Grace, Eye MD

Sam sent me a care package which proved what a shopping whore he has turned into since he went to Hong Kong. He arrived sa HK in July, just in time for the end of season sale; so, to put it mildly, he had a grand time shopping!

He sent me a total of 8 blouses, a pair of pants, and a pair of shoes. Sobrang parang ako yung namili—they were all so me (he says he just picked all the manang stuff! Proof that we’ve been together long enough for him to know what I’d pick for myself ☺

But one of my favorites among his padala was a small teddybear in a leg cast. Actually, he told me he would send his two nieces one each, and I was saying that a teddybear in a leg cast was a pretty screwed up toy. Admittedly I was tickled pink, but I DID find the idea a bit too weird! I didn’t think it was something to give a child! Hahahaha! Sure he was training in an orthopedic hospital, thus the bear in a cast. So kung eye center pala, it would be a bear with an eye patch. E pano kung Ob-Gyne hospital!?! I dread to think what the bear would look like! Hahahaha!!!!

Of course he didn’t tell me he got me a bear like his nieces’ as well! Now it watches over me at night, cast and all. I’ve christened it “Honkie Bear”, and Sam says it’s a girl bear who got pushed by her classmate. Apparently, Honkie Bear got her leg fractured when she kicked the bully sa balls. My, my, I said, the bully must have balls of steel! Oh, and Honkie Bear will be in a cast for 3 more months…just in time, Sam will be home by then….

I am so pooped. I just started doing 5-7pm clinics TThSat in Binan, and it’s so tiring. I just don’t like spending the day waiting for clinic, and somehow, by the time the afternoon rolls by, I’m partially spent already. I realize that I’m really bad at waiting ☺ Haaaay so much EQ!!!

But I can’t complain, the staff’s been great, and they really have everything on hand. Just coming from training, I am just somewhat embarrassed that the ophthalmic assistants put in the anesthesia drops for me and even fix the AT onto the slitlamp when I take the pressure. Wow, sobrang luxury to for me! I can see the PGH trainees nodding their heads in agreement! ☺ The optometrist saw me disinfecting the slitlamp after I saw a patient with sore eyes, and she short of scolded me for doing it—bayaan na daw yung nurses! Hahahaha!

And of course I’ve always enjoyed OPD. There’s something exhilarating about taking the history, examining the patient, coming up with the diagnosis and managing the patient. I always make it a point to explain to the patient what’s wrong with them and how to help themselves. That’s empowering them with knowledge para they know the importance of taking care of themselves. I don’t like it that some doctors see the patient, give them meds and send them off without even telling them what’s wrong with them. There is something very wrong with patients embarrassed or nahihiya to ask their doctors questions. I don’t know if they are scared to ask “stupid questions” or if they think the doctor is too busy to answer questions. For me lang, I want them to walk away after the consult feeling that they got their money’s worth—they understood their problem and how to remedy it.

I guess it’s a good thing that I was a patient at an early age. I was diagnosed with asthma at 2 months of age, and was being managed by my pedia. When I was in Grade 2, my papa heard of a pulmonologist who was supposedly very good—he was Marcos’ doctor, so being the overly-health conscious father he was (and still is), he brought me there. Mama would pick me up from Zobel in Alabang after lunch, para makapagpa-list na kami sa Makati clinic of the pulmo. By the time we’d get there, I’d be like number 20 or 30.That would be at one pm. I’d be lucky to be seen by sundown. The nurse would take my weight, get my BP and history. And then we’d wait and wait, and finish reading all the magazines and Reader’s Digest in the clinic. Sometimes we’d go to Cash and Carry, which was very near lang. Anyway by the time the doctor would see me, he’d just listen to my chest sounds for less then a minute and start scribbling on my chart. Then send me out. The nurse was the one who wrote the prescription and explained my meds! Gad! I waited for like 5 hours, and the total time he spent with me was siguro 5 minutes lang! When I knew I was going to be a doctor, I SWORE to myself I would not be like that, and that I would TALK to my patient and make them feel my concern, and I would make them understand what was going on. I think if I hadn’t had this horrid doctor (tiga-UP pa man din!), I would probably be a factory-line doctor too.

Ok enough of the ranting. Anyway tomorrow is another day. Thank God I don’t have clinic. I think I need to recuperate a bit from the excitement of the past few days….

I caught Peew online last night, and we were chatting about this guy we both knew:
P: Yeah he’s really nice, soft-spoken, very considerate to others, etc.
G: You’re right he is, but he’s not my type. Too soft, too little spine. I like my men…manly!
P: Well, he’d be a welcome change for me! All my exes were loud…

And then we launched into a discussion of how men like that could not handle it if Peew or I were their wives—they’d die an early death! Hahaha! Peew said basta she wanted someone intelligent and strong (I got me my intelligent AND strong man already). She was arguing that I was the more maldita one between the both of us, so I asked her how come. She said that I would prattle on and on, but in the end, I’d turn soft-hearted. While siya daw, she’d just listen and then in the end turn her back and walk away, no discussions na. E di siya pala yung mas maldita! Hahaha!

Then this morning, I had my 2 inches of fame. Inquirer has the “Super” section every Saturday, and in one part, a celebrity poses a question, and readers are invited to email their replies.

Last week’s posed question was from Paolo Bediones who asked, “Who would you rather live with for the rest of your life, someone who loves you more, or someone you love more?” In utter boredom and a rush of what-a-stupid-question-thoughts, I replied quickly, “Paolo, let me answer that question with another question: If you love someone, does it even really matter?”. I never thought they’d choose to publish it, because in effect, nangbara ako, but they did publish it! ☺

I told my sister about it, and that before, my cousin and mom told me that I should marry someone who loved me more. I was very resistant to this idea, because I thought that these things didn’t really matter. Maybe it’s partially because I’m so damned mayabang. The fact that you ask this question, makes it a self-preserving question. In the end, it would all be about you. I mean, if you loved someone, you wouldn’t really give a shit if you loved him/her more, di ba? When you start wondering about that, then it’s a sign that you’d want to be loved more by the other person.

Peew agreed heartily! My sister and I can be very different in a lot of things, but in the end our values are downright the same ☺ Now if she’d only pick the right man, too…. Hehehe! Love you, Peew!

I got myself a new bright fuschia long-sleeved blouse a couple of weeks back. The tela was the crumpled type, had some embroidery, and it was very pretty (“Doktora ang ganda naman ng blouse mo, tipid sa plantsa!”). Anyway, I had it laundered and the labandera, probably wondering how in hell I got it so crumpled, very helpfully ironed out ALL the creases! When I saw it—-AAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! I kicked myself for not telling her just to wash it and NOT to iron it! AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! Now it’s a size bigger and wala na yung crumpled effect I paid for!!! AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Mental note: Leave written instructions to Manang for special pieces of clothing, she might iron my Lycra shirts next!!!

My room has long been used as sort of an extra room to store stuff (i sleep in peew’s room). When I went in kanina to get a blouse, something stank real bad, like something died. So being the courageous person I am, I asked Papa to look for whatever it was that died. Cockroaches and lizards, I can handle—anything furry, no! And I knew that this fell under the furry category. He quickly found what it was—he found two drawers in Mama’s old dresser wherein, he things, a mouse gave birth, and the babies died! I was half-screaming and got out of his way as he brought the drawers out. Yuck, I didn’t even TRY looking at what had died inside! Eeeeeew! It just hit me kanina that grossness is relative. Put me in a room of cadavers or even an ER full of mangled trauma patients, I won’t flinch! But a few dead baby mice?!?! I’ll die!!!!!

HOME ALONE

Mama left for Bicol for their yearly Penafrancia pilgrimage, Papa is in QC for a meeting and I’m home alone. I like the solitude, because I can do what I want, and I don’t have to follow the time for eating. I cooked rice, but what I had for lunch was suman from Laguna and I can’t remember how many rambutans. Hehe, if Mama were here, lagot ako!

Asar lang ang SMART, the internet signal has been screwy since Thursday, and it isn’t even raining! Paging Gabby Cui!!!

I was also going through our old albums, just now and I saw so many pictures of me and my cousins na pwedeng pang-blackmail! Parang there was a time everyone was so panget—complete with higad-eyebrows and bad skin! The boys were skinny and scrawny! And the girls all look so nene! Hahaha! I also unearthed a REALLY ugly picture of Takwe and Peewee. I wonder how much money I can extort for them not to post that picture….I cringe, especially when I come across pictures of me in college, when I was at my fattest, with matching eyeglasses pa! Super biik talaga with horrid kilay! Kaya pala walang akong boyfriend noon, e! hahahaha!!!! Sam says buti di pa niya ako kilala at that time! Hahahaha!

My favorite pictures are those from Christmas 1999. The clan went up to Baguio right after Christmas, and one night, we even had a program complete with skits, songs and awards (may sashes and crowns talaga ha!). I think my bro was nominated for Best Actor, and Mama won Best Actress (the Carrot cake fiasco). I got nominated for the “Husto Daliri” award (family secret). It was super fun, and there was a night everyone got drunk! Hahahaha! Attached is a picture of all the girls that night–Mama got us matching pantulog na dress! Good, happy memories!

Sam’s been gone for a bit over two months and he’s doing quite well in his training. I think he’s turning into a shopping whore, though. It’s still sale season in Hong Kong, so he always finds something to buy that’s really marked down. I miss him real bad, and I’m just counting down to the 15 or so weeks before he comes home…