Of Jericho, Gerald and Richard

When I learned that Richard Gutierrez saved Christine Reyes who was on the roof trapped by the flood, I was in awe. Wow! Richard Gutierrez used a speedboat to rescue Christine! The news that Richard refused to take in a baby from a father treading flood water, I was flabbergasted. "Pogi" points went down to zero!

Then pictures of Jericho Rosales trying to rescue his neighbors using his surfboard (and wearing rashgard) circulated in Facebook. Oh Wow! He really risked his life and safety to help his neighbors. Kudos to Raymart Santiago who was with Jericho too. A young star by the name of Gerald Anderson, swam his way to check out his neighbors too. Hats off to these movie actors.

It is really heartwarming and awe-inspiring how some people respond in times of distress. The Filipino spirit of "bayanihan" is alive and well.

Ethan spent his birthday attending to his "dad" aka grandpa at the hospital. D4 bought a cake and we ordered food from Ethan's fave Chinese resto. The 7th birthday party was quiet but the obligatory cake-candle blowing was done nevertheless.

As we were on our way, we passed by several new housing projects. D2 said we should consider relocating. I said I think it would be better if we just buy a mobile home. We both laughed as we imagine a possible scenario of floating mobile homes. However, wouldn't it be grand if we do indeed own one, parked somewhere safe and dry?

When It Rains, It Pours.....

The Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services claimed that Greater Manila received 341 millimeters of rainfall from 6:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. on September 26, 2009. The previous worst rainfall was 42 years ago recorded in 24 hours on June 7, 1967.

There were plenty of homes and lives that were lost. There were stories of great sacrifices and bravery at the height of typhoon "Ondoy". The province worst hit by the flash flood is the province of Rizal. As I write, rescue missions and donations are still ongoing. I read a news articles that insurance companies maybe facing the biggest non-life insurance policy claims in the wake of "Ondoy". My head is spinning because I think I need a new insurance quote for non-life and fortuitous events.

I hear on news too that there are several crocodiles on the loose traipsing about the flood water in Pasig. The crocodiles are part of nature park in Pasig. The lot must have swum outside their enclosure when the flood water rose.

My house is in some sort of order now. Classes are suspended until tomorrow. In areas still wallowing in knee-deep mud, classes are suspended indefinitely. I am trying my very best to meet deadlines and calling and texting friends that Ethan's birthday party is postponed. Ethan turns 7 today. He knows that his party is postponed and he knows the reason why. He said it's okay.

Daughter #2, Ethan and I are on our way to donating clothes at a nearby donation center. After that we are proceeding yet again to the hospital. At 7:00 A.M. today, hubby was rushed to the ER. The kidney stones (of two weeks ago) decided to clog hubby's urethra. He was in terrible pain and according to D3 and D1, might need surgery after all.

Let me take a deep breath.

Okay now. I have to get ready to leave.

After the Storm....

Dear Friends and Readers,

The great flood brought about by Typhoon "Ondoy", brought an unparalleled havoc to greater Manila. There were so many homes and families affected. Some lost their houses and still there are those who lost loved ones due to the flood that literally swallowed whole houses.

As I'm writing this, I and my family are staying with my in-laws. My house was half-submerged in flood water but luckily, everyone is safe and no irrevocable damage was done. The only ones in the house when the flood waters suddenly rose were D 2 and 4, Ethan, hubby, our house help and my 2 dogs. D 1 was on duty while my son was in his apartment in Quezon City.

To make a really long story short, the ones left in the house were stranded because the flood water reached up to neck high on the street level - my hubby's neck and he's 6'1". I fetched D3 in her clinic in Alabang. She and I went about driving for 8 hours looking for ways to get home while I told D1 and my son to stay put. After praying for so long, I can't even tell where the ends and the beginnings of my prayers were, D3 and I finally reached hubby's office where we stayed overnight. The news that I saw on TV horrified me even more especially when I learned that my mama's house was also submerged in flood water and that two of my nephews have lost their houses to the flood. My mama is in Taytay, my two nephews are from Marikina and Cainta - three areas badly affected by the flood. As I called my family on the mobile phone, I told D2 that since the flood was still steadily rising, they should consider braving the flood and walk to hubby's office about 1K away. D2 said the current was strong and since the water level was more than 5 feet, the surrounding area dark, the rain incessant, they'd have a hard time swimming -and that is granting Ethan could swim.

I hung up the phone and for the next two hours prayed like I've never prayed before. God is good. My prayers were answered. First, when D3 and I were still driving around looking for ways to get home, I claimed the I wanted to us to safe and dry by 9:00 P.M. We reached hubby's office by 9:10 P.M. Next I claimed for the rain to stop and for the safety of my family and relatives. My prayers were answered.

The following morning dawned gray and still. I was awakened at 5:00 A.M. by the shrill ringing of my mobile phone. It was my cousin ( Ninang Myrla), the one who just two weeks ago left for New York to attend the funeral of her brother. She was at the airport, stranded. I told her that she just has to wait a bit as the roads to and from Taytay and Cavite were flooded.

By 6:00 A.M. D3 and I were at my in-law's house. Since my sis-in-law as updated, we planned on how to "rescue" the rest of my family stranded in the house. There was no food as the freezer was floating in the basement. The canned goods were of no use to Ethan and D2 for those two don't eat sardines and corned beef. The last can of SPAM served as their meal the previous night. I jokingly suggested that I should buy an inflatable raft. We all laughed but as D3 and I looked eye to eye, she knew that I was going to do it.

SM opened at 10:00 A.M. D3, my sis-in-law and her daughter and I were one of the first costumers that day. I bought 2 inflatables, one big and one small. I was delegated the head of the "rescue" mission. I borrowed a big van, put in the two inflated rafts and asked my sis-in-law's gardener to come with me as co-rescuer. D3 called D2 to get ready for "mom bought 2 rafts to save her precious grandson."

Ethan says good-bye to daughter 2 as he was first to be "rescued"

daughter 4 as viewed at Chippy's (my Shitzu) eye level

The "rescue" mission was a success. Everyone was safe and dry. My son was safe and dry too at his apartment and D1 was able to drive home from the hospital. Her car was one of the few not submerged by flood in the parking area.

One glitch. As I was taking down the oars of the raft from the van, I slipped and dislocated my left thumb. The middle joint was grotesquely angled at 45 degrees so what I did was pulled it right back then had D1 drove me to ER. My thumb has a hairline fracture. The doctor said my presence of mind saved my thumb from a cement cast. My left thumb is in a splint.

As I type with my right hand and three fingers of my left hand, I feel ever so blessed as the only casualty of the "Ondoy" in the family is my dang left thumb. It's swollen and painful but what the heck?! I can live with that.

Insurance Policy-check

Having had my bouts (family and otherwise) share of medical emergencies, I really need to assess the medical insurance policies that my family have. It was quite frustrating that when I was hospitalized a few months back, none of my hospital, doctor and drug fees were covered by the insurance policy. The insurance company stipulates that a pre-existing condition was not covered because my membership was short of a week before my first year membership. Yeah. I got zero in my insurance policy. The Philhealth insurance policy, government issued, paid a measly 3,700 Pesos in the more then 50K bill.

In the US, Medicare policies can be complemented with a Medicare supplement insurance. This add on policy fill in the gaps that are not covered in the original medicare policy. This policy could lessen the monthly bills in medicare advantage insurance policies for the same services. I better tell my brother about this option. He said he's paying a load of money for his family's health insurance.

The NetBook

After almost a year of contemplating and thinking and consideration and all other thought-related activities, I have finally decided to get myself a netbook. It has come to point that if I wanted to earn money doing freelance, I need to bring my "office" with me. Since I take Ethan to and from school, and sometimes do a lot of "waiting" doing nothing, time is wasted.

There are times that when the kids and some of their friends are in the dining area tapping away in their laptops (after feeding!) I sort of feel left out as I tap the keyboard of my ancient desktop by my lonesome self in the basement.

I also subscribed to a wireless broadband so I can go online anytime, anywhere. The thing is my son took it with him. He said I just gave to get another one for he really needs the wireless. Anyway, I'm still adjusting to the small keyboard of my netbook I keep hitting = when I meant to hit -. I'm so wasting time doing a lot of backspacing. I guess it'd take time for me to adjust.

Anyway,I need to get me a new Custom usb drive. I own several, actually, but I seem to be always losing them. I need one that can sense that it's lost so it could send out a beep so I could locate it. Well, who knows? That could happen. The last USB I had has a storage capacity of 2Gb. I need a 4 Gb USB though. The "netbook" does not have a DVD player so there's no way I could watch a movie in it. But! I can download and save the movie or series to the USB so I can watch all by my lonesome self.

No Noise...

The first two weeks of September were pretty hectic for me. My MIL was rushed to the hospital on the first week for an emergency angioplasty. A day after she was discharged, I had to rush hubby to the same ER because of kidney stones. The day hubby was released, I received news that a favorite cousin died! Because of the myriad of details that I had to attend to, I forgot to insure and register the car with the plate number ending in "9". I just remembered today, a holiday (again!). I have to get some auto insurance quotes to get the best deal possible.

The house is quiet. D1 and Ethan are out. D3 has scheduled patients. D4 is out to practice a "cheerdance" routine for a competition within departments in her place of work. D2 is in her bedroom tap-tapping the keys of her laptop. My son in on his way back to his apartment. Chip, my shitzu is by my feet, keeping me company.

The house is quiet.... and you know what? I don't like "quiet".

and then I fell!

I want a massage! My body is so stiff I feel like an ironing board! The incidents that has happened the last couple of weeks have put a terrible strain on my aching back. Added to that, I fell from a chair while my son and I were fixing the router's new cable line. The router was located in the basement and its signal was hitting too many corners for me to get a decent signal in my bedroom.If I wanted a Wi-Fi signal in my bedroom,I had to fix it myself. I purposely did the task on a weekend so my son can help me reach the high spots for the cable.

There were three lines that we had to lengthen: the cable from the desktop to the router; the phone line from the phone jack to the router; the electrical cord from the router to the power supply. The last line was quite hard to do as a bit of wire splicing was called for. I didn't have a tin-based solder for my soldering gun so the splicing was out of the equation. I used an outlet extension instead. While I was busy hooking up things and wires and at the same time telling Ethan to get away from my stuff, the chair on which I was precariously standing on slipped and I fell. The loud commotion brought my son and daughter #3 - who were arguing in the second floor hallway on how to attach the router to the wall - down to the basement at the speed of light.

"What the fart mom?!" my son said.

"Mom! *eyeroll* " from daughter # 3.

"Mom! *asifhislifedependedonit*" from Ethan.

I was fine. I was just stressed out and tired and tired and stressed out. If only I could formulate my present angst and irks and quirks and make a pill out of them, the result would be one heck of a fat burner pill, the best fat burners ever!

I really need a massage.

... and Life Goes On...

Last Saturday was like any other Saturday. Ethan and I were alone in the house with daughter #4. I was busy doing some freelance stuff so I was tucked somewhere in the basement while Ethan was tap-tapping his way through a computer game. Daughter #4 was busy doing her presentation thingy for her work. A call came from daughter #1.

"Mom, dad is on his way home now. He called a while back.Please take him to ER as he might be having a heart attack." D1, said calmly, like the doctor that she is.

I wasn't able to say much as I hurriedly put down the phone, got dressed while telling D4 what was happening; calling my SIL to tell her to come and get Ethan: and explaining to Ethan why D4 and I were taking dad (his grandpa, actually) to the hospital.

D4 and I waited for my hubby to arrive. He was doubled over because of the pain. I seriously doubted if it was a heart attack, but as I'm not a doctor, I can't really tell. D4 and I hurriedly got in the car after securing hubby at the back. It was not a question of who will drive between D4 and I as it was a question of who will sit beside hubby at the back. I drove.

After maneuvering like a maniac in the heavy Saturday afternoon traffic, we finally made it to the ER of the hospital where D1 works. She was not there as she was on her way home when her dad called. She said she was coming in a bit for she had to pick up D2 and D3. My son was on his way too from school.

I know the ER doctor. His initial diagnosis was acute appendicitis. My hubby's personal cardiologist came too as D1 already called him. After the initial ECG and blood chem and x-ray, the diagnosis was kidney stones - which could be a problem since if an emergency surgery was needed, hubby would need a lot of standby blood for transfusion as he is taking blood thinners because of his heart ailment.

Fast forward. Hubby was confined for a day just to make sure that he did not suffer a heart attack. The excruciating pain he felt was that of kidney stone passing in his urethra. Some medications were given to him and he has to come back for an ultrasound to see if there were any small stones left.

As I waited for my family at the hospital lobby (so we could go home), my mother called me on my mobile phone. After a few seconds of "hi-how's-your-husband-he's-fine-we're-going-home", mother said that my ninang Myrla (older cousin who was with me in HK) was flying to NY the following day. My cousin is in remission and I suddenly felt scared that she was to fly to NY because of her ailment. Mother said my cousin is fine but that ninang's brother is not. A slight pause.

"He died a few hours ago" mama calmly said.

I was speechless. Kuya Thaniel and I were just emailing each other a few weeks ago, brainstorming on some whacky Christmas presentations we'll put up when he comes home in December. He died of lung embolism that affected his heart. He was rushed to the hospital by paramedics but sadly, he was DOA. The ER doctors asked his wife if she still wants them to go on reviving him. Kuya Thaniel was already brain dead. My cousin's wife said no as she said that was Kuya Thaniel's wish.

It's has been a rough week for us.

Three words I learned about life... It Goes On...

Of Monsoon and Christmas Day

The monsoon rains have been at its best flooding a greater part of Metro Manila and its suburbs. For this month alone, there has been numerous cancellation of classes due to heavy rains and well, for the little holidays that GMA invented and implemented.

I was at the parking lot of my favorite neighborhood supermarket - head bowed while holding my umbrella to steer clear of the puddles of water as I walk towards the supermarket's entrance. What? Am I hearing right? Is that "The Little Drummer Boy" coming from the supermarket's speakers?! Christmas in freaking-wet-and-flooded September?! I taught my kids that Christmas is a whole-year affair for we should never forget the importance of Christ's birth and the unconditional love that comes with the package. But to start selling Christmas decors and playing carols in September... I don't know.

I can't help but think of my Christmas list for this year. I never seem to run out of names to write in my list. This year, I have another name added. The mom of Ethan's classmate gave birth to a baby girl and I am the godmother! I said I was too old to be a godmother for I am a "grandmother" already. The mom and dad were adamant though. So this year I have baby girl named Kayla added to the list.

Now, what do you give a baby girl who seems to have everything? If my finances would permit it, I would like to get baby Kayla the best Christmas gifts Tiffany Jewelle that I could afford. I have always been partial to giving jewelries as gifts, not necessarily Christmas Tiffany jewelry gifts though. I believe in giving lasting and definitely "increasing in value" gifts. My Christmas wish, for several decades now, is to receive a Tiffany Jewellery for Christmas Dayer. Who knows? This year might be "the" year I do get my wish.

My Week, So Far

What?! It's Thursday already?! Where did Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday go? Let me recall. Monday was a holiday, declared by GMA at the last minute for her sense of "pakikisama". Good thing though as Ethan was sick.

Tuesday, Ethan was still sick but a bit better.It had been raining since Sunday that most of the roads were flooded. I remember being awakened at 7:30 A.M. (Give me break! I was losing sleep because of Ethan's illness), by my son's text.

He texted: "Mom, do we have classes today? It's been raining so hard since last night".

"My son, if you're 5 years old and in kindergarten class, then you don't have to go to school". I texted back to my college junior son. He did not reply.

Wednesday dawned gray and rainy. It was actually raining like cats and dogs that classes were once again suspended which I did not know until late that night for I decided not to let Ethan go to school that day anyway. Daughter #1 called me around 9:00 A.M. to report that all is well with MIL's angioplasty. By lunch time, Ethan and I were sooo bored we decided to visit "nanay" at the hospital. She was still in cardio ICU when we arrived but was about to be transferred to the telemetry unit after an hour or so. By 5:00 P.M. "nanay" was in the telemetry unit at the 4th floor. My SIL and I went down from the hospital room at the 7th floor to the 4th floor to have a peek at "nanay".

I was so taken aback with what I saw I almost bawled out. MIL's private nurse was changing her diapers and clothes amidst the tangle of lines crisscrossing her body. She was moaning softly, complaining of pain eminating from the partly paralyzed side of her body. I just stared at her while noting the gentleness of the telemetry nurse and "nanay's" private nurse as they attended to her.

Was it already seven years ago that "nanay" and I were happily dancing our way through the night with our DIs in Tagaytay? "Nanay" loves to ballroom dance. It was her passion. She once said that she worked all her life so that one day she could enjoy the fruits of her labor. Two weeks after our Tagaytay fling, she had a major stroke.

As I look at the once proud, fun and very beauty conscious woman who was lying down half-naked on the bed, I cried.

Thoughts on Monday

Ethan has fever, again! We got wet a few days ago when rain suddenly poured while we were walking towards the hospital parking lot after visiting my mother-in-law. What the heck is wrong with the weather? One minute it's scorching hot then a little later the rain would come out of nowhere - releasing it's fury!

Anyway, today is a holiday again. I'm not really sure why. I've lost touched with GMA's guidelines regarding "emergency" non-working holidays. My daughter said it's because the head of a Philippine-based religion died and internment is today. Hmm... I wonder if the same honor would be given to leaders of other religions here in the Philippines.

Going back to Ethan's fever, he is now complaining of muscle aches and pains as he lies in my bed. He is so whinny that he even complains that my bed is so lumpy!

"My bed is not lumpy! I just bought a new mattress." I said

"It's lumpy. I want a bed like the one in Hong Kong!"

Great! Fevers make people delusional and Ethan is no exemption.

Actually, I've been window-shopping for modern beds during my sojourn to the malls. I've seen quite a few pieces of fabulous beds but! I'm not prepared to "pay the price" as of yet.

It's raining again.Right after hanging out the laundry to dry.Sigh!

Alive and Kicking!

Dear Friends and Readers,

Desperateblogger is busy. MIL is currently in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with a totally blocked artery. She still has one artery working at 50% though but that will not be enough to supply the oxygenated blood her heart needs. She is fine and is awaiting for her vital signs to stabilize so that the angioplasty procedure could be done hopefully on Tuesday. It would have been best if her health could bear a heart double by pass. Please include MIL in your prayers.

BTW, I received an email from someone who interviewed me about 2 months ago. Her article is now published in HIPP magazine. As I don't have the time to buy one, she sent me a link of the article as published in her blog. Here you go, under the subheading Build a Blog or Website about Your Family.

Desperateblogger

P.S.

Huling, buhay pa ko!

Misdiagnosed!

Daughter #1 told me that my mother-in-law, my kids' grandmother, will undergo angioplasty tomorrow. It seemed that MIL suffered a minor, if you could call it that, heart attack about a week ago. Prior to the heart attack, MIL has been complaining of a burning sensation in her tummy that the 24/7 round of nurses thought was just "gas". Since we don't live near my MIL's house, it's not an everyday occurrence that we see her. However, my girls dropped by to visit on Sunday and daughter #1 learned of their grandma's complaint. She then asked the nurse on duty details about the how and the when of the pain. After listening to the nurse's report, daughter #1 told my SIL (who lives with my MIL) to take MIL to her doctor the following day for check-up. Diagnosis: the gassy and burning sensation that felt like heartburn was actually a mild heart attack.

I blame the nurses. I found out that MIL has been complaining of the burning sensation for the last two weeks! Sometimes I wonder what these nurses do all day. I wonder if they are really RNs. Do they even merit a medical assisting certification? MIL is 80 years old. I pray that everything would turn out alright.