Miracle Sundays: My Boys are Back!

My boys are finally free! The doctor advised to extend their quarantine to protect me. After more than two weeks they have both finished their isolation. They are still wearing masks outside when walking around and keeping a distance when we eat. That's fine since I could give back hugs. We've scheduled Squeaky.ph to come clean and disinfect the house. It's good to do that since we don't really know if the virus could live on surfaces. 

I'm truly grateful for all the prayers and support. Thank you to all those who prayed for us and sent us help. We overcame the challenge because of all the prayers and support. Aside from sending food and water, what also helped was the moral support. Family and friends reached out to check on us and give advise. 

The boys went through a few rough days and they had the most annoying cough. They both sought advise from a doctor through AIDE app. She was the same doctor that took care of them when they had the flu last June. I think it really helped that we caught the symptoms early. Aside from the medication, we supplemented it with essential oils, salabat, Lola Remedios and I diffused oils in the hallway to purify the air. 

I also felt some symptoms during the first week. I think my medications, using essential oils and taking VCO helped reduce the viral load. That, lots of prayers and my guardian angel protected me and we're truly thankful that we are all feeling better now. 

My prayer for healing continues. COVID-19 doesn't end when you're no longer infectious. It can cause other issues. Told the boys that we have to keep moving to prevent clotting. Eat properly to prevent diabetes. Do deep breathing to prevent lung issues. Monitor vital signs to catch possible myocarditis. We have to take care of our bodies to prevent other issues. One of the things I want to do with the boys is go walking everyday. Since it's raining I'll re-start spinning again. 

It's a happy day for our family today. Hope you are all doing great. Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Family Update: The Last 7 Days with COVID-19

Suspending lakwatsera Fridays for an important family update. I already edited part 2 of the Bohol adventure, but I still need to narrate it. I've been busy nursing the boys back to good health. They are feeling much better now. They are now in day 6 and 7 of their journey. Doctor advised to isolate until they don't have symptoms for 3 consecutive days. It's longer than usual because I'm immunocompromised. 

It's been hard. I've been very calm, but the stress and anxiety of your boys being sick affected my body. I wasn't sure whether I was experiencing the same symptoms as the boys. My vitals though were normal. Last night though something weird was going on in my chest. It was a strange feeling because I've never experienced it. My chest felt like it was liquefying (is there such a thing).

Well, because of what happened I decided to take an antigen test this morning. It was thankfully negative. It's been really hard to decipher whether I was having COVID-19 symptoms or symptoms from my current issues or PTSD. My primary goal though is to stay healthy and stable so I could take care of the boys. I woke up a bit late than usual, but felt better compared to the past few days. 

With Gab's "healing tinola". Best tinola ever!

Flight safety instructions always advise to secure your oxygen first before taking care of others. I guess it's the same if you are a patient and have to take care of other patients. I realized I should have made sure that I was careful with getting triggered. I've been calm, but I was so anxious about the boys I didn't secure myself properly. The air quality has been bad the past week. I had been staying at the dining room to be closer to the boys, but since it's not enclosed I was exposed to the bad air. That probably contributed to what I went through last night. I'll just take it up with my cardiologist when I see her again soon. 

Care package from friends!

All good, learnt my lesson and I've been staying in my craft room where air is filtered better. I also asked help from friends since the boys have to isolate at least a week more. They're going to take care of sending some supplies and change the water in my dispenser. I'm really glad and grateful they are better now and that I have amazing friends supporting us. Thank you from the bottom of my leaky heart. 

And thank you to my guardian angel and vaccines for protecting me. It's truly a miracle I did not pick it up. 

BTW, my inaanak, Jomar Tigcal has published a new book,"Simplifying Android Development with Coroutines and Flows". You can pre-order on Amazon (https://amzn.to/3IV6X0p) and on Packt (https://packt.link/dpbTe). Congratulations Jomar! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Two Down, I'm the Last Woman Standing!

Both my boys now are sick. They're currently doing an antigen test. Sweetie doesn't have fever anymore, but he's still coughing. Advised him to still stay quarantined since there reports of late positive COVID-19 test (read here). I read that the vaccination sometimes delays it. 

I'm really grateful I'm feeling better now. The last few weeks have been challenging for me. The new pill the doctor gave me seems to have worked and I've been doing oxygen therapy at night. I think that helped ease the strain on my heart. I was working on improving my stamina the past few days by gardening and my energy is slowly coming back. That's important because now with both my boys sick I have to take care of everything. 

First order of the day was to get them breakfast. The air quality has been pretty bad because of Mt. Bulusan so I can't really hang out in the kitchen, so I just had some food delivered. Set up two stools now outside the bedroom doors. We agreed to wear a mask whenever anyone goes out of the room. I used the disinfectant spray gun for packages around the house last night, but I'm not sure if that would be helpful. I just also wash my hands whenever I go out of the bedroom.

To minimize bringing out stuff from the bedrooms I got bottled water and provided the boys with utensils and dishwashing paraphernalia. Actually, Sweetie had prepared some items in the guest room in case anyone needs to be quarantined. Sweetie wanted his honey ginger tea with him, so we put it in a cooler. We just switch the cooling bottle every 12 hours. He has his own kettle. Of course, they have their own meds and alcohol. The WHO provides a useful guideline for home quarantine.

No one has test positive, but we're treating it as COVID-19 just to be on the safe side. The biggest fear of my doctors is for me to get it. I'm not stressing over it, just leaving everything to God. I just want my boys to get well soon. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Situation in Our Homes: Manila and Singapore

They say home is where the heart is. My heart is split between two countries - Philippines and Singapore. Last night the heads of both countries made announcements about COVID19 efforts. If you haven't seen it you can watch PM Lee's announcement here and President Duterte's announcement here.

I arrived back in Singapore on January 22 just when the coronavirus just started spreading in Singapore. The government immediately imposed travel restrictions and proactively responded to the growing issue. On February 8 PM Lee addressed the nation and gave an update about the response government was doing. This effectively abated the fears and immediately stopped the panic buying that started to happen. We've all followed the directives and only went out when really needed.

My son went back home to Manila a few weeks ago and I've been on my toes monitoring news about the Philippines. Miggy rarely goes out but was planning to go to the grocery since last week. When news broke late last week that cases were starting to add up I told Miggy that we'll just order what he needs online. True enough by Monday people were panic buying. My Mom's helper messaged me to say that the supermarket ran out of meat and other necessities. Luckily my friend's online grocery still had some stocks and I ordered immediately what they need at home.

I was sad after the announcements last night. I am really grateful for all the efforts of the Singapore government to fight against COVID19. My heart though is crushed with the way it's been handled in my home country. My hometown is on community quarantine and I cannot help but worry for my family.

I re-watched PM Lee's February 8 video and the best thing about it aside from the reassurance is the call he made for everyone to act responsibly as part of the community. This immediately stopped the panic buying that happened and I could tell that everyone is being mindful and keeping proper hygiene. I mentioned on my FB the other night that I hope the value of why we have the barangay as our smallest administrative division is because it represents your community. If each barangay manages to come together and work as a community then we should be able to address the issue much better.

I am hopeful that things will get better soon. Take care friends and be safe.