body is through exploring the wound with forceps. I asked him if the procedure will be done with anaesthesia. He told me it depends on what the surgeon will say. He explained that the sole has higher pain tolerance so an anaesthesia may not be needed but it will depend on the evaluation of the surgeon. After the detailed explanation, Dr Viola left and we were finally accommodated in the private room at half past 5pm. A foot x-ray was done on that Saturday night.



On Sunday morning, it was only Kaira and me looking after Keziah. I woke up early to take a bath, fed the two kids, freshen up Keziah with a wet towel, changed her clothes, guided Kaira while she took a bath, then left for a while to buy my breakfast and buy other necessary things. When I came back, the 2 kids told me that a doctor came---one who was old and had white hair. I kept on thinking who it was. They told me it was not Dr. Viola. Later on, the nurse-on-duty came and told me that the surgeon already scheduled Keziah in the operating room on Monday at 8am. Just then, I realized that the doctor who came while I was out was Dr. Fernandez, the surgeon. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to him.



After sometime, Dr. Viola paid a visit again. He told me that the wound exploration procedure will be done on Monday but he needs to have Keziah’s lungs x-rayed, as a prerequisite for the general anaesthesia. That same afternoon, Keziah was fetched by a nurse with wheel chair to bring her to the radiology room for the chest x-ray. Later on, an anaesthesiologist came to visit Keziah in her room. She explained to me the prodecure and what we need to do prior to the surgery, particularly the fasting. I was already familiar with the procedure as this is Keziah’s second time for a general anaesthesia.



I woke up early today, Monday morning. As early as 6 am, I was already taking a bath as Keziah will be fetched by 7am. I took a quick breakfast of banana and bread, changed Keziah’s clothes and waited for the nurse to lead us going to the Operating Room.



I was with Keziah up to the OR, until she felt asleep. I was in full OR attire, felt like I am a nurse-on-duty! :) However, with matching headcap, I felt I was in gateway plant doing Dressings production trials! Hehe!



As mentioned earlier, this was the second time for Keziah’s general anaesthesia. The first time was 3 years ago when she had an eye operation. I cried a lot then, as I saw my 3-year-old girl suddenly became unconscious on my shoulders. This first time was more traumatic for me. She was so afraid that time that I needed to carry her on my shoulders while anaesthesia flowed to her dextrose. I felt her body became heavy as she became unconscious and I feel like laying a dead person on the bed. And imagine, it was my child! :)



This time, I was already prepared and never dropped a single tear! J The second time made me become ‘used to it’! Besides, Keziah became unconscious on the bed, not on my shoulders, and I only observed her slowly closing her eyes until she became unconscious. The anaesthesiologist asked me to leave when Keziah was totally unconscious.



I waited for Keziah in the companions’ lounge of the operating room. I have no watch but I looked at my mobile phone which is 45 minutes advance. It was 9:18 am. I was expecting that the procedure will take around and hour but after roughly 15 minutes, one of the resident doctors told me that it was done! I was so surprised how fast the minor surgery was! A few minutes later the surgeon came to the lounge and told me that he found a 0.2cm black foreign matter inside the wound. It was a good decision that the procedure was done because if not, the foreign body will stay inside the flesh, the infection will flourish and inflammation will not subside. The surgeon left and I waited for the crews to call me up and look after Keziah in the recovery room.


I stayed for long hours beside her, inside the recovery room. While waiting for her to wake up, I sent SMS to officemates---talking about work and issues at work. I called up the PeopleLink to inquire about my questionable Philhealth benefit. I sent SMS to Lem to request for Philhealth documents from his employer and I did this blog with my mobile phone! While blogging. I waited for almost 2 hours when the nurse told me to try to wake her up so that we could proceed to our room. As I looked at my child’s closed eyes, I tried talking to her, asking her if she still feels sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to observe everything around her. She seemed to be so curious and was wondering where she was. Thank God she was perfectly ok! After consciously resting for a few minutes, we were sent back to our room.



Right now, Keziah is recovering, watching her favorite cartoon programs but still looks groggy with ther anaesthesia she received. She actually is waiting for Mommy E. to come, whom she persuaded to come. My mom told me that she cannot pay a visit because she needs to attend to things in the office but when she talked to Keziah, she said she’s coming!



Thank God all is well now. Keziah had her second operation but everything is doing ok. Tomorrow, the surgeon will re-dress her wound and use a washable one. At last, we’ll be discharged by tomorrow!



My dear family and friends, thanks for all the prayers!




-maron-
26october2009
15:26 hrs

Learning to be Rude

Because Philippines was expecting a super typhoon Pepeng, the morning was so gloomy today. Besides, I woke up having difficulties in breathing. I am having asthma attack since yesterday and yet I needed to go to the office to have my things cleaned up, after typhoon Ondoy almost destroyed Manila. Though my airtube is constricted, I forced myself to stand up, take a bath, get dressed and eat breakfast. My husband prepared my asthma apparatuses, thus I easily had my nebule doses before I left for the office.

Seeing the aftermath of typhoon Ondoy in the office was such a disaster! The carpet had been removed and we were stepping on plain, wet and sticky concrete. Though the main door and emergency exit door was left opened for proper ventilation, there was still a strong fishy, stinky odor in the entire room. Water, around 2-3 inches high, was inside my drawer. All my documents filed in the lowest level of the drawer were wet and stinky.

All were busy drying, scrubbing, sanitizing, sorting and organizing each's files---others for drying and keeping while others are put straight to the "confidential docs for shredding" bags. The team shared a Chowking lunch and most left at around 2pm, rushing home to avoid the possible early attack of another super typhoon Pepeng. Having no choice, I needed to stay for the 2:30pm telecon for Project New World.

The telecon lasted for about an hour. Right after the telecon, I collected the files I hung which I tried to dry, then hurriedly went off to free myself from Pepeng. Rushing home, I took the LRT until Buendia station and rode a bus bound to Las Pinas---my usual route when I'm in a rush.

It was a normal 'way home' for me. Getting off from the train, I rushed down the train station stairs, turned right to get on a bus waiting for passengers. I normally don't choose seats in buses. I am not choosy with the location, whether it's on the front area, middle area or rear area of the bus. I don't choose seatmates. As long as he/she does not look suspicious, I sit with him/her. What I am after is the convenience where I can easily pass by and get off, especially when I bring along with me much luggages, like a while ago. I had my laptop and other personal things inside my back pack, plus I have another shoulder bag where I put things I needed to bring home and dry in my house. So this time, the most convenient seat was beside a sleeping man on the two-seat row, in the middle portion of the bus.

The man was not too young and not too old---maybe between 25-30 years old (?) He looks ordinary but not suspicious at all. He was not so tall, maybe around 5'4" - 5'5", dressed in a polo shirt, jeans and holds a plastic envelop with documents on his hand. Someone who looks like a job seeker but not too neat-looking at all. I never paid attention at him. First, because he was sleeping. Second, I have no other intention for him as long as I needed to be seated in a convenient seat. Third, I am so tired carrying all my things with me and what I only had in mind is to be home soon!

Trying to make myself confortable in my seat, I transferred by backpack from may back to my lap and secured my should bag on my lap as well. I reached for my mobile phone to slip in my stored value train ticket inside my mobile phone case. It is where I put the ticket so that I do not forget it whenever I change bags. After that, I tried to send SMS to my husband to inform him where I was. However, I received an SMS from a colleague, replied to her first before I sent SMS to my husband. After sending the text message, I reached for my coin purse to get money for the bus fare and then my phone rang. Another colleague was calling asking me how many people from my department is coming on Monday for the resumption of regular business hours. I talked to her but then I referred her to my boss for he is in a better position to answer her questions. After the conversation, I again sent an SMS to give the caller my boss' mobile phone number. The bus conductor then came, asked my destination and then I paid for the ticket, not realizing that somebody was observing my acts. Upon settling myself with all the things I did while inside the bus, I was surprised when the man suddenly talked to me, "Miss pwidi bang nakipagkilala?"

I was really shocked! We were already in Libertad then. All the while I thought he was sleeping. I never looked at him at all. I never noticed him and I never paid attention to him. To my combined shock and annoyance, my defense mechanism was to become snobbish to him. And so I just shook my head to reject his offer. I never looked at him nor even turned my head to the right to talk with him. I was very frugal with my words but he continued the conversation, "Bakit? May asawa ka na ba?" Snobbishly, I nodded to confirm as I tried to show off the wedding ring on my finger. I tried to look for another seat but there was no other space available.

This time, we were in Baclaran. Since I need to reply to an SMS from a colleague, I can't help but share with her that I was annoyed with my bus seatmate. After seeing my confirmation about my marriage status, the man never stopped. He continued to ask, "Taga-Las Pinas ka?" This time, I was disgusted. If only there is another seat I can take, I would have transferred. I did not answer his question but replied to him rudely, "Baket?" And then he said, "Taga-Las Pinas din kasi ako."

In my mind, I was thinking, "And so?! Who cares if you're from Las Pinas?!" I didn't reply then nor showed any acknowledgement to stop the conversation but when we reached Coastal Mall, he again uttered, "Miss, pwidi bang makuha ang number mo." All he received was a big shaking of the head from me! I was so exasperated then! I continued to ignore him, send SMS to my husband, tried to call him up as we decided to meet in SM Center, along with the kids, to do our Pepeng-preparation activities. Later on, I noticed that the man was sleeping. I was thankful and relieved.

After passing through the Coastal toll gate, slow movement of the traffic happened just before we reached the end of the express way. Unfortunately, the heavy traffic jam made more chance for the man to continue his rude acts. While the bus was situated under the Zapote flyover, waiting in the long and slow queue of vehicles, the man suddenly talked again, "Miss, pwidi bang makuha number mo?" Annoyed but trying to be polite this time, I gave him shake of the head. I was about to give him the number of my husband, or the number of my friend, or any other dummy number but I thought that it would not help at all. He even might think that I am willing to accept his offer if I gave him a number and so I just rejected.

Unfortunately, it took around 30 minutes more for us to travel from Zapote to SM Center, just near the Las Pinas Municipal Hall. There was a very heavy traffic and as the destination took longer to be reached, the more I was annoyed by the acts done by that man.

RFC Mall came and he did his third attempt. "Miss! Miss!" he said. I pretended not to hear him but then he talked louder. "Miss! Miss!" I slightly turned my head to him and when he saw that I responded, he again told me, "Pwidi ba makuha number mo?" To my annoyance, I gave him a big shake of the head, stood up and transferred to another seat nearer to the front. Luckily, there was a vacant seat there and it is easier for me to get off the bus in that area. Since I was about to alight the bus, I really needed to go nearer the door.

Just before getting off the bus and sitting on the new slot where I transferred, lots of things came into my mind. Why did the man act like that? Is he insane? Is he a swindler or a pick-pocketer? What if he becomes my stalker? Though firm with what I did, I honestly have fears that that man had a bad intention on me.

I was so conscious and cautious when I alighted the bus. I walked fast and kept on looking at my back to check if the man followed me. When I saw my husband waiting for me in front of BDO, I was relieved. I told him the experience I had in the bus and was very curious about it.

Having this experience, I am still asking myself if I did the right thing. Showing rude acts is not me but given the relentless questioning of the man, I think it's the only way to deal with him. I just hope that there will be no bad karma for me.

-maron-

02-03october2009

21:24 - 00:55 hrs

.

Traumatic First Time - Sept 26, 2009

Coming from an offset vacation leave last September 25 and looking forward for a relaxed weekend, I stayed up late online in FB that Friday night. I was waiting for my husband to wake up for his 3am call time in the office. I slept afterwards when he left and I woke up late the following Saturday morning.

I remembered my husband saying before he slept that Friday night, that a typhoon is coming. I did not pay serious attention to him as what came to my mind is, "It's just a typhoon! It's normal!"

But the rain woke me up that Saturday morning of September 26. It was just a normal rain. There was no strong wind so there was nothing to worry about. It doesn't seem like a typhoon at all. It rained for almost an hour but I was not alarmed. Later on, I noticed that water down south of the street where our home is started to rise. Still, I was not alarmed because that area of the street is really prone to flooding. A 5-minute rain will make that area a shallow swimming pool. So flooding in our street is really normal for me.

However, hours passed by and the rain did not stop. Flood came rising to the street in front of our house. An hour later, the water rose to our carport. This time, I was apprehensive, as more rain will make the flood rise up to our home. I called up my 2 kids to come upstairs for us to pray together. We prayed for the rain to stop so that the flood will not worsen. We prayed for our safety, their dad's safety, safety of our friends and relatives in LB and safety of the people affected by the typhoon.

By that time, my husband was not yet home then. He said he can't get out of the office due to heavy rain and flood. Still, the rain did not stop. I was very observant and getting ready on up to what extent the flood will rise. Normal flooding in our area was up to a quarter of our carport only. But this time, the flood occupied about half of the area. By that time, my husband called up, using a colleague's mobile phone, and he told me that he was trapped in Evangelista Street due to heavy traffic and flood. He reminded me to turn of the power source main switch, just in case flood goes inside the house. Hours passed by and the rain has not stopped yet. The flood water came almost near our front door. I noticed that the cars parked in front of the the nearby townhouse was already halfway submerged with water.

I started transferring our things from the ground floor to the second floor then--- all the photo albums and magazines, the kids toys, the throw pillows, the picture frames, the kids' school bags, the water dispenser, the rice dispenser... things got heavier and heavier. The television, DVD player and component was placed high enough not to be reached by possible flood. But my God! I was not able to lift the refrigerator! I only had my house help ready assist me. And so I left the refrigerator downstairs. After a few minutes, water was inside our house!

In less than an hour, the flood water came up to half of the lower leg. I sneaked from the window to check our neighbors, water already came inside the car.

The two kids were not so worried as they still enjoyed playing with the water. But I made sure they rinsed off well after.

After rinsing off, Kaira was so worried about Clifford, our pet dog. This dog left our home when the water was up to our carport but he has not returned yet at late afternoon.

Meanwhile, there was no electric power. There was no water from the faucet but I was always ready for it. I always have 2 big pails and 1 big drum of reserve water for emergency purposes.

It was so difficult to move around a flooded house. It's like living in a swamp wherein you need to step on muddy water everywhere you need to go. We all took a bath with our feet submerged under flooded water. It seems not 100% clean at all!

When I had already cleaned myself up, here comes Kaira shouting, "Mommy, si Clifford!" as she saw the dog swimming towards our gate. Clifford normally can squeeze his body off to enter the closed gate. This time, since half of the gate was submerged with water and he was so tired of swimming around 50 meters far to get to our house, he had no enough energy to go through the closed gate. He clung his front feet into the railings of the gate instead and tried to catch his breath. Pitying the dog, I went out to the gate, submerging myself up to the hips, and opened the gate for him. I watched him hurriedly swam towards the door and when he finally had his feet on the floor, I saw the poor dog panting. Touched by what I saw, I led him inside the house and fed him. It's nice to save the dog but I suddenly realized that I was wet with flood water and I needed to clean myself up again! :(

When I went inside the house, it was an entire mess! Garbage was everywhere! The things in the house that I ignored to transfer upstairs were floating...plastic jars, glass jars, cleaning materials, etc. But despite the mess, I reserved our center table for Shadow, our Rottweiler, for his bed and our sofa to the two other "askal" pet dogs we have. Bearing everything, we managed to deal with the flood. We ate dinner upstairs at 5:30 pm and I asked the kids to sleep after washing up.

Not used to sleeping that early, we played shadow-making from the candle light which served as our illumination. We then had story telling until the kids fell asleep. In between, I exchanged SMS to friends who were also affected by the typhoon---some stranded, some were safe back home, some telling stories about their experiences with the flood but there was no sign of my husband. Thinking that he had empty mobile phone battery, I just sent him an SMS not to force himself to go home and just stay in one place where he could safely stay and rest until the flood subsides.

Thank God, the rain did not worsen that night. We all had good sleep despite the terribly messy bedroom we had.

Morning came and the water inside the house subsided. All it left was mud, garbage and picture I can really call a "hurricane"! My househelp and I started cleaning up when my husband came. He had his own story of his experience and he struggled on the road with typhoon Ondoy.

We cleaned the house the whole day---an unscheduled, mandatory general cleaning happened. More than the general cleaning, my husband replaced all sockets submerged in the flood water for safety purposes. When all were settled and when we safely turned on the television upstairs, that was only the time I realized that we were much, much more lucky than those people living in Marikina area. News from all local television channels showed footages of how our countrymen struggled with typhoon Ondoy. Many people died. Many people were homeless. Many people were hungry, wet and feeling cold. Many people stayed on the roofs of their houses. Many people tried to survive using improvised boats of empty mineral water container. Many people tried to make a way over Meralco cables---that's how high the flood was! Cars were floating and bumped onto each other. Many people were missing. But on the contrary, it was a good news to see on television that more and more people start volunteering to help and rescue the victims. Many people are trying to gather donations for them.

Meanwhile I consistently received SMS from our IT Heldesk informing us that our Unilever office was affected by typhoon Ondoy. The office and factory area were totally submerged. Office files, furnitures, lab equipments, and even our server were totally wet. Colleagues who when to work overtime that Saturday were also trapped inside the building but the Management were responsible enough to take care of their needs.

Typhoon Ondoy was really remarkable! The street where our house was located is flood-prone but we never experienced flood inside the house in the past 5 years! This was a traumatic first time for me. I just hope and pray that there will never be a typhoon worse than Ondoy! But still, I feel blessed that all of us, our friends and relatives, were safe and surpassed the typhoon, except for my one colleague whose house was totally submerged under the Ondoy flood. Much support from our team was given to him and his family but still, we are thankful that all his family members were safe. And another good news?! ... My refrigerator which was submerged in water for almost 8 hours is still working! :)

Dear God, please don't let this happen again. Please hear our prayers!

-maron-

28-29september2009

23:34 - 01:55

Please click link to view video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfWip_PY5Ag

Plastic Bag

Because I have been having difficulty in breathing since weekend and the medications given to me by the Company doctor did not work after 4 days, she referred me to a Pulmonologist. Since the need was urgent, I visited the specialist on a Saturday. Along with my promise to Keziah that I will bring her to Baclaran, I just brought her with me to the hospital, i.e. just 1 tricycle ride away from my office.

It was a rainy, gloomy Saturday morning. Keziah and I rode the bus going to Lawton. Getting off at U.N. Avenue, we went straight to the Manila Doctors Hospital and went straight to the Radiology Department. I need to get my x-ray results. Not checking the film and the radiologist's evaluation, we hurriedly went up the third floor by stairs. (We can't afford to wait for the elevator anymore for I am afraid that the pulmonologist has lots of patient already.) After the complete examination procedure and testing, the doctor confirmed that there is nothing serious about my condition. My x-ray results are clear. It is just a recurring asthma, triggerred by my allergic rhinitis due to the sudden changes in weather and allergens I capture from my everyday routine.

After consulting the doctor, I decided to drop by my office to get rid off the x-ray plate, report the results to our Company clinic and purchase medicines from our Company drugstore as well. Keziah and I stayed at the office for more than an hour, for I need to check the BOM migration (Unforunately I still needed to work) and I need to charge my phone as well. We then left to office for lunch, ate at Jollibee (as per Keziah's request) and went straight to Baclaran by train. The rainshower has worsened by that time.

As we reached the Baclaran station, Keziah and I still needed to walk for 15 minutes before we can reach the Baclaran Church. However, the rain had became heavy so we needed to stop by McDonald's first. After finishing her French fries and Mc Flurry on a rainy afternoon, and after the rain had lighten a bit, Keziah and I headed towards Baclaran Church. We prayed, lightened candles and headed to the nearest drugstore for my medicines. (Unfortunately, the medicines prescribed to me are not available in the company drugstore.)

It was still raining when we went out of the church. As we walked along the road, I found a few items for Kaira and Keziah. I bought some and the seller packed them in a suitably-sized plastic bag. It was very easy to handle it and so we continued walking. However, knowing Baclaran, there are lots of people, usually children, selling plastic bags to impulse shoppers. Holding my umbrella with my right hand while taking care not to let Keziah be wet by the rainshower, holding the plastic bag with my left wrist, while hugging my shoulder bag in front (beware of pick pocketers and snatchers!) and grabbing Keziah with my right arms, a boy, around 10 years old, selling plastic bag forcefully tried to sell his plastic bag to me. I told him I won't buy. Since I have no free hands then, he put the pack of things I purchased in the plastic bag he was selling and tried to ask for payment. I was strong in my stand that I will not buy the plastic bag. I don't need it anyway and it just does not help in global warming. One plastic bag is enough! But the boy kept on saying that my things are already in the bag. I even told him that I will inform the police for he keeps on imposing. To make the long story short, we argued. Besides, I did not like the way he imposed his item. Maybe Keziah was annoyed as well so she took off the boy's plastic bag and dropped it. The boy took the bag and left.

Walking further, the rain became heavy. Luckily, Watsons is almost there. We purchased my medicines and as we went out of the establishment, the rain and wind had worsened. May people, dropbyers, shoppers and sellers are gathered in the small covered front, protecting themselves from the rain. I decided that we stay first and wait for the rain and wind to subside.

While waiting, a small girl, aroung 5 years old approached me saying, "Ate, bili ka naman ng plastic. Limang piso lang." Again, thinking that I don't need it and that I wanted to contribute saving Mother Earth, I said no to her. After hearing that, she just stood in front of me and did not say anything at all.

I tried to observe the girl. She is small, quite thin, round face with round cheeks and her cute dimples made me more interested about her. Looking at the girl and having Keziah on my right side, I tried to talk to the girl. I asked her, "Ilang taon ka na?" And then she answered, "Eight years old" with a slight Visayan diction. Surprised with what I heard, I looked at Keziah and tried to compare the girl to her. The little girl's height is only up to Keziah's lips! She's so small for her age. Keziah is just 6 and will be turning 7 in January.

I then asked the girl if she goes to school. She said no and continued, "dati po, sa Mindanao." Getting curious, I asked further, "Sa Mindanao? Kailan ka pa sa Maynila?" This time, I noticed that the girl tried to recall everything, looking at the ceiling, trying to think hard when she went to Manila. Giving up, she answered, "Hindi ko po alam e!"

This time, I pitied the little girl. I was thinking of buying her plastic bag but I suddenly realized that she needs food better. I tried to reach from my bag a pack of biscuit, Keziah's baon, and handed it to the little girl. She was so happy! She smiled, as if too shy to say thanks, and went off.

We waited for a few minutes until the weather allowed us to leave. It was still drizzling. On our way up the overpass to cross on the other side of the road to get a bus home, 2 young boys, around 5 years of age (maybe), were opening their palms to us, asking for money. Thinking about the banana bread I had in my bag, still a part of Keziah's baon which she did not finish, I tried to reach the 1 and a half pack of pastry from my bag's outside pocket. (Keziah was not able to finish one.) I saw one boy aggressively taking the 2 packs of pastries and making a good distance from the other boy, as if not wanting to share anything. With that scene, we left the two boys for we were rushing towards the other side of the road to quickly get a bus ride home.

That was Saturday afternoon... a gloomy, rainy but experience-rich Saturday for me and Keziah. It was a typical experience for me but I was very lucky to get the oppportunity to let my daughter experience and witness such.

I kept on reminding them, Kaira and Keziah, that life is not easy, that money is not easy to earn, and they are very lucky enough that at their age, they do not need to earn for a living, unlike other kids that need to work to eat at least one meal per day.

My kids are growing and they are starting to learn and understand better what the real world is. Exposures as such make them aware and realize the sense of all words they hear from me.

I am thankful and I feel so blessed that my children do not experience things that those less fortunate kids do. I can't imagine my kids missing a school year. I never wanted to see my kids asking for money in order to eat one meal a day. And I can't bear that my kids are walking on the streets, approaching people and selling plastic bags for a living...

-maron-

started: 02august2009

bedroom using my mobile phone

08:30hrs

--------

ended: 03august2009

on a bus along Airport Road

19:28 hrs

Constriction

I am stuck in traffic. I have been sitting on this bus seat since more than 2 hours ago. I left the office 3 hours ago... What could have caused this very heavy traffic jam?! Now, I again appreciate my mobile phone. I seldom use this for texting, neither for calls but I usually use this for free net surfing, and other time-wasting stuff like this.

Thank God the bus has moved fast this time but my oxygen requirement does not go along with it. My trachea is constricted. I have difficulty breathing! High air pressure is required to give my lungs enough air and to supply my blood with enough oxygen.

I have been feeling this since last week but it worsen today. I do not know what happened but it seems that something made my situation worse. I can't stand the difficulty in breathing and so I went to the doctor to have her evaluate my situation. Again, a dose of medicine should alleviate everything.

Trying to get a full rest from a physically, mentally and emotionally stressful day, I left the office early. Unexpecting this traffic jam, I thought I could rest early today. However, everything is not going in the right direction. Here goes the traffc again. My lungs are struggling. My heart tries to catch up and I hope it could carry on until I reach home...the only home where I can do everything to ease this suffering of mine...

-maron-
19:55 hrs
somewhere between coastal tollgate and zapote
28july2009

Alliance

I again witnessed a suspicion which I later on realized as a true crime.

I was on my way to the office this morning. I was riding on a bus and was seated on the 3rd row, very near the exit door. Midway the bus route, somewhere between Buendia and Quirino Avenue, a crowd seemed to be formed across the aisle where I was seated. A few passengers were about to alight the bus but somebody seemed to delay them just before the step down the exit door.

The bus stopped and waited for the passengers to alight. However, a few seconds had already passed but not even one passenger alighted from the bus. There was a man in front trying to pick-up something from the floor and would not move at all, while 2 other men at the latter part of the queue seem to be pushing and exchanging places, left and right. Two young students (from La Salle [?]---they were not wearing uniforms) were sandwiched in the middle and seemed to have a 'point of no return'. It happened for about a minute that these people lumped in the middle of the aisle. As I was watching the two men who kept on exchanging places, as I thought they need to alight the bus and positioned just opposite the aisle where I was seated. Suddenly talked, sat opposite each other---one beside me and the other on the opposite side of the aisle. This time, the man in front of the queue already went off the bus.

At first I was annoyed why these two men stood up but yet they were not going to get off the bus. Suddenly, one of the students who was sandwiched by the men attempted to go back to his seat, as if looking for something. He suddenly asked, "Nakita nyo po yung cellphone ko?" This time, the two men were already seated. The man seated on the opposite side answered, "Kinuha nung bumababa! Ayun o! (pointing at the man outside). Yung naka-blue. Habulin mo!" And so, the poor boy hurriedly get off the bus to chase the other student who was also in the middle of the men.

This time, I had a suspicion that the two men were also snatchers. They looked so concerned but I was really not comfortable with they acts a while ago, especially that one man was seated right beside me. I hugged my backpack so tight and tried to remember where I placed my mobile phone. After a few minutes, the two men alighted at Quirino Avenue. I then checked my mobile phone and it was still there in the pocket inside my bag.

After all the men went off, all the other passengers, the bus conductor and driver discussed and shared what they have experienced. They discussed where these men rode the bus, their strange acts, the poor La Salle student victims, etc. The bus driver kept o saying to the passengers, "dapat nung nakita nyo, sinabi nyo agad para ipaharang natin sa mga pulis!"

Now, I have confirmed it. There was really something fishy about what I have witnessed. There are lots of modus operandi happening. Is it really due to poverty? Nobody knows! There may be other deeper reason behind it!

Let's just always make sure that we always be carefule wherever we are---be it in public or private vehicles. Crimes are everywhere! Let's just be cautious and aware of our surroundings. And never, never show anything that could entice crimes as such!

-maron-
09july2009
12:43 hrs

Hundred Islands Adventure

June 12 is Independence Day and my long weekend was spent with very close friends as we headed up north to Alaminos, Pangasinan on an early Friday morning. The main objective of the trip is to test drive Nonoy's new car but bonding and activity was, of course, not to be taken for granted.

We were supposed to be 7 in the group, Nonoy, Marlow, Vincent, Chill, Aileen, Lem and I. Lem and I were supposed to take a public bus bound to Alaminos, Pangasinan, a 5-6 hrs land trip from Manila. However, Aileen backed out so the six of us just tried to squeeze ourselves in Nonoy's car. It was good that Honda Civic is so spacious. And so we fit in the car--- 2 in front and 4 stayed at the back seat.

We left Manila at around 7 am and reached Alaminos, Pangasinan before 2pm. That is of course including the long stop-overs and the adventures in finding the correct route. Once we reached the Alaminos town proper, we headed to the Lucap Wharf first to check out reservations for our accommodation in the Islands. Rates of the package we took for the activity are as follows:

• Park Entrance Fee: P40 per pax
• Boat ride to island: P1,800 (medium-size boat good for 6-10 pax, overnight), including 20-minute stop-over to 3 islands) + P1000 additional fee to stop over any island of your choice
• Accommodation at Quezon Island: P1,800 overnight, inclusive of electricity from 6pm to 6am, with beddings and a wall fan
• Extra utility water: P100 per container
• phone charging fee: P50
  
• Others: extra mat @ P400; service for cooking 1 kg rice @ P50, but costs P150 if you don't bring your own rice; service for cooking 1kg of fish @ P400; 1 can of softdrinks @ P40, etc.
• Utensils: P1,000 (inclusive of gas stove, plates, spoon and fork, drinking glasses, 1 knife, 1 pot, 1 pan + free container of utility water
• Big cooler for storing fresh goods: P50 (we negotiated from P250 to P50)
• Snorkling gear: P1000 (standard rate is P350 per set but we bargained at P1000 for 6 sets excluding the beach shoes)

Total cost for our overnight trip reached around P1,300 per pax, excluding transportation and toll fees. Total transportation cost for 1 car (Los Banos-Pangasinan-Los Banos) costs around P2500 and P700 for the fuel and toll fees (using SCTEX but not Skyway), respectively. If you will take the public bus via Victory Liner, fare is P381, one way from Cubao to Alaminos, Pangasinan. These were the approximate expenses we had.

We really were not prepared for the trip for it was only finalized 2 days before June 12. Considering that all of us were busy, details on the activities of the trip were not prepared. We were not able to research how to go about the islands, what activities could be done there, if food is available in the islands, if there is electricity, if we could stay overnight, etc... and so everything became a survival adventure.

Right after inquiring about the rates, we drove back to the town proper to take our late lunch at the "carinderia" in front of the municipal hall. It's good that everybody can speak Tagalog :).

After a quick lunch, we headed towards the mall nearby to buy something from the supermarket. It was suprising to know that this mall has no supermarket inside the building. However, there is a door at the basement heading towards the wet market. Having no other choice, we just bought our food from the wet market at the basement of the building---fresh fish, salted eggs, hotdogs, fruits, raw rice, bread, cooking oil, etc. and other utilities such as drinking water, charcoal, ice and a lighter with a flashlight (P10 only!) After that, we headed back to the Lucap Wharf and loaded our things, including the utensils and snorkling gear, to the boat. Finally, we're on our way to the Islands!

Quezon Island

After a 20-25 minutes calm boatride with lots of nice sceneries of the Hundred Islands, we finally reached Quezon Island, the island where we will spend our night at. We waited for around 3o minutes for check-in for somebody is still occupying the nipa hut. After checking in, we started to prepare our dinner---roasted fresh fish, "ensaladang talong" with green mangoes, tomatoes and salted egg, freshly cooked rice, fresh bananas and soft drinks. Take note... very limited utility water is available and so Chill and I, the housemaids, used sea water to wash our kitchen and eating utensils, and to clean the fresh fish and just rinsing them with the utility water. And imagine, no rinsing water is available for taking a bath! Chill and I used up around 3 liters of water to rinse ourselves after soaking at the beach. It was really a survival adventure in the island!

After the dinner, Chill and I, decided to plunge to the cool sea water surrounding Quezon Island. Relaxing is the essential part of the activity. As Chill and I enjoyed the calm waves, the houseboys were chatting while looking after us. They already had their beach bath while Chill and I were preparing dinner and so they didn't want to join us anymore. Suddenly, they discovered luminous spots on the sand and sea water. Amazed and curious, Chill and I also took a look at these creatures. They seem to be luminous fish eggs (?) that glow in the dark after being exposed to some light. After discovering the luminous creatures, Chill and I just soaked ourselves in the water for less than an hour while chatting. After that, we did our limited-water rinse just inside our hut.

Since we planned to wake up early for the island hopping the following morning, we tried to get to sleep at around 9pm. By 9:30, 6 of us were already settled inside our small studio-type nipa hut. However, we struggled to go to sleep because of the noise happening outside. Our neighbors were enjoying playing the guitar, singing, chatting, laughing, while the other is screaming because she saw a cockroach somewhere in their table. However, all of us woke up early the following morning with individual funny stories of their experiences during that night.

Picture-taking was the priority on that early morning of June 13. The nice sunrise was there. Our boatmen came at 6 am, as agreed but we were set to leave by 7 am. Our sumptous breakfast of rice, bread, fried "daing na bangus", instant pancit canton, and coffee gave us energy the whole morning. This time, Marlow and Noy prepared the breakfast! :D They also fried hotdogs as packed lunch and decided to cook rice in another island for lunch. After eating, we checked out, packed our things into the the boat, took the last pictures around Quezon Island then headed up to the Marcos Island for the second destination.

By the way, we will never forget the customer service of Mang Jay, the housekeeper and mayordomo of the nipa hut where we stayed. He really was so hospitable and approachable. :)

Marcos Island

It's good that the boatmen were good tourguides as well. They know the history of each island and briefed us of the activities we could do at Marcos Island, where the batcave was. Hundreds of bats hang on the ceiling of the cave and below them is the deep blue-green water. This cave has an opening heading toward the beach.

It was very hard for us to jump to the water inside the cave. Vince went down and up 2 times, attempting to jump off the 10-feet high rock going towards the water (I dont know how deep it is). But still, he used the rope to get down to the water. Chill and I went to the water through the rope as well because our contact lenses might fall off. Noy and Mar jumped off! Lem, the one left above taking pictures and videos of us, just handed over our things to the boatman then also went down through the rope. We spent a few minutes swimming in the water the went out through the mouth of the cave, going towards our boat.

Cathedral Island

The other islands are just for sight seeing and boats are not allowed to dock to the islands, like the Cathedral Island. This island has a cave that resembles the front of a cathedral. (Sorry, we failed to take a picture of it as we were amazed with the islands but were disappointed at the same time that we cannot dock at Catherdral Island.)

Scout Island

The Scout Island had the finest white sand I saw among all the other islands nearby. It has only a very small shoreline for docking the boat but the beach area is very good for swimming. You can also find few corals reefs for snorkling.

Giant Clams

In one area surrounded by the islands lives a number of giant clams. In the deep blue sea, you can find giant clams of different colors... white, orange, blue, etc. And of cource the beautiful coral reefs and colorful salt-water fish makes snorkling in this area more fun. (No picture at these moment for all of us are plunged into the water for snorkling.)

Children's Island

Our next stop was the Children's Island, an island surrounded by very shallow water, but not so fine white sand. A number of nipa huts are also available there but staying overnight was not allowed. There is no power source in the island.

There is also a view deck at Children's island wherein we saw another island connected by a small shoreline, just like a bridge connecting two ends. After taking some pictures, Chill and I decided to cook rice then. We went down from the view deck and cooked our rice inside the boat so that we need not unload the LPG tank and stove anymore.

The Tunnel

After cooking rice, we transferred to another island with a natural tunnel traversing the opposite side of it. IWe failed to ask the boatman about the name of the that island but we stayed for sometime taking pictures and enjoying the sceneries on the other side of the tunnel.

While taking some pictures, a water snake suddenly scared us as it suddenly appeared on a paddle near the opening of th tunnel. Observing it, we realized that it does not hurt at all. And so we continued our photo sessions then headed towards another island.

The Foot Bridge

After the tunnel, we then tranferred to another island with a shore connected to another island just like a foot bridge---the one which we saw from the Children's Island view deck. It was just a very small area and it was not as nice as we saw it from afar. But still, it was amazing to see that such a natural land formation exists.

We were supposed to take lunch in that small area but it started to rain. And so we just took our lunch inside the boat.

Governor's Island

Our final destination is the Governor's Island. This is where the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) house is located. Accommodation on this house costs P10,000 per night.

By this time, the rain became heavy and so we sheltered ourselves at the side of the PBB house. When the rain had stopped, we pushed ourselves up the view deck and had a look over the whole Hundred Islands. Of course a long photo-session was done there.

Back to the Mainland

It was the time to go back to the mainland. We had already seen almost all of the islands and the weather is starting to become unfriendly. There is no place and water for rinsing and so we rode back to the boat wet of both sea water, rain water and sweat from going up and down the view deck. Good for us that we did not rinse off and changed clothes before the boatride back to the mainland because the sea water kept on splashing at us. The water was not as calm and the day before.

After around 25-minute boatride, we were finally back to the mainland. The man whom we rented the utensils and snorkling gear came to see us, and checked out the things we borrowed from him. A bath house is available at P10 per head. It's considerable clean anyway.

After dressing up, we took a look around the souvenir shops nearby. Things are not too expensive there. Probably, they really have provincial rates! :D

Having that experience, I leave you with some things to keep in mind if you plan visit the Hundred Islands:

• Do not bring much toiletries for you won't be able to use it anyway. There is no utility water available in the islands. There may be some but it costs P100 per container. It's very expensive! The tendency is for you to use less toiletries because you don't have enough rinse water. If you have sud-free toiletries, then it would be better! :D If not, just bring enough for one finale bath, after you have gone back to the mainland. This will help lessen you luggage as well.


• Bring your own cooking and eating utensils! We rented the utensils for P1000, mainly for the gas stove. You can save this amount then if you could bring a portable stove with you. You can actually cook with charcoal if you want more adventure!


• Bring extra beddings if needed. You can use sarong and malong as beddings.


• Bring detergent soap or dishwashing soap for cleaning utensils. Use sea water for the initial rinse and use the utility water for final rinse. You can optimize the P100-worth of utility water then!


• Charge before you ride! There is very limited electricity in the islands so full charge your mobile phones, ipods and cameras before you proceed to the Islands!


• Use your swim wear as underwear on your way towards the island. This will help lessen your load as you travel.


• Use sarong instead of bath towel. This has same absorbing power as a bath towel but is less bulky and is easier to dry off! With the windy weather on the island, sarong completely dries off overnight.


• Bring plastic bags! This is for keeping your garbages and to put on your wet clothes as well.


• Bring your own utility water, if possible.
  
• Bring enough drinking water!


• Bring earplugs! Vincent is the most prepared one to have is earplugs with him. He was the only one among us who had a good deep sleep! Or maybe his medications also helped. He was not feeling well, took some Bioflu and helped him have a more comfortable sleep.


• Bring first-aid kits and medicines. You need this in any kind of trip. Insect repellents would also help especially during rainy season.

Though this trip was not completely planned, we were happy to discover that we finally survived the overnight island adventure. Though most of us were physically hurt after the activity---skin scratches, wounds, bruises, headaches, body aches, and even chicken pox (get well soon Noy!) all of us enjoyed the unforgetable experience. What is important here is that we had fun with each other, laughed at each other, teased each other, shared experiences with each other, considering that we have limited time to be together because of our schedules. We seldom see each other but we make sure that we have these kind of unplanned activites. These keep the friendship stronger despite the distance and time limitations we have.

-maron-

14june2009

23:26 hrs

False Alarm

It was 5 to 7 years ago when I was mistakenly diagnosed to have a brain cyst. I was recommended to have a head x-ray then for possible presence of nasal polyps. I constantly had colds, itchiness and clogging of throat then. However, it appeared on the x-ray plate that there is a white mass somewhere below the ear area. It was evaluated by the radiologist as mass in the brain area.

It was very alarming for the ENT doctor and for me, of course! I thought about my children, my family. I thought I would die soon! Or at least I would suffer with too many medications and medical tests. Thank God, the xray retest showed negative results!

I was still bothered about the initial results and was thinking hard what could have gone wrong. As I tried to recall every detail, I suddenly remembered that I was wearing a pair of pearl earrings then and the man who did my xray never reminded me to take my earrings away. Probably it was the white mass formed just below the ear area when the xray was taken sideways.

Meanwhile, 2 weeks ago, another incident happened, which I thought would be the start of my physical and psychological suffering. I have been feeling flu symptoms, from dizziness, to headaches, weakness, to muscle and point pains, but I never had any fever! I rushed myself to the emergency room. Routine laboratory tests were made like urinalysis and CBC. I stayed and slept in the emergency room bed for around 2 hours and the doctor told me that everything is perfectly normal. I noticed that the WBC results is lower than normal, 3.7 c.f. normal of 4.5 but the doctor reiterated that it's normal, that my flu is just starting to invade my system. Feeling dizzy and groggy, I ignored everything, went home and tried to have a good rest. I was on 2-day sick leave then.

The following week, I was still not 100% feeling good but I at least felt better. I then went to the office and tried to consult our company doctor. Showing her my CBC results, she was very alarmed about it. She asked me a number of questions and even retrieved by annual PE records since 2005. She asked me if I have a family history for leukemia. It's positive because my 2 first cousins died of leukemia and this is another very alarming news for me. The doctor advised me to have a CBC retest on the same day. And so I did and results really showed that I had low WBC count. It made me worry more, with the retest results having the same trend as the initial one. The doctor did not give me any medication but wanted to have a close monitoring on my WBC. I was scheduled to have another CBC test a week after, this time a complete CBC test with fasting, as part of my annual PE routine test.

I had the latest blood extraction yesterday morning. At the same time, I consulted the doctor because of my severe colds, the usual flu symptoms without fever plus never-ending sneezing and eye itchiness. The company doctor gave me anti-histamine and paracetamol for the flu symptoms. She told me that it could probably be flu with allergy attack, could really last up to 2 weeks and may not have fever at all. But there is still a possibility that I may have fever. And so I had my late breakfast and went back to work after the consulation.

I worked the whole day, attended an workshop learning cascade and was really not feeling well after that. I went to the clinic again to have my temperature checked. I have fever at last! The doctor advised me to go home at once, have bed rest and just call up the clinic the following morning to check my CBC results.

Here I am, on a bed rest, but blogging! :) I actually had just taken my breakfast, had taken some medicines and will sleep again in a while. I am starting to feel groggy with the medications I took. I had just called up the company clinic and confirmed that my CBC results have normalized. The low WBC count in the past few weeks may have been caused by viral infection but since my immune system is strong, I never had fever. But this time, my immune system has weaken, having infection for 2 weeks, and so I started to have some fever and my immune system cannot fight the allergic reactions anymore. Taking is optimistically, this is a very good news for me! I thought I'm dying (again! hehe!)! But I will have continuous monitoring---another CBC test after a week. And of course, since we have family history of leukemia, include anemia and prostrate cancer (my dad), I need to be careful with my health. I just don't want to be suspected again to have any other serious illness, even though it's just a false alarm...





-maron-
05may2009
08:53 hrs

Unjust

There are times that it is so difficult to fight for your feelings...to fight for your rights. In this highly political world, everything is becoming so unfair. Everything becomes so unjust. Innocent people become victims. They become the 'sacrifice lambs' to correct ineffective decisions made. We'll never know who the next victim would be. If it could happen to one person, it could happen to anybody else. Who will be the next victim? Up to what extent will it be? When will this stop? When can people receive same treatment as others? All need is a just and fair treatment. It if can't happen, then I might not be able to take it anymore...



-maron-
17april2009
23:55 hrs

Bringing Back Time

It was more than 10 years ago since we last got together this way... long chattings, nibbling, giggling... more than 10 years ago after our graduation in college. Sad to say, we need to ge together to say goodbye to someone...

Joyli (Joy Liit) is scheduled to leave for Japan next week, to stay with his husband and be a loving wife for him. This served as our despedida for her. Many people were invited but only a few got the opportunity to get to the venue. All were busy with their work. Others were away. Other got chores to attend to. As a result, only 5 people got a chance to meet.

It was so nice to hear stories and updates from my blockmate. I was surpised to hear stories from our professors in college. I was walso suprised with the stories that happened in college but I have never heard about it then. I was happy to hear stories of successful blockmates and had so much fun reminiscing the fun and memorable moments. And the highlight?!... our face never changed! hahaha! We were the still faces who were together during college times.

I was so happy to meet all of them. I had so much fun. It's a way to unwind from work. And it only proves that old friends will remain old friends until you realize that they are true friends. People come and go but only few remain. You may not find time to be together always but you will always true friendship once you got a chance to meet them again, after a long time of no communication. This is the same thing as Joyli's love story... they were on for 4 years, broke up and separated for 4 years and stil ended up facing the altar together!

Good luck Joyli! We will truly miss you! Always keep in touch! See you in Japan! =)

-maron-

25february2009

00:10 hrs