wild week part 10

wow, how geeky naman the title. hahaha. kamon, you get it

ANYWAY…

I spent the whole of Wednesday in the ER because there was no available room in MMC. Apparently, the -ber months see a rise in hospital admittances due to the weather and seasonal viruses.  So, after doing some neurological tests, getting an x-ray, sticking me with a drip, extracting some blood, and some other stuff… I had to soldier it out in the ER for almost the entire night.

Between the noisy kids, their PSPs and the chorus of sobs and groans that define the sound of an ER… it was quite difficult to get some sleep. Add to that the chill of the aircon, and good luck to me getting some shuteye.

The ER isn't without its "perks" though. The ER staff of doctors and nurses at the Makati Medical Center were generally very nice and efficient. Also, there were a couple of cases there that were pretty interesting. First was this girl who was supposedly admitted into the ER after being in a catfight (that means two women fighting) and having her ear bitten by the other girl. It wasn't bitten off; but apparently, it was bad. Another of the patients there was this guy who had all sorts of bandages around his jaw area. What happened was that as he got out of the shower that afternoon, he slipped and landed face first on his bathroom floor. He was out for a few seconds (I can relate to that now); and when he came to, there he was lying in his own blood. As far as I could gather, he cut up his tongue pretty bad and needed surgery to repair it. How he was able to narrate that entire incident and keep on talking and talking and talking… and talking, was beyond me. Chatterbox.

THURSDAY 
At around 2:00am, just around the time when I started to chill again and burn up because I couldn't get some sleep, my mom was approached by one of the nice doctors in the ER and she explained that it would be better for us to get the large private room than to stay in the ER. Then they had this discussion about how the admitting department of the hospital was godawful (the admitting people in MMC are TERRIBLE) and how to go about it. Eventually, at around 3:00am, I was up at Rm.750… slightly chilling again and with a 38.7 temperature. Still, it was better than the ER. I was able to sleep for several hours before the nurse woke me up for a routine check. I wasn't able to get back to sleep after that. Nurse's shouldn't do that, imho. I know it's probably part of their instructions, but to wake up a patient who really needs to rest doesn't sound right.

Thursday was relatively uneventful… for me at least. The rest of the country was glued to their TV sets watching Trillianes and Co. pull off this fiasco at the Manila Pen. So at least I had something to watch the entire day.

Mau filed a leave from work and went to the hospital a few hours before lunch. My dad also arrived around the same time. Mau brought her laptop along and we were able to watch some shows, play dota, and surf the web via a 3G connection (oo, pasaway talaga akooooooo). It's hard to operate a PC with just one hand and a thumb :p Hehe.

Boker, Tine and Bhel dropped by after lunch, which was a surprise (thanks guys!) and we talked about what happened to me. They - along with most people who know the story - were surprised first and foremost by how Mau was able to handle me fainting. Haha. What can I say, I am attached to Supergirl :p Bhel asked kung ginulong lang ba daw ako ni Mau papuntang MMC… and Boker was relating how, if Ron and Co were there, how they would video me first (to be placed on YouTube) and have a good laugh before helping me out… Of course we were all just kidding. It was cut short though because I had to have my EEG taken, so I was wheeled out of the room and the three of them went back to work.

Most of the offices around the Central Business District of Makati called work off at around 2pm due to the events in Manila Pen; so later that afternoon, Joyce, Claire, Ron, Sol, Glenn, RJ and Jed also dropped by for a visit (thanks din!). That was a rowdy group, in the good old fashioned fun way. We spent a lot of the time just watching the news coverage of the Trillianes incident and talking about what happened. One amusing thing about it is how Ron and Glenn jokingly repeated exactly what Boker said earlier that afternoon about how they would laugh and videotape me before helping me out :p

Thursday night was quite peaceful and relaxing. I didn't have fever anymore and was feeling good. Mau stayed watch until the next morning, which gave my parents an opportunity to go home and rest. We spent the night just watching House and Bones before getting some sleep. That night was the best sleep I had during my stay at the hospital. No offense to my mom; but even a narcoleptic wouldn't be able to sleep with her. I'm one to talk. Haha.

FRIDAY
B-O-R-I-N-G.

I was hoping to go home already by Friday. However, MMC apparently goes on Holiday! So there was a lot of things that we weren't able to do, like getting a sign-off on the EEG results, and we had to order my ultrasound stat (which means "rushed"). My doctor did get the chance to pass by though and tell me the findings.

As far as the chills, high fever and fainting spell/seizure goes… They really can't find any conclusive cause. She was quick to add though that in around 90% of these cases, no one really finds out what the cause is. Most of my tests were clean, so she said that it was probably just viral and was aggravated by stress and fatigue (basketball… puyat… helloooooo….). However, the blood tests did reveal some incidental findings:

1. High LDL (in layman's terms, "high bad cholesterol"). My overall cholesterol count is normal, but the bad just beats out the good.
2. High level liver enzymes and fatty change in the liver. Basically, my liver needs help.
3. High uric acid. Now I seriously do not know where I got that.

So, its a drastic change in diet for me. Whoopee… Seriously though, I don't mind. I'm not too crazy about beef, pork or junk food anyway. I am big on candy though, but my sugar level is normal. WEIRD. I was bargaining for the occasional bottle of beer though, but that was a lost cause. Bummer.

Aside from that, they took me off the drip so I was able to move around better. I wasn't able to get much sleep because si mama nanaman yung bantay. Hehe. It's okay really. Not that bad. Although I had to wake her up in the middle of the night because I was getting a headache already and she let me sleep first before sleeping again.

SATURDAY
I was finally able to go home! Whoopee! … … …and the first things I ate were *drum roll*: Rolled oats… quick cooking oats… oats… some bread… more oats…

Ah well.

SUNDAY - TUESDAY
Stayed at home and got some rest for the most part. I was actually still weak during this time. My head would hurt, I'd feel week in the knees, but it got better and I was able to go back to work on Wednesday.

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I always get sick around the time of my birthday. I would usually just brush it off as coincidence; but when I look back at my life, the worst episodes I've had were on and around my birthday. Now this. Weird. Really weird.