ER Drama

Okay. I figured I was not as sick as the doctors perceived me to be. Why? I was still noticing the newly installed chutes made for easy medicine transport. I was still noticing the orderly who helped me get on the gurney was reeking with cigarette odor. I was still noticing the flickering light bulbs near the X-ray administrative station. The hallway going to one of the X-ray rooms was actually unlit. The only ray of light was emanating from the admin cubicle. Cheapskates!

As I was wheeled back into ER, I saw my three daughters and hubby huddled on one side. They were just looking at me. Their faces inscrutable. Daughter # 2 was at home with Ethan. My son was at his apartment knowing nothing of my predicament for I specifically told my daughters not to tell him for finals was ongoing. I looked at the wall clock. It read 12:17 A.M. I am getting tired of all the poking and questions.

Suddenly a familiar voice cried Mom!

My son was there beside me, dripping wet and asking me how I was.

Who told you I was here? How did you get here? I asked baffled.

The story was daughter #2, the one left at home, was online and caught my son online too. Knowing nothing of my order not to tell my son about my health condition, daughter #2 told my son about it. My son then called daughter #1 and asked about what has been going on with the intention of going to the hospital. Daughter #1 said "No!, don't come now. It's late and you have no ride." My son said " but she's my mom too and I need to be there."

So the story was that my son walked all the way to Philcoa from UP Teacher's Village to ride a bus going to Makati. As it was past 11:00 P.M. the MRT was already closed. He got off the corner of EDSA and Ayala. Finding no bus or jeep he was in a dilemma on how to get to Makati Medical Hospital. He did no want to take a taxi for two reasons. He was down to his last 100 pesos and it was past 12 midnight and he was well-versed with taxi-scare stories. So what he did was run the length of Ayala Ave. to get to the hospital. As it was raining that night, he was drenched to the bones when he finally got to the hospital.

I asked my hubby and daughter #4 to take my son home immediately as he might get sick. I told my son to get an extra shirt in my car for him to change into. I instructed hubby to make sure he feeds our son before going home. After settling everything, daughter # 1 got back to her rounds. Daughter #3 went to the admission office for my accommodation. The doctors stopped poking for a while and left me in peace.

All alone in one corner of the ER, I cried.

At the Emergency Room

There's nothing more terrifying than the unknown. As I lay on the gurney at the Emergency Room with daughters # 3 and 4 hovering by my side, hubby a distance away, and daughter # 1 conferring with the ER doctors and neurologists, I thought "is this it?" I prayed hard not for myself but for my family. I prayed that they would be able to handle whatever is in store for all of us.

The two resident neurologists came over and did a series of tests. My elbow, knees and hands received a lot of boinking. I was asked to push, pull with both my hands, feet and knees. Great. I passed the boinking and the push and pull but not 100%. The doctors thought that I have some back nerves being pinched somewhere in my cervical spine region. I was asked to take off my watch, rings and sterling silver jewelry earrings in preparation for the X-rays.

I was wheeled to the X-ray room, with daughter #3 following. I was made to change into a gown which was freaking difficult because aside from the numbness on my left side I also had a IV on my left hand and an oxygen tubing in my nose. Daughter #3 helped and I was then taken to the X-ray room. I can't help but notice the spanking new machine - state of the art. I was then posed into various positions and angles. As each shot was made, I can see each X-ray result as a TV monitor was facing the X-ray machine. Bad architectural layout. What if the one being X-rayed was a medical professional who could more or less decipher an X-ray shot and that the X-ray proved to be "bad news?" I was straining to see the shot on the monitor looking for tell-tale signs of a lump or bump. Nothing. I was glad though that my bone is quite dense. No osteoporosis.

The verdict? Cervical Spondylosis.

Hello. Back On!

Hello! I'm still alive! I was confined in a hospital in Makati for three days. I thought the doctors would neve figure out was wrong with me, but they did, eventually.
Thank you
Angelwaya, ,Wena,Cherry,Huling,Juliana ,
Gorgeous Mum,eMz,Tricia,Renz,Joel, Splice,Blessed Mom
for wishing me well. Special thanks to Wena who even texted me.

After my 3K jog on Wednesday (March 25, 09) I took a bath, then propped myself in front of the computer to finish some researches. It was about 8:15 P.M. when I felt a numbness in my left arm that gradually spread to my back and side then my whole left side. I immediately asked daughter # 3 to call daughter # 1 to get her opinion. Take mom to the ER, now! said daughter #1. I was whisked to the local ER and had a neurological test and an ecg. Everything was fine but the doctors could not explain the one-sided numbness of my body. It was not actually a stroke for I could walk straight, talk straight and still had a pretty face! Gosh! even my face and head ( left side) were tingling. The ER doctor wanted to do a CT-scan. Fine. But the ER doctors were in a phone conference with daughter #1 and they all decided to change hospital - to where daughter #1 was doing her residency. Off we went to the other hospital and by 10:10 P.M. I was under a battery of tests and questions from ER doctors, neurologists, cardiologist sonologist ,radiologists, dietitians and more.

I had lumbar and cervical X-rays, ECG, CT-scan, doppler ultrasound, EMG, and all the other possible laboratory exams that they could possibly do to me. I must have lost a pint of blood because of all the lab tests. The tests took a day and half. Did the team of doctors found out was what wrong with me? Yes they did. I've had an episode of transient ischemic attack, cervical spondylosis, carpal tunnel (both hands!) and some degenrative plaque in a neck nerve.

Yah! I'm sick and I didn't even know it. I have meds for all the diseases and I'd like to think that the prognosis is good as we were able to diagnose the ailments early ( or is it?) . I am now in a low fat, low salt diet as my cholesterol level is just outrageous. I have gone back to jogging about a week ago but I guess that the exercise bit came too late.

Now, I have to adhere to my new diet, exercise and freaking expensive medicine. With my hubby's heart condition meds, daughter#3's anti-seizure meds and my meds... gosh I just don't know where to get the extra juice. Anyway, I know that the Lord will provide as has never failed me.

I'm actually feeling tired and my neck and shoulders are aching now. Better log off before daughter #1 catches me on line.

Wake Up Call

The medical emergency I had was sort of a wake-up call. For the past five years or so, I have neglected to take care of myself. I indulged in all sorts of food. I stopped exercising. I was laden with stress and angst and sometimes plain unhappy. I guess it's time to revert back to my old ways of eating healthy food and doing regular exercise. I guess I better let go of some stress too. Life is just too short. I wonder if now is the right time to look at some term life insurance quotes.

Desperate Blogger is in hospital

Yes, my mom is stuck in a hospital room without wifi and it's driving her nuts.


It all started last night. After her late night jogging, she experienced a bit of numbness in her left shoulder. Good thing sister # 2 (daughter #3) and sister # 3 (daughter #4) was at home so they took her to the hospital. Typical mom, she insisted on driving to the hospital but sister # 3 vehemently said "No".

After an hour or so, sister # 2 called me up on the phone saying that they had to bring mom to sister #1's (daughter#1) hospital to have a CT scan. The numbness spread to the left side of her body. Uh-oh...

I looked for my dad to tell him about mom but sister # 1 already called to tell him what had happened.

Ethan and I had nothing else to do but wait and pray. Mom texted me and asked me to read aloud Psalms 23 and 99 with Ethan. It took a while 'cause Ethan wanted me to explain what we were reading (so hard!).

Anyway, I'll leave it up to my mom to continue the rest of this story. Here's a picture of her that she wanted me to post for y'all.

- Daughter # 2