Hospital Diaries

(This is a long post)

PO?!?!?!

This was how I initially reacted when my OB Gyne confirmed that I had two ovarian cysts, one on each ovary, and I could have sworn my face went blank as if she was speaking in some alien dialect. And then she started explaining as mightily as she could so that it wouldn’t sound too medicalspeak for me, but in my mind there were only two words: WHY.ME. (???) Eventually it all boiled down to me having to undergo surgery to have the cysts removed and subjected for biopsy to check if the cysts were cancerous or not (benign). And so in a matter of three weeks, I had to physically and emotionally prepare myself for what would be my very first major surgery – something of a milestone, but never the kind anyone would wish for but was inevitable.

To cut the story short, here's a brief recap of what seemed to be the longest week of my life, so far:

MARCH 23: Surgery was not until the next day, but I was confined the night before for some pre-surgery preps and something of about six or seven different medical interns and/or residents asking me the same questions over and over about my medical history. I was also told that my surgery was moved six hours ahead of schedule, which meant that I’ll be in as early as 8 AM the next day. Gosh! By 12 midnight, I was already on IV fluid.

MARCH 24: THE day. Last thing I remembered, I was taken to the Operating Room on the 4th floor as early as 7:45 AM. When I woke up in the recovery room, it was already 8:45 PM, and for some reason my body kept convulsing so they had to give me oxygen mask and monitor my vital signs for another 30 minutes. I was taken back to my hospital room around nine past something in the evening, and I had a catheter inside me coz I could quite bring myself to stand up and take a leak. Surprisingly enough, there was not the slightest hint of pain which I was actually bracing myself for.

MARCH 25: Still no sign of serious pain; only a burning itch that build up whenever I’d get my shot of morphine every 12 hours. This time I was able to watch TV in sitting position, but with the catheter still attached inside me, I really wasn’t able to move about that much. My doctors dropped by to check up on me, and I was pressured to pass gas before I was able to eat soft solid food. But I guess my system’s not up for it yet, so I had to content myself with crackers and water during antibiotic intakes.

MARCH 26: Got my last shot of morphine, and I was finally free of the catheter thingy. I was able to move around and walk around my room with IV fluid in tow, as per doctors’ recommendation for faster recovery. By afternoon, I was finally able to pass gas and was eligible for soft diet (Think: porridge, noodles, soups). Next step is to move my bowel before I can finally get discharged from the hospital. Oh, and I also received a beautiful bouquet of 2-dozen peach roses from a friend. Lovely! ^_^

MARCH 27: I was finally able to move my bowel in the morning, and that same afternoon I got my discharge order and was home sweet home by evening.

So there. It’s quite an experience, actually, and not entirely a pleasant one. (Especially since hospital food always suck in my opinion, and not being able to move about as I pleased sucked just as much.) My only consolations were the cable TV, kind and hospitable nurses, the morphine shots, well-wishes and support from close friends, and the beautiful roses. (Thank you! You know who you are. ^_^) As for my parents, they were just the bestest in giving me the moral and physical support each step of the way. Today is exactly a week since my operation, and so far my body’s recuperating pretty well. I’m still a little low on my blood pressure, and my appetite has yet to go back to normal, but I’m just taking things one day at a time. I still have two more weeks of rest before I return to work, so I’m loading up on plenty of rest to help me get back in shape faster. Lesson learned: NEVER.EVER.TAKE.YOUR.HEALTH.FOR.GRANTED. Cliché as it is, it’s true when they say that, “Health is wealth.”

A blessed and peaceful long weekend to everyone!

Oz Trip Week 5: Homeward Bound

And so it was finally time to go home.

My last week in Melbourne was pretty much calm with not that much frenzy over work. I did a bit of last-minute shopping at the city, though, and was finally able to try out McDonald’s Mighty Angus. It was just… heavenly yummy!!! But before I was homebound, I joined the girls – Maya and Des – for some late-night bonding at the movies the night before my scheduled flight back to Manila.

GIB (Girls In Black) on our way to the movie

Since my flight was not until midnight, I still went to report for work on my last day, getting all deliverables done and some last-minute calibration meeting with my Melbourne PM’s. Over lunch, Kelvin and Rhic introduced me to this quaint little resto that served delicious steak with HUGE serving proportions. (And, as usual, I was a liitle short on the rice part of my meal. LOL!) By dinner time, I just had packed noodles and apple juice for the reason that, well, by this time my fridge had been emptied out of commodities already and I was too lazy to buy takeaway food. I just had to rely on airline food for something more filling. (And since I was flying Thai Airways, best bet was curry on the menu.) After what seemed to be thirteen long hours (I spent most of the flight back home sleeping, so I honestly lost count of the approximate travel time, LOL!), I was finally home sweet home, baby!

I’m gonna miss Melbourne and its nice people, not to mention its particularly cool and windy summer days. I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to go back, but I’m just grateful for having had the chance to travel and explore that part of the world down under. There were also bonding times in-between and after work with the other CTOM peeps. Hmmm… kelan kaya uli? :)

Gonna miss these days... :)

Oz Trip Week 4: RED Is For Valentine's Day (And Red Wine)

I celebrated Valentine’s Day this year quite differently from the usual eat-out-with-friends-or-family which I’m used to doing whenever that [literally] red-letter day comes around every year, and I’ve got quite a few reasons. One is that, well, I’m away from home on a biz trip and, two, I was down with a very bad case of boredom that day, added up with a tinge of homesickness and everything else sentimental. And so, when Regie popped the invite to go down St. Kilda Beach for the annual St. Kilda Festival, I was more than willing to go just so that I’d get a change of scenery other than my hotel room and for some booze and beach party as well.

It turned out that public drinking on such occasions were prohibited, but being the pasaway that we were, we snuck out a 4-liter red wine, plastic cups, and an empty water bottle just so that we can enjoy the booze whilst at the festival scene. Pretty sneaky, yes, but it worked. No one, not even the security personnel s roaming around took notice as the three of us – Maya, Regie, and myself – took turns helping ourselves with cups of red wine as if it were just some average berry juice. We were like silly teenyboppers who were giddy getting away with mischief! Unfortunately, we got much more than we bargained for.

Rock on, St. Kilda! ^_^

By the end of the night, Maya and I were a sight to behold along the sands of St. Kilda Beach – two stone-drunk ladies with only poor Regie to cling on for dear life, lest we’d be spending the night at the beach. Seriously. And by the time we were back the hotel, we were lucky that Kelvin was out in the hotel’s driveway to help us on the way back to our rooms. Hmmm… I can’t remember the number of times I threw up that night. And while I’m honest enough to mention these things in my blog, it doesn’t mean I’m actually proud of myself for being overly boozed up that night.

The next morning, one can only imagine how bad my hangover was and, tragedy of all tragedies, I lost my new phone! (See, I told there was some colorful story behind it.) I never wanna be in that state of mind and body ever again. It’s an ugly feeling, and hangovers the following morning are always just as nasty. I’ll just stick to a tall glass of mojito or some vodka, for that matter. Besides, those two have been my bestest companions during good times and night outs, next to my girlfriends of course.

Cheers!

Oz Trip Week 3: Mobile Phone Issues

I was almost inclined to believe that I was cursed where mobile connectivity was concerned while in Melbourne. For one, I never saw any “Free Wi-Fi” sign anywhere I went while on business trip, unlike here in Manila where even a simplest canteen or panciteria can offer free wi-fi to its customers.

Two, my network provider’s roaming service ALMOST failed on me, simply because my plan with MSF of PhP 500 did not include roaming services. It took me $10 to make an overseas call via local payphone in Melbourne to get the freakin service activated. I can still remember how irately I blurted out, 

“How the hell do you expect me to stay connected with my family if you don’t get your freakin’ service activated on my phone? Can you check my record? Last time I remember, I overpaid my last billing statement so your company still owes me roughly one thousand five hundred pesos, tama?”

to a most unsuspecting customer care agent.

Three, even after having my mobile roaming services activated, my relief was short-lived because my phone’s LCD died out on me out of the blue, thus rendering my phone useless. As for me, I had to purchase pre-paid call credits to call home, which roughly cost me about $30 all in all. Worse, I’ve been missing all calls and SMS on my SIM card which makes it a bit unbearable that time.

Four, so I decided to shop around for a cheap mobile phone that would not exceed $50. I eventually got one, after almost an hour of window shopping around for the best deal there was. Unfortunately, the unit I got was SIM-locked to Vodafone so there’s the matter of having to unlock the unit when I get back in Manila so that I’ll be able to use it. Oh, and there’s also the itsy-bitsy issue of activating the SIM card because, unlike here in the Philippines, you need a valid ID and address to have your SIM verified and activated. Maarte, yes.

Five, I eventually lost the new phone. As for the details of its demise, that would have to wait until my next entry, because it’s got quite an interesting story behind it.

My only consolation? Well, I was finally able to enjoy a tall glass of mojito on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Really nice! And Star Wars was showing on local TV that time. I dunno, but after watching the flick on tv (and with nothing else good to watch), I think I may have just been converted into a fan. LOL! Oh, and surprises of surprises – I was told that my trip would be extended for two more weeks. Cool! I was already looking forward to s couple more colorful days in Melbourne, even if I suck with mobile phones. Haha!

Oz Trip Week 2: Settling In

When I first checked in to my new room at Seasons, my initial reaction was, “Oh wow, this is nice!” As it turned out, mine was a lot bigger compared to the other rooms I’ve seen so far – plenty of room in the sala-kitchen area as well as in the bathroom. Really nice! First thing I did was to unpack some of my clothes from my luggage, and took in the new scene from my balcony.

Hmmm... I could get used to this! ^_^

Saturdays at St. Kilda Road

That same afternoon, I was eager to do my very first grocery. By this time I already have a pretty good idea of how to go about the city, so within the next half an hour, I was making my way and doing some window shopping and grocery as well. I ended up buying a large tote that was originally marked as AUD 30, but since Australia Day sale was up, price was cut down to AUD 9. Nice deal, eh? As for the grocery, bought all my stuff at Woolworth’s, just enough to last me another week since I’ll be back in Manila the following week. Or at least I thought I was.

Arrived home an hour and 30 minutes later, and I was excited to cook my very first meal. Menu that day was beef strips with greens, so I hurriedly stuffed the fridge with items bought from the grocery, set out cooking rice and the beef strips thingy. Hunger pangs were restless by the next hour, and as soon as the skillet was off the stove, it’s meal time baby! Can I just say that I’m quite proud of myself, because the way my beef strips tasted was very much like that of my mom’s. I opted to go healthy where dessert was concerned, so I had sliced watermelon and green grapes in a bowl. Sweet!

Good thing it's Australia Day, and prices are marked down!

Bon appetit!

There were two consecutive holidays that time – CHARTIS Day (Monday) and Australia Day (Tuesday). It would have been so nice to wake up late and enjoy a lazy day without having to go to work, BUT my boss wants to get some urgent things done SO I literally had to drag myself out of bed to report for work when everyone else were out enjoying the holidays. Good thing I was allowed to leave work early on Tuesday, so I still had time to join the boys for some more tour of the city. They introduced me to this quaint Thai resto where the serving was B-I-G but good, nonetheless. By Friday, I joined the girls for late-night grocery spree at Coles and Safeway, and then some bonding time over beer and vodka at Bernard’s place. Oh yeah, I was also informed that I’ll be staying for yet another week. Oh well, it looked like I’ll be settling in for a longer time than originally planned.

Movie Buff Strikes Back

It’s been a while since I last came up with a movie review, probably because there have been weeks when I couldn’t find time to watch the movies that were showing in the box-office for the mere fact that, well, I was super busy. No exaggerations. Good thing I was able to score some time off to spend at the big screen these past weeks, lazing away at the movies – something I’m very much fond of doing, next to photography, that is.

Valentine’s Day

A star-studded ensemble

I originally planned to watch another movie while in Melbourne, but since the girls wanted to watch Valentine’s Day, I decided to give it a go, plus it was my first movie experience in Oz. From the title itself, I was expecting an ultimate chick flick and loads of mushiness, and given the star-studded ensemble of the movie, I wasn’t expecting much as far as the story was concerned. That’s why it was kind of a surprise when I didn’t find the movie too girly at all, nor was it too mushy for my taste. (Trust me, I’ve had my share of the cheesiest and heavy mushiness in some movies I’ve seen so far, big screen or otherwise.) In fact, the movie has got this lively humour and an ensemble of characters which I’m sure most people – men and women – can readily relate to. (I know I did, I just won’t say which character was it. Haha!) It’s still a romantic movie, though; and most of the plot are way too old-school. (Think: guy-realizes-that-his-true-love-was-his-best-friend-all-along kind of thing.) The Taylor-Taylor team-up was a bonus for the female viewers and fans (like me), and the movie did have its memorable scenes. My favourite part? It’s gotta be Taylor Swift’s interview for a local tv news where her character in the movie the lashes out a not-so-Taylor-Swift act. ^_^

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

The next Harry Potter??? Hmmm...

This was one of the double-movie treat I’ve had with my parents two weeks ago. I was initially thinking that it would bore my dad to death, given the fact that the movie offers you a bunch of demi-god teenagers on a quest that takes them all the way to Zeus’, err, gods-only meeting in Olympus. Seriously, that is not my dad’s idea of an action flick. Turned out, he liked it and he was glued to the movie the whole time. Personally, I was surprised that I’d still catch the movie in Manila on its fourth week at the box office, and people are still lining up to watch it. Probably because the makers of the movie did a good job in giving the Greek mythology a modern twist, not to mention a few noteworthy veterans alongside newcomers in tinsel town. (Think: Uma Thurman playing snake-y Medusa and Pierce Brosnan as wise centaur Chiron)Now I’ve learned that it was actually based on a series of so-called Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, but I haven’t read any of them. But if they’re planning to come up with a movie series based on the books, the outcome of their first attempt looks promising enough for another round of sequels. And since the Harry Potter saga is coming to a close with the much-anticipated two-part finale, it’s a good idea to have a fresh set of movie series to look forward to.And yes, I might even take interest in picking up the Percy Jackson books pretty soon!

Alice In Wonderland

"Why is a raven like a writer's desk?" - Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

Believe me when I say that throughout the course of my childhood, I’ve never really took much interest to read, much less to finish, the tales of Alice In Wonderland. I don’t know, but I guess the whole thing seemed bizarre to me as a kid, and even years since. The only reasons I had in watching this movie were: 1) I’m a huge Johnny Depp fan, and 2) the thought of watching in 3D again following Avatar seemed like a nice idea. I had to drag my parents into watching it, plus it’s their first 3D movie experience.

So how did I find the movie? Oh let me see… well, I can only assume that there were more than a hundred times when the Red Queen shouted “Off with her head!!!” throughout the movie; Anne Hathaway’s interpretation of the White Queen was too exaggerated for my taste; Alice was in dire need of a blush because her on-screen make-up made her looked like a ghost; and Johnny Depp, as usual, was divine where his acting was concerned. In short, there was very little for me to like in the movie, save for Johnny Depp and the whole 3D effects thingy. Other than that, I wouldn’t even bother watching it on video.

Oz Trip Week 1: Loong Flight, Booze And Tennis

If there was one thing the long MNL-BKK-MEL (Manila-Bangkok-Melbourne) flight taught me, it’s that I was sorely in need of an mp3 player. Seriously. With 13 hours on-board the plane, switching between time zones, a 30-minute stopover, and seemingly unending immigration protocols at every airport – an mp3 player could very well become a traveler’s best friend. Unluckily for me, the idea hadn’t struck me yet that time, so I was pretty much stuck with my mobile phone and some 30 songs which I was able to download. Airline food was so-so, and while I was one seat apart from an Aussie cutie, he spent much of his travel time sleeping and curled up in a blanket, so not much hope in striking up a convo there. Although, in-between sneak peeks, I can only admire his toned biceps and attractive Aussie tan. LOL!

Immigration protocols were a breeze when I got to Melbourne International Airport, and in a couple of minutes I was on-board a taxi for another 20-minute drive going to Seasons Heritage in St. Kilda, where I’ll be staying for 2 nights and then I’ll be checking-in at a nearby Parkview Hotel for another 2 nights, and then it’s back to Seasons for the rest of the duration of my supposedly 2-week business trip. (Blame it on last-minute reservations during the 2010 Australian Open season for a crazy accommodation setup.) Anyways, I was homesick already because of the long solo flight and I haven’t gotten in-touch with the other CTOM peeps that were also on respective business trips in Melbourne. In short, I was bored to death. AS IN REALLY REALLY REALLY BORED TO DEATH. Good thing, I was able to hang with the other peeps the next day, and was lucky enough to score tickets to the upcoming Australian Open games that coming weekend. (Thanks to Regi Tan for the tickets, by the way.) My first Friday night was spent drinking booze at Belgian Beer Café, and since then I’ve been a fan of Stella Artois and anything Belgian booze.

My first Melbourne sunset... ^_^

Saturday came, and although there were slight hints of light drizzle and gray skies during the morning, it turned out to be hot and sunshiny all throughout the rest of the day. I’ve never watched a live tennis match in my life before, nor was I a tennis enthusiast, for that matter. But somehow, I got into the tennis fever that hit Melbourne, especially when you’re around people who seemed to be akin to the whole tennis craze. We didn’t have tickets to watch the bigger games (Think: Serena Williams and Roger Federer) in the Rod Laver Arena, but the outside matches were just as exciting and the Aussie crowd were just as crazy. And yes, I’ve got pics of my own on my camera thanks much to Kelvin (Go and buy that friggin’ camera in Taiwan, dude! LOL!)

CTOM crew at the 2010 Australian Open

Little chinita goes to Melbourne... ^_^

Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie, oi oi oi!!!