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2 Day Bohol Trip : A quick escape

Laid-back Bohol Trip

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us
– Anonymous

This is the first post on my first blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

For my birthday this year, my husband and I decided to go to Bohol. Last year, we planned to go to Puerto Princesa, Palawan, but it was cancelled due to his ACL knee operation (He was injured while playing basketball for our then-company’s sportfest). We were not able to travel for more than a year, so I was looking forward to this trip very much.

This is not really a budget trip since we felt that we were deprived of not being able to travel for a long time, and also because it was my birthday weekend. Don’t be dispirited if you want to go to Panglao on a budget, it is VERY possible to customize a cheaper Bohol trip, maybe we’ll do this next time 🙂 .

Since we will just be 2 days in Bohol, and I’ve heard that it may be difficult to get a taxi or other public transportation of off-peak hours, to make the most of the trip, I booked a tour with Bohol Beach Club (the hotel where we will be staying). I booked their Countryside Organized Tour, since what I really wanted to see are just the tarsiers and the Chocolate Hills. After all, these are Bohol’s trademarks.

The BBC Organized Tour, as opposed with the Ordinary Tour, includes lunch in the floating river, all entrance fees, a private car, and a tour guide. I also called BBC so that we can proceed with the tour once we land, and they happily obliged and sent the driver and the tour guide to fetch us.

First, our tour brought us to the blood compact shrine. It is actually just this (see picture above), just statues posed for a blood compact. The “I LOVE TAGBILARAN” giant sign is also in that area. Nothing much to do here other than take pictures but I still appreciate that they created a landmark for an important milestone in our history. You can also see that a park is being created below, and this statue will be transferred there once done so that it will not only be a pit-stop, possibly a picnic area(?) in the future.

Dungaw mula sa bintana ng Baclayon Church

Next we went to the Baclayon Church. Our tour guide passed us on another local tour guide (she is a teenager which has surprising knowledge of the history of the Baclayon Church, probably she underwent training for this). It is not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but you can take a picture at this spot (like a balcony, see picture above), which is good enough for me.

Lunch at Loboc River

Also included in the tour is a lunch buffet at floating boats in Loboc River. Our tour guide was the one to buy tickets for us which is a good thing because we arrived around 11:30PM and the line is already long. It seems that travel agencies and tours reserve tickets before hand once tourist attendance is booked with them so we didn’t need to wait long, just around 15mins. If you want to try this, I recommend reading how to reserve/buy tickets before your trip. The food was great, there were a lot of varieties for viands and desserts. There were also iced tea and cucumber lemonade during our lunch. The softdrinks were not included in the buffet price, though, and the waiter will ask you to pay after your meal, if you ordered one.

The cruise air was refreshing and the entertainment (an acoustic singer with a voice like an angel) was great. Loboc is not only known for this river but also for their children’s choir. Our tour guide informed us that sometimes, they, the non-singing part of the population, are embarassed to admin that they cannot sing, as the Loboc people are known for their singing.

It was good that we decided to have lunch first before heading to Chocolate Hills as we needed to climb a series of stairs to be able to get a good shot of the hills. I felt like I burned my buffet meal in that climb. I was sweaty on this picture. Fortunately, it was not that obvious. Anyway, it was worth it. There are some angles though where the hills are not visible so you may need to wait until other tourists are done to use the good spots.

The last stop of the tour is the man made forest. These were planted by boy scouts and girl scouts to fight landslides in this area (if I remembered correctly). It is great to be reminded what the youth can accomplish if they work together.

I LOVE BBC

After our tour ended, we were dropped-off at the Bohol Beach Club. We rested a bit before dinner.

We were given a King Bed for our Deluxe Room

The bed in our room was HUGE. It could fit 4 people and still there is room. I was hoping that there will be a tub (although I knew from Agoda that there wasn’t one for our room type), still, I hoped, haha. The room amenities were modern and the mini bar was packed (although I did not get any thing from that).

So why did we chose Bohol Beach Club? (Note that this is a not a paid blog). As usual, the way I choose a hotel or an AirBnb is based on 1) Budget, 2) Location, 3) Reviews. For budget, we decided that we can splurge a little on a mid to high type of resort since we are celebrating my birthday. My requirement for location is just that it should have a beach front and reading the reviews, everything seems to be well. There are some other hotels which fit our criteria (mostly those beside BBC, on the same beach) but the others no longer have vacant deluxe rooms.

Dinner was great. There was buffet option but I think the theme for that night was barbecue night, so we decided to just order ala carte. We also decided to exchange our free drink coupon during this time (the free welcome drink is some sort of a lemonade. It was good but the glass was very small). One thing I noted was that the service was impeccable. The waiters were very friendly and the manager always approach us and ask if we need anything else. I’ve heard that Bohol’s main industry is tourism, so I wondered if their universities focus on hospitality management courses. There was also a cultural show which I think was made for foreigners’ checked-in in BBC.

Panglao Beach

The next day, we decided to just lounge in the beach. Panglao has a great beach and since the resort is more private than the others, there were very few people in the beach front so we enjoyed the privacy.

We also explored the BBC grounds and there were so many instagrammable locations. In their map, there was a biking trail so I asked if we can borrow a bike. Unfortunately, they said that the map was old and there were no more bike that we can borrow, so we just walked around the area.

Complimentary Glass Boat Tour

There was a complimentary 20-minute glass boat tour included in our accommodation. This starts very early and then stops around lunchtime and then continues again after lunch. We decided to get ours around 1PM, after we took our lunch. There was no other people yet in line, so it seemed like we had our private tour. The glass boat will bring you a little farther in the sea (but not so far as island hopping tours) and view the corals and fishes through the glass floor of the boat. Unfortunately, I thought I was over my phobia of boats and the deep sea but I was not. So around 10minutes through, I begged kuya boat driver to go back. It was a good experience though. I was happy to know that the corals in Panglao are still intact and still brimming with acquatic life.

The sexy pool pose

For our last night in Panglao, we decided to lounge by the pool. We also ordered our dinner there (just a pizza, pica-pica and some cocktails). The pool was big enough (especially since there were a very few people at that time) and the pool side was well-maintained. We can here the bands playing at the restaurant so we had a nice background music.

All in all, I enjoyed this trip a lot. My husband possibly enjoyed it too but since he was the one to pay for it, it probably reduced his enjoyment to half :). I included the cost of this trip but as I have mentioned, this is already splurging on our part. You can create a Panglao itinerary with more than half this budget.

Air Asia Flight RoundTrip for 2 people (MNL to Panglao (don’t be alarmed if your ticket still says Tagbilaran airport, ours did and we still disembark in the new Panglao Airport) – P6,957.31
Bohol Beach Club (BBC) Deluxe Room Accommodation 3days, 2 nights – P17,622.86 (booked through Agoda)
BBC Organized Tour (private tour with lunch in floating river in Loboc, inclusive of all entrance fees) – P5,900 (P2950 per person x2)
Food and Beverages (1 lunch, 2 dinner, 1 miryenda, all were inside BBC) – ±3,000

This is my first post on my first blog and I wanted to share this experience with all of you. I hope you enjoyed reading 🙂

Learnings and Musings (D’s KT Blog Part 6 of 6)

If you haven’t yet, you may refer to Post KT-Proofing the Room for Part 5.

What did I learn from this? Do I regret anything? Here are some things that come to mind:

Living donor is better than cadaver donor. Having a living donor makes you better prepared and the transplant can be better scheduled. For cadaver, everything is rushed which sometimes lead to complications. Dra. Dela Rama said that statistically, there are more complications and more chance of acute rejection for cadaver kidneys.
NKTI kidney transplant recovery room and policies are very poor. Don’t get me wrong, the doctors were very good, probably even the best since they were the first in the field. But the recovery room is just not sanitized enough. I’ve heard that on other hospitals, you cannot enter without a gown and a hair net. But in NKTI, some hospital staff (like some cleaning staff, and even some nurses) enter without a mask! They also lack necessary supplies, like for adult diapers, they only have in small size, and gloves, extra small. Like, who can use that? It is unfortunate that HOPE only deals with NKTI, so for cadaver donors, there is no choice but NKTI. (Sidenote: NKTI is government owned but they have 2 types of patient, service (subsidized by government) and pay (similar to private). I was a pay patient, because I didn’t think I will qualify as service because I have a job (you will be interviewed by a social worker to qualify for service). I was just expecting that they adhere to a strict regulation when caring for post-KT patients. My WBC after KT was 2, like I am inviting all possible infections, so at the minimum, I was expecting isolation and that they require gloves and masks to people who need to go inside the room, but they are not even strict about that.)
You have to research everything you can about transplantation to make sure you are ready. Honestly, now I can say that what I know about kidney transplant was only trivial information. Like the third kidney will be attached and your old kidneys will just be left as it is if they do not have a cyst or some problems like that. I know other people who are recipients of kidneys but I did not bother to ask the important questions, like how long was the recovery period? What happened during their recovery? Did they had complications, or do they know other recipients who had complications? I did not even know that cadaver kidneys are more likely to fail than living donors kidneys. I thought they are basically the same.
You have to be prepared for complications, both physically and financially. I was so caught unaware of having pneumonia because I didn’t do anything different to get that. I cannot even leave the bed. But I still got it, and it made me despair a bit at that time. Everything was just painful, and I cannot even breathe on my own. I began to think if I will be like that forever, that it will be worse than dialysis. But God is good and thankfully, I was able to recover from that.
You have to choose a kind doctor, a doctor who can empathize with your pain. Dra. Dela Rama always try to accommodate my requests, even trivial like the jello, just to make me feel better. Now, she always answers my text/viber messages even if she is out of town, if I have concerns.
You have to know some Private Duty Nurses contacts if you are in line for transplant. Not only for NKTI, other hospitals require PDN for at least the 3 days after the operation, when the patient is most vulnerable. Also, the nurses in NKTI oftenly has 9 : 1 patient to nurse ratio so they really cannot handle a patient’s special needs. This we did not know. NKTI has some contracted PDNs, who unfortunately were all not available the time I was there. Luckily, I was able to find Jam and April.
You have to prepare a room at your house for post-KT recovery. There should be no other people who will stay in that room. It will be a shame if you survive the operation but got sick when you got home.
Bambang has all the medical supplies you need sold at a cheaper price than anywhere else.

If you are curious how much my transplant cost, well, the total was around 1.85M. It should’ve been just 1.2M but with the complication of pneumonia, the cost ballooned due to the necessary new doctors, laboratories and medicines. We were able to get some discounts from using my PWD ID, some help from PCSO and DOH (thanks to Mama for going there and providing the necessary documents to be able to ask for help), and a little from Maxicare (only 2 of my doctors were Maxicare accredited). We were able to get a discount which totalled to around 150k. Most of the cost we borrowed (we did not foresee the complication happening since we were optimistic that I was in good health apart from my kidneys), and hopefully, we pay this off soon.

The immunosuppressant medicines are also expensive. One costs 480 per capsule (in Mercury Drug) and I take it 3 capsules, 2x a day, everyday. Not to mention the other medicines like antibiotics and hypertensive medicine. Also, for the first month, checkups will be weekly. With the checkups comes the laboratories you need to show the doctor. My blood work every checkup costs around 4K. You also have to be prepared for these expenses.

It is a month now from my operation, and I think I’m doing well. Hopefully, it will stay that way and my new kidney (which I named KITNEY) will not be rejected by my body.

Thank you for reading!

Post KT-Proofing the Room (D’s KT Blog Part 5 of 6)

If you haven’t yet, you may refer to The Recovery for Part 4.

Some days after my kidney transplant, Jonas, my husband, went to Bambang to buy some supplies. Partly for use when I get out of the hospital, but also because NKTI lacks some necessary supplies. We asked Jam’s input on what to buy. The following were some of the items on the list:

Normal Mask – for other people who come into contact with me
N95 Face Mask – this is supposedly for me, when I get out
Pulse Oxymeter – so I can check my SPO2 on my own
Blood Sugar Monitor – because NKTI charges everytime they use theirs, but it came in handy because they asked me to check my blood sugar at home
Alcohol Pad – for when I take my blood sugar
Oxygen Tank – in case I needed oxygen at home
Cutasept – for cleaning my operation wounds. This works like alcohol, without the sting.
Gauze and Tegaderm – in case I still need to dress my operation wounds, which I didn’t because when I was discharged, it was pretty healed
Nitrile Gloves – for use of my Private Duty Nurse when they need to administer IV and medicines. For some reason, NKTI only has XS sized gloves which fits no one.
A big bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol – multi-purpose

At first, Jonas booked the professional cleaning service we always booked, GreenKlean, and he informed Ate Jesselyn (the cleaning lady we always choose) that the house should be post-operation ready. They replaced all the curtains, bed sheets and pillow cases. They cleaned the aircon filter and scrubbed everything. Jonas also cleaned and disinfected my laptop, then removed unnecessary things inside the bedroom (like our shoes, now these are in the living room). Afterwards, they no longer opened the windows of the bedroom so dust won’t come in. Jonas also placed something under the doors so that there will be no gap where dust can enter. Actually, this was placed a long time ago, so that cockroach and other insects will not enter our unit.

Jonas also setup the shelves to this, putting everything I would need. The medicines were labeled with the time they need to be taken, so that Mama can take over when Jonas is at the office. He also set the Blood Pressure Monitor, thermometer and pulse oxymeter beside the bed so it is accessible to me. For the first month, I need to take note of my Blood Pressure, temperature, SPO2, pulse rate and weight (to monitor my edema) and report it during my checkups.

At first we used an oxygen tank, but it was easily used up after around 4 hours, so we replaced it with an oxygen concentrator. This is just for my peace of mind. I could actually breathe without this but I was traumatized by that time when I woke up and I couldn’t breathe.

He also setup an air purifier near the aircon. We are actually not sure if this is really an air purifier or just a humidifier, but anyway, it was setup. The floor and the door handles are cleaned with alcohol everyday and we use lysol to clean the air. It is lucky that the unit is fairly new so there are few things to clean.

Jonas also bought this cool mask from somewhere (maybe Lazada). It is thick with a few layers of cloth. One problem with thick masks is that it makes it hard to breathe, which is not ideal for people like me who has tendency to have low SPO2. But this mask has its own fan which gets air from outside, purifies it, then brings it inside the mask. It is rechargeable (USB) with around 4 hours battery lifetime.

I also have this “toy” that helps me exercise my lungs. This was provided by the pulmonary department of NKTI, as instructed by my pulmonary doctor. I don’t know what it is called. You need to block and suck the air so that the little balls will go up. Until now, I still cannot make the green ball go up, but I have mastered the orange and the blue one.

I stay inside the room now except when I needed to go out during checkups. Food and drinks are brought to me inside the room. I have a door bell connected outside so I can call my caretaker. For food, I cannot be served with re-heated food from another day. Same day is allowed, like if the food was prepared during lunchtime, I can also eat it during dinner.

Do I get bored inside the room? Not yet. I have fast internet so I manage to amuse myself. I have finished a series and now starting another one. I exercise by walking around the room. My muscles, especially my leg muscles, atrophied a bit due to being bedridden, and I lost a lot of weight. Because of this, I get tired easily, but I am hoping to regain my strength soon.

For the final part of this story, please head on to Learnings and Musings .

The Recovery (D’s KT Blog Part 4 of 6)

If you haven’t yet, you may refer to The Nightmare for Part 3.

By this time, I wanted to go home pretty badly. I hated the hospital bed, it made my back ache whatever position I did. But then, I had another problem, a minor one compared to the pneumonia, but something that will not allow me to go home. I had a severe edema (or manas in Tagalog). My legs were so big they had to do ultrasound just to make sure that it was not due to the operation (like clogged veins). It was not, it was just fluid. Even so, they cannot understand why, even with my increasing urine output, the edema does not decrease. I was around 63 kilos at that time and at the time of this writing, I am 43 kilos. That was how much water was in my body. These are in my arms, legs, stomach and a little on my face.

Another patient of Dra. Dela Rama had the same case of edema. They pinpointed the culprit to Amlodipine, the hypertensive medications we were currently taking. She said that for some reason, many women react to Amlodipine this way. So, they replaced this medicine with another. But the edema was still there, so I suggested to have a dialysis, just to decrease some fluids. Dra. Dela Rama agreed. After dialysis, my weight was 60 kilos. Then 2 days after, I had dialysis again which brought my weight to 57 kilos. The dialysis sessions were uneventful, I just had to endure the cold room.

Even though I was already in recovery, I still need help on a lot of things. My body is still so weak and so heavy from the edema. Mama is already getting constants headaches, I think due to stress and lack of sleep. This is when I decided to get another Private Duty Nurse (PDN) for 8am-8pm shift. I need her over the weekend so Mama and Jonas, my husband, can rest. One of our friends recommended April, and thank God for Jam and April, who were very attentive to my needs.

During the weekend, the doctors decided to have a biopsy of the kidney, just to make sure nothing was wrong. This time, they administered a drug that made me sleepy (Dra. Dela Rama heard of my episode during the CT Scan), and I was thankful for that. The biopsy room was crowded with doctors and fellows for nephrology and radiology. When they got their sample, they initially observed that nothing seems to be wrong. Then I was wheeled back to my room.

As days goes by, they remove things that were attached to me. First went the catheter, then the central line, and then when my x-ray cleared out and I can now breathe on my own, the removed the oxygen. My right arm was already severely bruised (due to the tourniquet whenever blood is extracted) and I have so many wound marks from failed IV lines (my arms have edema and my veins are small so they can no longer find a vein where to put the IV line). My left arm cannot be touched because I have an active AV fistula.

The removal of the lines was a relief. I was able to stand and walk on my own, even just inside the room. I can go to the table and eat on my own. I can also go to the toilet. Sometime during recovery, I was allowed to eat a banana. I’ve never eaten a banana or any banana product for the 3 years I was on dialysis so I consider this a milestone.

Dra. Dela Rama promised me that based from my laboratory results I will not reach November 1 inside the hospital. On October 30, each one of my doctors visited me and cleared me for discharge. On October 31, around 8pm, after 20 days, I was discharged from the hospital. The nurse on duty explained the medicines and the follow-up checkups that I need to go to the following weeks. I was still so weak and heavy, but nothing can beat staying at your own home, on your own bed, so I was happy.

We had a minor inconvenience going home because 2 of the medicines prescribed to me, Isoniazid and Cotrimoxazole cannot be bought in Mercury Drug. They said it was phased out on their stores. We returned back to NKTI to buy from their pharmacy but they refused to sell us because according to them, their medicine is only for in-patient. I was in despair because I need to take those meds at 6am in the morning. I called Dra. Dela Rama and she advised that the meds can be bought from The Generics Pharmacy. We went to some, but they were out of stock. Then, I remembered our friends who had their loved ones transplanted. I called each of them and found out that Isoniazid can only be bought in Citidrug Drugstore. I googled and most Citidrug are already closed by that time (around 9pm). Then I found one in Taguig, so we went there and successfully bought their remaining stock (around 50 pcs). Then we head on home.

Jonas, my husband, prepared and sanitized our room in preparation for my arrival. That night, I was able to sleep soundly.

For the next part of this story, please head on to Post KT-Proofing the Room .

The Nightmare (D’s KT Blog Part 3 of 6)

If you haven’t yet, you may refer to The Operation for Part 2.

The nightmare began at dawn of October 14, 2019, Monday. I did not notice that I have been having some shortness of breath whenever I talked, the day before. Around 4am, a doctor came to do her rounds. She listened with her stethoscope, and asked me how I felt. I said I felt fine. She left. I slept again.

Around 4:30AM, I woke up because I cannot breathe. I was lying flat on the bed. I needed to sit down just to gasp for air. I almost pulled the central line in my neck. I called for Mama to call the nurse and tell them I can’t breathe. She did, but no one came. After, a few minutes I was almost crying. I rang the alarm and shouted that I cannot breathe. Mama had gone again to the nurse station and this time, a nurse came. She placed an oximeter on my finger. I cannot see what the result was but her eyes widen. She immediately called for another nurse, then put my oxygen nasal cannula on me (I wasn’t wearing one at that time because I didn’t need it the days before). They maxed the oxygen configuration to 5L but still the oximeter shows declining SPO2.

The ward doctor who made rounds earlier came and she can’t believe what happened 30minutes after she did her rounds. She made them replace the nasal cannula to an oxygen face mask, but my SPO2 is still declining. I think somewhere along the line, they called Dra. Dela Rama and she instructed to put diuretics in my IV, which one of the nurses did. When the diuretics took effect, and my urine output increased, I felt gradually better. The ward doctor called pulmonary people to put a BIPAP machine on me with 10L configuration. After that, I can breathe again (the machine forced me to).

I look happy because I was clueless and I can breathe.

Later, I was known to be the patient who had “desat” short for oxygen desaturation. Luckily, my fistula survived the ordeal. This is one of what Dra. Dela Rama checked when she visited me around 8am later that day. Actually, all my doctors visited me at 8am that day, while I was wearing the mask of the BIPAP machine (which is by the way, so uncomfortable, as it takes almost the whole face). My nephrologist and her fellows, the transplant surgeon and his fellows, and the cardiologist and her fellows, were all in the room looking at me with grave eyes. Mama was squeezed into a corner.

Earlier, my x-ray was taken, and it showed that I have a severe case of pneumonia. I think I saw the film and both my lungs are all black. I coughed and they asked me to spit some phlegm but all I spat was blood. They explained that this is normal because I was congested. I almost drowned in my own blood.

Much later, after the ordeal was over, I understood why they were looking so grave. Dra. Dela Rama explained it to me. Antibiotics is needed to fight pneumonia. But the new kidney needs immunosuppressant to thrive. Dra. Dela Rama added a pulmonary doctor Dr. Ginete-Garcia and an infectuous disease doctor Dr. Ecarma to her team to handle my case. They are also thinking that there might be a problem with the new kidney, and I may need to be opened up again. The problem was, since I cannot breathe on my own, I would require a tube down my throat during the operation. If for some reason I got cardiac arrest, there wouldn’t be time to pull the tube and do defribillation, and that will be the end of me. So they had to be sure if there is a problem. The only way to make sure was to do a CT Scan.

The road to CT Scan was uneventful. I was traumatized of not being able to breathe so I was very dependent on the BIPAP, I refuse to leave the room without it. The nurse assured me that I will be able to bring the BIPAP to CT Scan. She lied (or she didn’t know). Only an oxygen with face mask (which has a max of 5L) is included in my transport to CT Scan. Still, I calmed myself and counted sheep. The CT Scan was captured the first try and it is now time to go back to the room.

The road back from CT Scan was eventful. Somewhere along the way, there is a non-airconditioned hallway and I snapped there. I just felt I can’t breathe. My SPO2 was dropping, partly due to my panic. I almost pulled my central line again. The SOP of transporting a “desat” patient like me is to have an accompanying doctor and a pulmonary staff but they proceeded even if there was none. All I had was 2 nurse aide and Mama, and all of them did not know what to do. I just said they hurry so we can go to the airconditioned hallway, where the nurse met us. Without urgency, she even wondered aloud about entering the elevator with us or not. I snapped at her to hurry and she did. Later, I thought about if I am feeling remorse by the way I acted and I found that no, I do not. By this time, I already have some angst against some of the nurses, like the one who did not come when I was gasping for breath and this one.

They found nothing out of the ordinary in the CT Scan result, just that there is a slightly inflammation in the new kidney. But that is enough for the doctors to decide on something that possibly saved my life. To give me a little more of the IV immunosuppressant, which they stopped due to the pneumonia. Later, it was explained to me that the pneumonia may be one of the side effect of acute rejection of the kidney. That is why it is has inflammation. The immunosuppressant helped the kidney and then we were able to deal with pneumonia with the antibiotics. After this, they proceeded with administering both IV antibiotics and IV immunosuppressants.

Still, I cannot breathe on my own. I decided to ask the dialysis nurses from Metro North Hospital if they know someone who can be my Private Duty Nurse (PDN). I am becoming a handful for whoever my chaperone was (either Mama or my husband Jonas) due to my condition. I needed a health care professional and I don’t trust the nurses in that ward anymore. Of course, there were some good nurses on some shifts, but I can’t risk not having a good one at the wrong time. And, I was scared to sleep. That night, I was not able to sleep. I slept in the morning, but it was difficult because mornings are when doctors visit and procedures are done. Luckily, the head dialysis nurse from Metro North Hospital referred Jam to me, and she is very professional and empathic to my needs. She agreed on 8PM-8AM shift. Since then, I slept better knowing someone was watching over me.

The rest of the days that week were routine. I had blood tests and xray in the morning. They were not able to find out what type of pneumonia I had but the antibiotics seemed to be working. I did not had fever, just lung congestion. I don’t even have cough. They administered the antibiotics and immunosuppressants according to some dosage and gradually, my lung cleared and my urine output also increased.

When my xray showed that my lung cleared, I was able to breathe without the BIPAP again. It was such a relief after 3 days on using that machine. I was bloated with all the gas that I inhaled. One doctor suggested Nasogastric Intubation before, to drain the excess air in my stomach. Thinking that this will work immediately, I suggested it again. This is one of the worst decisions of my life. It was so uncomfortable, especially when drinking medicine where the tube will compete with the meds in your throat. And it was so slow. I was with NI for around 12 hours and I did not see any difference with my stomach. We just gave up on the bloatedness, hoping that once my digestive system kept up, it will resolve itself.

One morning that week, Dra. Dela Rama visited me. She is not looking grave anymore. After looking at my vital signs, blood works, x-ray results and urine output, she said, “You’ll be fine”. And that is all I needed to hear.

For the next part of this story, please head on to The Recovery .

The Operation (D’s KT Blog Part 2 of 6)

If you haven’t yet, you may refer to The Call for Part 1.

My Kidney Transplant Operation took place last October 12, 2019 at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI). It started around 10am, right after my dialysis, because my nephrologist, Dra. Dela Rama, believes that for cadaver organ donations, the sooner it is transplanted to the recipient, the better. This is also the reason she rejects cadaver organs that have been outside of the body for more than 24 hours. Later, I found out that she thinks that cadaver organs have some downtime (like a hibernation time). Something like (this is my interpretation) if it was not used for 24 hours, once transplanted, it will need another 24 hours to warm up and work as expected.

I don’t remember anything from the operation. I was wheeled to the operating room, then I blacked out due to anaesthesia. What I remembered was waking up to an intense discomfort. It is the feeling of wanting, no, needing to pee, but not being able to. Like my bladder will burst but I just can’t pee. I remembered seeing Dra. Dela Rama and begging her to let me sit in the toilet (my anaesthesia clouded mind thought that I can’t pee because I am not in the toilet). She explained that no, that is not how it works, I have a catheter, I should be able to pee. Still I begged, until I fell asleep again.

I later found out that Dra. Dela Rama and Dr. Ronsayro (my transplant surgeon) talked to Mama and Jonas, my husband. They said that the kidney is not yet working, which is normal for a cadaver organ, but she will require me to have a Private Duty Nurse (PDN) for the mean time since I will need more care than a family member can give. They agreed, but at that time, PDN was scarce and Dra. Dela Rama was not able to find someone.

I woke to the sound of cheering. I opened my eyes and I was still in the operating room and people are cheering that I am already pee-ing. I don’t know how long I was out. They observed for a little more, then Dra. Dela Rama decided that it is already safe to bring me back to the room. She said later that she will not let me out of the operating room unless I peed.

As a side note, the recipient of the other kidney from the cadaver donor was on another operating room. His/her (I don’t know the gender of the recipient) operation started, I think 2 hours later than me, but he/she peed earlier than me. However, after a while, while still in the operating room, he/she had an internal bleeding to which he/she needed to be opened up again. This is one of the risks of transplantation.

I was wheeled back to my room where Mama and Jonas was. I can’t move because of all the lines attached to me. I have a catheter down my legs so that they can measure the amount of my urine output. I have a central line in my neck which will be used for the IV medicines and blood transfusions. I think I also have an oxygen nasal cannula in my nose. It is so uncomfortable and even though I am in bed, my back hurts from all of the lying down and from my limited mobility.

For the next day, my output was good, around 50cc to 120cc of urine per hour. My water intake was also measured and I am not yet allowed to drink much because my the IV drip provides my fluid. I was so thirsty. I looked forward to the times I drink medicines so I am allowed some 30cc of water to push it down.

Everything seemed well for that day. I began to daydream of sleeping in my own bed. I was served soft food diet from the hospital’s dietary division. I loved the jello. Sometimes it is red, other times yellow, but I love the green one. Though, this may have been psychological because maybe they taste the same. It might not even have flavor, just sugar, but I like the texture so much that I asked Dra. Dela Rama to include a jello in my diet, which she granted.

I later found out in the documents that my estimated discharge date is October 24, just 12 days from the transplant date. This was if all gone well, but sadly, it didn’t.

For the next part of this story, please head on to The Nightmare .

The Call (D’s KT Blog Part 1 of 6)

Last October 11, 2019, I was wrapping up my work from home at around 7PM, when an unknown number called me. Actually, I missed the call so I called back. This is what I remembered from our conversation:

D: Hello  
R: Hello, is this Diana? 
D: Yes, who's this? 
R: Si Rocky to, natatandaan mo? 
D: Um... 
R: Si Rocky from HOPE. Tumawag din ako last month. 
D: Ah
R: I want to be honest with you, may cadaver donor tayo, 
this one is from a 27-year old female, pero 3rd choice ka.
However, mukhang hindi kukunin nung second choice, 
gusto kong malaman kung Go ka ba? 
Like, are you physically and financially ready?
D: Opo, kukunin ko.
R: Ok, icocontact ka ni Dra. Dela Rama para ipaliwanag.

Then, after a while, my transplant Nephrologist Dra. Dela Rama called. I have 2 nephrologists, Dra. Pascual of Metro North Hospital is my dialysis nephro, while Dra. Dela Rama of NKTI (National Kidney and Transplant Institute) is my transplant nephro. To be able to line up for cadaver organ donation in HOPE, you need a nephro from NKTI. A family friend recommended Dra. Dela Rama since she administered a couple of transplants also of their family members.

I vaguely remembered what Dra Dela Rama said in that phone call. I think she asked if currently I have an infection, and if my clearances are up to date. I said no infection (just got my tooth extracted last month) and that my laboratories are up to date but my clearances are not. She said I need to do the whole workup, then. I agreed. She asked me to head to NKTI as soon as possible, and a fellow of hers will meet me to facilitate the admission.

So I called my husband, Jonas, and told him the news. He said he will head home immediately. I also called Mama and asked her to meet me in NKTI. I packed some clothes knowing that if I passed the tests, the transplant will take place immediately after. I waited around an hour for Jonas (mind you, even with Angkas, this is a Friday night) and he also packed some things, then off we go to get a Grab. Unfortunately, there was no Grab at that time. The Transportify we booked was stuck in traffic. So I asked the front desk of our condominium if they can call us a taxi. Luckily, they were able to.

I was in tears due to the traffic, thinking that if we were late, they will find somebody else. We have waited 3 years for this, and the donation rate per year for a cadaver donor is very low (last year it was 4, I think, for the whole year). I was called last month as a 3rd choice also, but the first and second choice got the kidneys. But afterwards, I realized that my worrying had been in vain since they are already cross matching the blood (Serum Storage) I left last month with the donated kidneys and that crossmatching is not cheap so they will not give it to anyone else, unless I failed the tests.

Kuya Taxi Driver was very efficient. This is one time I appreciated that he is a typical taxi driver wanting to go his destination as soon as possible. We were able to get to NKTI after an hour and a half, traversing EDSA. We head to HOPE office and met Rocky. Then he asked us to head to NKTI admissions ahead of them, because it may close soon. It was almost 10pm at this time.

What I forgot is that they will need a 300k deposit to proceed with the transplantation. We have this money, but since it is a Friday night, there is no way to get it. I asked if we can give it to them in the morning and the admissions people seems adamant about it. I think they judged us because of my clothes (I was wearing the comfiest shirt and pants and slippers). Then the HOPE people arrived and they talked to them, because this happens often with cadaver donations, which can be anytime of the day or the week when the banks are already closed. Then we remembered Jonas’ credit card, which can cover the whole deposit. Soon, everything was well, and I was admitted and tests were made.

In the morning of October 12, 2019, I was informed that I passed the tests, but I need to have a last dialysis (my dialysis schedule is Wednesdays and Saturdays) because my blood is toxic (high creatinine, high potassium) at that time. They just need to lessen it a bit to lower the risk of the operation.

Right after dialysis, I was wheeled to the operating room. I saw people and all are wearing face masks. Then I blacked out due to the anaesthesia.

For the next part of this story, please head on to The Operation .

Erkenci Kus : My Current Obsession

It is known that K-Dramas are very “in” right now. Also, not to be left behind are our local PH telenovelas like the never-ending “Ang Probinsyano” (or the Brotherhood, as it is known in Netflix) and “Kadenang Ginto” which still produces hilarious memes and impersonations.

Accidentally, I come upon a Turkish telenovela because of a music video (not an official music video, just a video with snippets from the show and which someone put music on) that was shared by my mother. I asked her of the details of the show afterwards, and she said that she doesn’t care about the show, just the music (which is an old love song).

I was intrigued. I googled, I watched in youtube, and I fell in love.

Erkenci Kus is an ongoing Turkish telenovela which started last 2018. The main stars are Can Yaman (as Can Divit, seems to be pronounced as Jan) and Demet Özdemir (as Sanem Aydin). The chemistry between these two possibly caused me diabetes. Sparks fly everywhere whenever they are close. I will list the main and sub casts and comment on what I love/hate about them. Note that as of this writing, I am still at Episode 23, so my bias is only what is known until that episode.

First on the list is Can Divit. He is like the Male Lead of any story in Wattpad, rich, handsome, artistic but at first, snobbish. He is the Chief Creative Officer for their family’s advertising company. Eventually, he begins to warm up to the other characters. He has a lot of admirers (like if there is a new female character, odds are they are/was infatuated with him). On the down side, he doesn’t forgive easily and even broke a long-time bond of friendship just because of a lie. What I like about him though is that he is very down to earth. If he wants something, he says it which cuts most misunderstanding for a few episodes that it would normally run. BONUS: He has top-less scenes in around 1 out of 3 episodes until episode 20.

The female protagonist is Sanem. If Can cuts the misunderstanding by being straight to the point, Sanem is the one that prolongs the misunderstanding, haha! She entered the company as an errand girl but for due to some twists of fate, she became an intern writer. One special thing about her is that she has a photographic memory which is impressive, but is shown useful only to save a few trivial problems in the show. I didn’t like her very much. She is clumsy, emotional and not-so intelligent, which allowed Emre to use her as a company spy. But everything changed, when I saw her cry. I don’t know, I just have a soft spot for seemingly-geniune crying.

Most fillers are focused on the Aydin Family, Sanem’s parents who owns a convenience store and Leyla, her sister who referred her to the company. At first, I find the father cute shouting Mekvebe (the mom’s name) but after several episodes, I found it annoying! Their parents are a conservative bunch and their neighbors love gossip.

I need a separate block to describe my Leyla. The lovely blue-eyed sister of Sanem. I could get lost in those eyes. At first, she seemed villain-y but after a few episodes, it will be apparent that she is very loyal to Sanem and her family. I empathize with her love and heartbreak towards Emre, but would like to slap her for not appreciating Osman enough.

Next is Emre, Can’s brother and the Chief Financial Officer for their company. He is one of the antagonist in the show. He has a love-hate relationship with being good. His deeds seem to confuse him (and honestly, me as well). I hate that he uses the sisters for his (and his ex’s gain) but I also hate the sisters (especially my lovely Leyla) for not seeing that they are being used.

Aylin maybe the main villain of this show (as of the episodes I’ve watched), but she is also the best dressed. He is Emre’s ex. As cunning as she is, I cannot help but pity her whenever she is on her lowest. Anyway, she always bounces back stronger, which I feel is very commendable for an independent (albeit evil) woman.

I don’t know the correct spelling to Jay-jay’s name but it is really pronounced (usually shouted by Deren) as JJ. He is the other errand boy of the company and the best (in my opinion) comedic relief. He cannot keep secrets and is prone to nervous breakdowns. What I don’t understand is that why is he always with the top management during parties even if he is just an errand boy? I have nothing against that, just surprised.

At first, thought that Deren was one of the villains. She is the second in command to Can who deals with the advertising campaigns. She is very irritated with Sanem (which is understandable as Sanem is usually clumsy and not very efficient) but eventually, she warms up to the audience. She is neurotic which is caused by drinking around 6 glasses of coffee per day and also because Can. What breaks my heart is her unchanging loyalty to Can and the company, and it is such a thankless job. Nobody seems to appreciate her, and she is actually the one keeping the company together.

Lastly, there is the siblings Osman and Ayhan. Osman loves Leyla from afar. They grew up together to which I don’t understand why he cannot admit his feelings. It breaks my heart whenever I see Osman see Leyla brokenhearted due to Emre. He is the typical nice guy which was dumped for a cooler guy.

Ayhan is Sanem’s bestfriend, who she treats as another sister. She is always there for Sanem. She is also a possible love interest for Jay jay. Just that, there is nothing more to say.

There are actually other characters but these are the only characters I have strong feelings for. Anyway, I am just in episode 23 (I think this is ongoing episode 50+ already) so I may change my impression eventually. But anyway, irritation with Sanem’s clumsiness aside, this show makes me feel good. It can be corny at times, but it also makes me appropriately sad and happy, and I like feeling those things every once in a while :).

*All images were screengrabbed from Erkenci Kus Episode 21 in You Tube (https://youtu.be/gibpzgGWN1s). Sorry if this is the wrong way to put the source of the images. Kindly comment to correct me.

Introduction

]My Name is Dee, and I’m always dizzy.

Writing has always been my hobby, moreso than reading. I have always wanted to start a blog where I can share things I have tried. Basically, I just want to keep a memoir but if my posts were able to help or inspire others (like for their next trip), then the better!

I know I am not that good yet and I lack practice but if there is anything I’ve learned while being a programmer, is that practice makes perfect.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them 🙂