8th Floor Wonder

Several days back, I commented in my friend's blog because he confessed that he was scared of hospitals and needles. I was too. Unlike him, however, I didn't have a valid reason for being scared because (1) I was never ever confined in a hospital and (2) I didn't have any scary experience with needles to the point that I didn't even know my own blood type at the age of 23.

All those changed last week.

My fear of hospital confinement and needles had a more solid basis because (1) I was confined in a hospital and (2) I had 2 blood extractions, 1 inserted IV, 3 painful skin tests, and that painful medication injected through the IV.

The funny thing is all these actually diminished my fear. I conclude then that what I actually fear is the unknown (which makes sense because my love for trying out new things would lessen the unknown). *Flower phobias still keep me baffled though.*

Going back to my hospitalization...

Before GMA was confined in St. Luke's for her abdominal pain which turned out to be acute infectious diarrhea, I was confined first because of abdominal pain with a different diagnosis and in a different hospital. GMA as my topic ends in this paragraph. I'm not going to write about her experience because we all read about it in the newspaper and have seen it in the news. She's off to Europe at this very minute for her one week visit. As for me, I am back home.

And so I write about what I know of. And that, as always, is my own experience (or more appropriately, just thoughts) for the past days that I was in the hospital.

GooGoo Dolls' Better Days
I've heard this song several times in the radio but didn't give it much thought. While lying on the hospital bed however, I finally had the time to watch TV and saw its music video on MYX. And that's when I read its lyrics. I don't know if it was just me and the I.V. on my left hand that cleaned my system, but I felt sentimental watching the video and listening to this song... I've never done this before but I found the lyrics worth sharing so here it is.

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

Dreams
I was awake at night with my medication injected in my I.V... I had the chance to watch Jolina Magdangal play the role of Jasmine Trias in GMA 7. Amazing story. I almost forgot all about what I watched because of the pain from the meds through my IV... but then in the end, I remembered that I liked it. :) It was basically about chasing after one's dream and all the hardships one has to go through in order to reach that point. And we know why typical stories occur... more often than not, they're TRUE ;)

Realizations
While I was looking at the rest of the city from the big hospital windows during the day, I thought to myself that I wasn't even seeing much. I was on the 8th floor (yep, thus the title) and all I saw were the tops of other roofs, billboards, towers, and other buildings. Although of course the sky was beautiful... until I saw the ugliest sight of all -- the smog that covered the beautiful sunset.

For some reason, I thought of how big the rest of the world was while I sat there on my hospital bed. If I were on the 20th floor, I would probably see the rest of the vast land area and probably realize that I was truly miniscule (atleast physically). Then at that moment, I told myself that I wanted to become a better swimmer. (remember, these were raw and random thoughts)

The scariest thing about not being able to swim well is the fact that 3/4 of the Earth is made up of water. Boats, kayaks, and surfboards are fun ways to enjoy the water but if I want to be a REAL traveler, I would have to explore beyond what I could see above sea level. The waters run deep and I must learn how to... dive!!! Swimming and diving are the next activities that I'll probably be doing... right after I persuade Franco to join me ;) ahem2x if you're reading this.

Travel through TV
I wanted to go to Rio de Janeiro after watching National Geographic [even after seeing this iguana swimming in a man-made pool and scaring a bikini-clad woman] Did you guys know that as Filipinos, we don't need a VISA in order to enter Brazil? Tickets and passport are just fine... Whoopee! I even started daydreaming about Ipanema and Copacabana for a while... But then I learned that we need a VISA to get to the U.S. first and from there, fly to Brazil because we don't have a direct flight from the Philippines to Brazil.

*LaLa's DayDream BuBbLe PoPs*

L.O.V.E.
I watched the movie Love Actually before but I wasn't able to finish it. So when Star Movies aired it last Thursday night and Friday morning, I was ecstatic about it. I made a little something inspired by the movie's main point.

Love could be seen (and felt) between two lovers, an infant and an adult, another set of lovers, sisters, business partners, preschool students and their teachers, best friends, barkadas, siblings, couples-to-be, a couple and a friend, baby sisters, a couple-to-be becoming a couple, pets, teammates, same old couple, benchmates, grandparents, and MORE. (by now, you would have noticed that I was describing the collage below). And love could be expressed through kisses, hugs, smiles, pats on the backs, holding hands, and many many many different ways.

I agree with the film

that...

Love Actually is All Around.

~ o O o ~

It's amazing what two whole days of being confined in a hospital could do to a person... These thoughts are just a few of my official 8th floor wonders...

Of course I made the collage after getting out of the hospital ;)

~ o O o ~

So what is it that really happened to me? The reason why I didn't write about it right away was that I've been repeating the story for all of my doctors... a nephrologist (for my kidneys), a surgeon (in case it was appendicitis), a ultrasonologist (for my abdominal ultrasound), a gastroenterologist (for obvious reasons: abdominal pain), and a cardiologist (for not-so-obvious reasons: my dad's one of my attending physicians), and all their interns and residents in those areas of specializations. And I probably grew a bit tired of telling the same story over and over. So in summary (the last time I'll hopefully tell this story), here is what happened to me...

But remember, I'm innately a story-teller (writer) so here's...

THE REAL STORY for my Doctors' Diagnosis
While in my Multivariate Statistics class (popularly known as Psych 212 in UP) at around 7pm, I felt this pain in my abdomen. I couldn't pinpoint which part it was actually coming from. So while copying notes and reciting for Dr. David, I just held my stomach with my free hand. But I wasn't concentrating anymore. I just wished that class would be over and that I could go home and lie down. I tolerated one and a half more hours of pain until class was over.

I was still able to drive home although I was already complaining to my classmates that my stomach really hurt and even joked that it felt like my internal organs went awry. Jenn was complaining that her head was aching too so my abdominal pain wasn't much of a biggie then. We were always in a kind of pain after that particular class anyway.

When I reached the house, my dad was sitting on the rocking chair and watching his favorite TV show -- a golf tournament. In between sipping my corn soup and debating whether I should tell my dad or not about my stomachache (I was thinking if it were serious or if I could just dismiss it but then it was already past 9:30pm and the pain has been constant even if it wasn't excruciating). And so I told my dad about my stomachache. And he went into "interview mode".

"What time did you feel the pain? what kind is it?"
"What did you eat?"
"Did you get hungry? How about in the past days?"

I answered all his questions then he asked me to drink warm milk first and rest before continuing my dinner. My mom and sister came home with groceries and I joined them while they had dinner. I had my milk but I didn't finish it coz I found it icky that time. I talked to Franco over the phone and he said I sounded all right (he heard worse abdominal pain complaints from me)... then our line was cut and I fell asleep on the sofa with warm compress. The pain didn't go away during that nap.

And when I woke up that same night (just clarifying that it was a short nap), I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth... in the middle of brushing my teeth, I felt my knees go weak. And my entire body felt weak. Passing by my parents who were watching TV then, I muttered to them that I felt weak... then I went to my room.

And there, I felt my vision darken. And I held to the side of my bed. Without my knowing, my mom followed me inside the room. And there, she saw me holding on to the side of the bed... She made me lie down, inclined my legs on top of a pillow, and asked me to take deep breaths because I was pale. (I'm probably the anti-pale girl so being pale meant being PALE.) Then she called my dad.

They got my blood pressure but it was normal. Since my lips were back to their original color, they concluded that I probably stood up too fast a while ago. My stomach though still hurt... By then, the pain seemed to move towards the hypogastric area (which is below [hypo] the stomach[gastric], in other words, puson). But my right side was also in pain (if not in more pain).

Ling and mom spent the night chatting with me while I held a hot compress against my abdomen. The pain didn't go away. Then I got my fever. 87.8 and 88.5 celsius.

The next day, the pain remained and my parents decided to bring me to the hospital. While they were preparing everything -- clothes, toiletries, etc., I was still lying down on my bed. By 7am, my abdominal pain has persisted for 24 hours (if not for more than 24 hrs because I wasn't sure if the onset was 7pm or earlier than that).

I stood up with the help of my mom and manang and everything went smoothly. After three steps however, my vision turned black (this time darker than the previous night's: pitch black). So I had to lie down and take deep breaths again. My blood pressure was checked with the BP apparatus and I was ok. But they didn't want to take any more chances of me blacking out... Believe it or not, they made me sit on a monoblock chair being pulled and carried down the steps all the way to the car. I have innovative doctors in the house! :)

And that's when I tried out a series of things for the first time... hospital confinement, complete blood count, IV, ultrasound, fasting...

And that's when I felt a series of emotions all in two days... confusion of what my illness was, fear of what would happen if there was really something wrong with my kidneys (a whole new lifestyle: inactive and no sodium), fear of surgery but wishing it was appendicitis rather than kidney complications, pain from my skin tests for the medicine, fear of my actual medicine through the IV, frustration as to when could I eat again???... and frustration as to what to do I really have?

And of course, there were the fun parts... people visiting me in my hospital room, my professor excusing me from school and wishing me well, being able to watch TV without thinking of anything else, sleeping on those cool hospital beds which you could incline ;)

But in case you grew tired of reading the long story I wrote above (which I believe would be the case for most of you) It is meant for data recording anyway. Here's the ending...

No surgery and appendix still intact. Kidneys were fine. They were found different in the ultrasound because they were slightly larger than normal but the doctor said that it was better for them to be large than small. Creatinine level was normal. Complete blood count showed that I had high levels of white blood cells which meant my body was fighting off an infection. And so, I am being treated with antibiotics for an inflammation in the bladder. And by the way, I finally learned what my blood type is. I'm a universal donor ;)

All is well now. Have a great week, everyone :)