What I hate about blood chemistry work up is the fasting.  It requires you to take nothing by mouth from 10 to 14 hours.

To make things worse, producing urine when you have had nothing ingested within the fasting period seems to be a very impossible dream to achieve.

Every month, these are my dilemma.  They are not just my dilemma, they are just the tip of the iceberg.  The icing on the cake.

It’s 12:00 am. I am here in the office fulfilling the last graveyard duty for the week’s schedule. I will be out at 6:00 a.m., Monday. It’s marked as my rest day and soon Tuesday I am scheduled to report for work at 1:00 p.m.

I don’t want to complaint about the sked. In fact, I should be thankful to have a decent job amidst the global recession.

I don’t want to but my body is manifesting rebellion. It blows the whistle for me to stop.

I feel a bit fussy. I want to take a nap, but I cannot go to the decompression room to lie down. I am scared. Seriously, 12:00 midnight is the scariest time of the day for me. I am trying to snatch a nap here in my post but I feel uncomfortable.

I do not know who to blame for catching an autoimmune disease like this.

When medicine cannot seem to explain the cause of a disease, which they call idiopathic, they blame it on stress.

I think I am to blame primarily if this is stress related. I have decided to live a stressful life sticking it out here in call center for the past 9 years. I was not contented with the stress that the schedule and type of work bring I decided to take up nursing full time for three years.

If the illness is not stress related, maybe it is a punishment from God for being a disrespectful daughter.

All my life I have been blaming my father (in my mind) for not having an ideal family or a life that is generally well off.

My training at LCP will start on June 15 and I cannot quit my job as yet, as much as I want to. I need my job to pay for the house mortgage.

I feel awful.

As approved by the ER doctor, I went to my third session of physical rehab this morning at St. Luke’s (I think I need to rent a space there because I am a frequent visitor already)

The session is scheduled at 7:00 a.m. and Brye, my therapist has arrived on time. I just noticed that there is someone also waiting for him. So I asked him if he’ll be having 2 patients at a time. He said yes. Then I told him what happened to me this morning and I informed him that I needed his undivided attention. He said that the therapy of the other patient will just be quick and will not take much of his time.

Thing is, it is unfair to anyone who is paying premium and not getting a premium service.  His response did not make me feel any better.

Anyhow, he informed me that we will go on with the therapy but he will not  put pressure on my back when he gives the ultrasound and the massage but he focused on the part of my back where I felt the tingling sensation.  The gadget that gives a small amount of current was also taped on the affected part of my  body. Funny thing is, the sensation the gadget sends to my body is the same as the one I am feeling in my back.

As the therapist was giving me a massage, he told me that the muscle on my shoulders are swelling because of the nodes that I have. I thought they were just muscles.  It turned out that they were swollen muscles that give me back pain. Brye  told me that my bad posture aggravates it and he instructed me to straighten not just my back but also my head and my neck.

As he said, it is painful at first but it will really help me come off the back pain.

So what is the  best way to keep my body straight? Lie flat in bed and snooze away!

Right now, the tingling sensation is hardly noticeable and I am looking forward to my fourth therapy tomorrow.

Just when I thought I could pull through the entire graveyard shift this week, I was wrong.

While everyone on the floor was busy feasting on the Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho sex video, I was busy composing my  email to my supervisor. Suddenly, I felt dizzy and the things around me started to swirl.

Before that, I felt the there’s a tingling sensation just below my nape and there’s a numbness that radiates through the back of my head. This is a normal thing and I am getting the physical rehab for it but the sensation and the numbness was a little intense but generally ignorable.

Then I heard my friend calling upon me asking me if I were okay. I remembered I responded a couple of times telling her that I was okay then it went black.

I think I dozed off for a while and when I opened my eyes, the guards were already there with wheel chair.  I was brought to St. Luke’s Medical Center by my good old friend Kaye.

I told them there;s no need for such because I ahve come back to my senses again but they were worried they insisted. They said I was shaking and my eyes were rolling.

In the ER, they have ran ECG and FBS and they were all normal. I was asked to stay for half an hour then I was discharged.

The doctor told me that the syncope (dizziness) might have been triggered by the back pain and it’s okay to continue the rehab and to take pain killer.

The rehab, I continued this morning but the pain killer I skipped. I have so many medications already and I am so concerned about my liver and kidney functions.

I called the clinic this afternoon to request for rehab request forms for my three remaining sessions and the company nurse and the doctor advised me to take a sick leave and rest.

So I am here. Tyring to rest.

Since our team has been merged to another team, we are now manning  the hotline 24 hours.

Unfortunately or fortunately, I am on graveyard shit this week.

Usually, I am off to bed at 10:00 p.m. but being on a graveyard shift, it means I have to turn my sleeping habit a complete 360 degrees.

I  was up at 10:00 a.m. and I tried my hardest to  go back to sleep but I failed. So I snapped out of the bed and decided to run errands.

I went to LCP to pay for the training  fee and as I feel that I  want to doze off,  I grab bed myself an iced coffee. I went straight to the office to leave my stuff before I headed to  the gym.

It is now my one hour break or the lunch break. Having dinner at 12:00 midnight. Very weird.

I do not feel sleepy, as yet, but it really feels weird to be up until  this time and until 6:00 a.m.

Way to go!

Will hospital gowns get a new look?

This topic I chanced upon Fox and Friends is appropriate for my experience this morning.

I was at St. Luke’s Medical Center this morning for my physical therapy/rehab for the MPS that I have been complaining for the past three months.

I was asked to change into hospital gown and for a 106  pounder, I feel like a hanger in it.  Even if I tied the gown at the back,  its continually drops from the shoulders.

Seriously, I have been to Cardinal Santos Medical Center and National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), and one of my greatest discomfort is fitting into their gowns.

I wish they could think of making small, medium and large sizes.

I have mentioned earlier here that I  have my xray and PPD test at LCP and today was the scheduled reading of the PPD  test 4 p.m.

I went to LCP during my lunch break at 1:30 p.m. and  I was able to convince the nurse to read the PPD aleady.  I had the fear that it will be read positive because since yesterday it was all red and swelling.  I even  consulted our company doctor about it and she confirmed that it was indeed positive.  However, she assured my that positive PPD reading does not mean that person is infected  with TB.  It is common in third world countries. She might have been exposed to the infection and no once can tell from whom she got the exposure.

Anyhow, the chest x-ray was clear and I have confirmed it with the LCP radiologist.

I was told by our company doctor that to confirm TB disease, apart from the signs and symptoms, a sputum exam should be made.

First off,  I cannot produce the sputum because I do not have any. I do not have a cough.

Going back to LCP, the nurse measured the wheal and it read 23 mm.  She just asked me if I am with a friend or a relative who has TB. I said I not that I know of.

She handed me the result and I proceeded to nursing training office. There I was given the order form….to pay for the traning.  Hurray!

Since I ran out of cash and time, I told the lady that I will be back on Monday to pay.

Scot free!.

I had a consult with our in-house cardiologist this morning and she interpreted that the fluid in the space around my heart is minimal.  She said that it usually doesn’t exacerbate although heart problems would be among the complications of my illness.

I also learned from her that if my attending wants to rule out pleural effusion, he should have ordered for chest x-ray.  (I have mentioned in my earlier post that I just had a chest x-ray at LCP and I found out that my chest is clear of any negative findings. For sure, the radiologist is not just looking for tuberculosis signs but other possibile lung conditions that might be contagious or might affect me carrying out my trainee duty.)

She just informed me to continue taking in the diuretics so as  to  avoid over accumulation of fluid and she will see me after a month and she will order for a repeat 2D echo-cardiogram after three months.

She also asked me if I am seeing an immunologist.  I said not yet because my attending who is a nephrologist if focused on my proteinuria.

Actually. I have been asking myself if I need to have a immunologist consult.  I will be asking my nephro in my next check up.

In my last check up, I asked him if my diagnosis is final. He said that we have to wait if I will respond positively to my  6-month treatment. By then, if I have not, then he will order for a repeat biopsy.

Honestly, I am having mixed emotions on this thought. If I did not respond well, then I might have been misdiagnosed and  I could have a common curable disease but if I did, then it confirms my life long health condition and I have just gone on remission and just wait  for the will pray not to have the next exacerbation in ten years.

Oh God, help me.

First of all, I am having severe leg cramps, yet again. It is my second day on Burinex and Aldactone. My doctor instructed me to pop these pills whenever edema sets in my feet.

As I had to evenly space out my medications, I decided to take them in around lunch time right after my dental check up. These diuretics are expected to kick in from 15 minutes to 2 hours so I need to be near a comfort room to go.

I have been to St. Luke’s and Lung Center of the Philippines and fortunately, their comfort rooms really offer comfort. I also had to use Chow King’s rest room which is clean too on my way to LCP.

I got the result of my 2D echo and the finding s are mostly normal except for:

- Minimal pleural effusion

- Mild mitral and tricuspid regurgitation

I’m a nurse but I don’t know that exactly they mean but from the sound of it, they are on the lighter side. Well, I don’t want to second guess, I will be having a cardio consult with our in house cardiologist.

I also went to see a doctor who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Gosh, I have to check what these doctors are called.

Anyhow, I arrived around 1 p.m. and I am already 10^th on the list. I have waited for almost an hour and when there was no sign of the doctor’s arrival, I told the secretary that I will just be back.

This is why I hate doctors. They make you wait forever as if they are the only people in the world who are busy.

I need to go to LCP to complete my requirements for the nurse trainee program.

I arrived at LCP before 3 p.m. and went straight to the training office. I wore my mask on. It was the Lung Center of the Philippines, which means every possible lung disease are existing there and afloat. Good thing, wearing masks there is highly encouraged.

After reviewing my requirements, the administrator gave me an order to get chest x-ray and PPD (Purified Protein Derivative) test. These are the tests required to all the trainee applicants. Although I had my chest x-ray last March, the result would no longer be reliable according to her. SO I obliged. Anyway, I also want to know if my lungs are still healthy. I could have the test performed in our office lab but I had to justify my request and I need to have the result interpreted by LCP’s radiologist which will also cost me some money.

The chest x-ray was available immediately. It’s like Polaroid! I was called by the receptionist and the first words that came out of my mouth: Are my lungs okay?

The receptionist replied that they are okay and the result will be sent to the training office. I felt relieved. I was scared that they might see some problems like pleural effusion – the thing that my nephrologist wants to rule out.

Then I headed for the PPD test. It is a skin test to check if you have been exposed to TB bacillus and do not ask me why it is called PPD. I was asked to be back on Friday for the reading and as I look on the test site, there has no signs of wheal formation. Maybe because I lost all the protein in my urine. Ha-ha. If you get 10mm or more of induration, you might be considered positive for exposure but it’s non-confirmatory.

I finished all the tests before 4 p.m. and I headed back to St. Luke’s. I arrived around 4:30 and went in to see the secretary. He told me that I have been called already and just wait to be called again after the patient then being seen by the doctor. Well, not bad. At least I had no time wasted.

I was called in after 15 minutes and related my back problem to the doctor. She ran some physical exams and the last thing she did was like sort of massaged my back really hard and I was in pain. She told me that there is muscle spasm on my back and it is called the MPS or Myofascial Pain Syndrome.

She ordered a 6 physical therapy sessions and ordered me to plot a sked at the rehab department. She also gave me some muscle relaxant. Another pill? Aaargh!

I chose to get the thrice a week session in the morning. I am planning to head there right after my graveyard shift so I could have longer and uninterrupted sleeps when I get home.

I hope that this MPS thing will go away after the complete session. I will be evaluated after 6^th session.

This is a very tiring day for me, although my plan was to hit the gym after running the errands, I begged off. I have done so much cardio running from one floor to another and from one place to another.

I need a cold shower to relieve my leg cramps.

Last Saturday, I got a text from World Citi College (WCC) HR that I was chosen to undergo the Nurse Training Program and I was scheduled to take the exam this morning.  To which I texted back that I already went through final interview and has paid the initial training fee of P2500 in February and that I was supposed to be in the February batch of trainees but just deferred due to the short notice I got from them then.

The HR officer affirmed that I was indeed on the waiting list of the next batch of trainees and I should still come to their office on Monday at 9:00 am (which is today) for contract signing and instructions to which I obliged.

I swapped sked with my office mate so I could swing by WCC in the morning.

I was there before 9 am along with other examinees.  The HR assistant, after learning my purpose, did not ask me to take the exam and instructed me instead to wait for the HR supervisor. After almost an hour of patiently waiting, the  assistant informed me in a very apologetic manner that the contract has not been prepared yet and as she was about  to discuss further the supervisor approached us. She told me that there have been changes in their training program.

Originally it was a 4-month training program which is billed at P2500 per month. Starting the new batch, they will be adapting  the 2-month training program and they have not revised the contract yet as the signatories were out somewhere.

I was told that the training program will commence on May 25 and I will be surely contacted for the contract signing before then.

I was done with them at past 10:00 a.m. I decided to go straight to the office and just render an over time since my sked was at 1:00 p.m.

I needed to be productive.  The caffeine I chugged this morning at Mc Donald’s has kicked in and I was not expecting to doze off until the wee hours of the morning.

While in the office, I remembered to phone Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP).  I was included in the batch 18 of their “continuing education program” (read: volunteer) tagged P3000 for three months.

The batch in which I was reassigned is scheduled to be “trained” in mid-July.

I was told over the phone to submit the requirements already.

It’s my rest day tomorrow. So I will drop by to comply.

If my calculations are correct, I will be able to finish the 2-month training program at WCC right before the training  in LCP will start.

I won’t quit my call center job just yet.  Next week will be my first time to be on graveyard shift since time immemorial. I have aasked my team mates to swap their graveyard sked with me starting May 25. This way, I could joggle paid and volunteer works.

I just hope nothing gets compromised not even my health.

I also hope that LCP has pulled their acts together this time. The last time I went there, my name was missing on the list of any batches of trainees.

At this point in time, I am hoping for the best.