Ohai Outside World!

Received confirmation yesterday that we were approved to get our booster shots at the NPF Drive Thru vaccination site. We headed to the site an hour before our appointment. I felt like a kid going out for the first time. The sky was a lovely shade of blue, there was no traffic and everything looked serene. 

I was amazed with the many new buildings in the Aseana area. The last time I was in the area was in July 2019 after a friend's wedding. I think only Okada and City of Dreams was operational at that time. I felt lost since there were so many new streets and buildings. It felt very unfamiliar. My Mom thought we traveled out of the city, but it was just 15 minutes away from home. 

We originally scheduled three of us to get booster shots. Unfortunately, the vaccination site only offered Moderna. My doctor required me to get Pfizer since I'm taking anti-coagulants. My Mom was the only one who managed to get the booster. I guess Miggy and I will need to find a drive-thru service that offers Pfizer. 

It was really tempting to go the mall! It was too early though and the boys would not have allowed it. We just got curbside takeaway from Pancake House for breakfast. I think this has been the most exciting joyride I've been on since December (hahaha) even though we didn't step out of the car. I felt antsy though for sitting too long since I normally move around every 30 minutes. 

Maybe when gas prices go down we can do a longer joyride outside my city (Aseana is still Paranaque City!). Back home now and will go take a nap to complete my required zzzs.

Happy Sunday everyone!

PS More information here about the drive-thru vaccination. 

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

Pink!

Today turned out to be a great day. My doctor's nurse called me yesterday afternoon to come in this morning. It's usually bad news when they ask you to come in the next day. As usual I had a hard time sleeping last night. I just prayed and left everything to God's will.

Color twinning hehe.

My doctor said they only found that I was vitamin D deficient. He was frustrated though he couldn't find the cause of my clots. I was relieved with his news since I just need to take a higher dosage of vitamin D for the next 3 months. I have made peace with the fact that I may never find out what caused my clots. What's important is I'm better now. 

And today I completed my second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The doctor told me he remembered me because of my medical issues haha. He said it'll be fully working by the time I go back home. Yes! I'm glad I took the pains to coordinate across my doctors to get clearance. 

If you feel you are medically ineligible to get vaxxed do check with your doctor. Whatever symptom you'll feel when you get it will be much, much less than if you get sick. I have a sore arm now and it's happy pain for me. It means the vaccine is working. 

I'm going to sleep happy again tonight. It's the second day in a row that my prayers have been answered. You're the best Papa God!

CB////*Yr2/180 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/201 #NewG267 #Home26 #Xmas80 #StayHome #BeKind

My Ouchie Bestie for Now

Ouchie! My arm was so sore yesterday after getting vaccinated. I promptly fell asleep after lunch and woke up because my arm felt like a dinosaur was biting it. I just iced it as the doctor advised. Tried to avoid drinking meds, but by evening it felt like Godzilla was biting my arm. I couldn't move my arm anymore. I had Panadol and that helped a lot. By morning it just felt like a huge dog was biting my arm so I think I have survived the worst of it. 

I'm used to experiencing pain by now. Childbirth and open heart surgery were the most painful episodes I've been through. My doctor said it's bad to get used to pain because you could end up ignoring important symptoms. My Mom told me when I was growing up to lift any pain to Jesus. I do that and I have a collection of pain tools all titas own (Salonpas, Panaway, Tiger Balm etc.). My ouchie bestie for now is ice and Panadol (doc said don't put anything on the site, it'll make things worse). 

To make sure that my symptoms were not out of the ordinary I read the literature on the MOH website and watched a few videos. I learned it's good sign if you feel side effects because it means the vaccine is working. Oh boy, it's working Godzilla size for me! That's a good perspective to hold onto as you go through it. I'm relieved that so far it's just a sore arm. So I'll be a good girl and really rest for now.

It's just a bummer for me that I have to stop my exercise regime again. It's been a start-stop-recover-start cycle for me. I've been doing a lot of tests every other week so my progress has been very slow. I'm glad though that I have the scary thing behind me now and I finally got my first dose. My doctor wants me to just see one more doctor, a rheumatogist, to clear up a finding from the biopsy. I'll do it just to put a period to all their concerns.

My head now is buzzing with preparations to go back home, Christmas and all the things I want to eat again back home! Hahaha. I have a few weeks of quiet before I go for my second shot. I'll resume sorting once the forced rest period is over, again. 

CB///*Yr2/160 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/183 #NewG287 #Home46 #Xmas98 #StayHome #BeKind 

I Got Vaccinated on My Clotiversary!

Thank you everyone for keeping me in your prayers. It's been a monumental day for me today. I had two major appointments, first one was to get the results of the test I had last week. Second, I got vaccinated. 

I was really anxious about both appointments today. I couldn't sleep last night! I'm just so grateful now many prayers (and your prayers) have been answered. I don't have cancer and I don't have any adverse reactions to the vaccine. Whew! God is amazing!

To most people getting vaccinated is easy. My apprehension stemmed from my doctor's advise after I had a venogram in June. He said it would be too risky for me to get vaccinated because they couldn't pinpoint clearly the cause of my PEs. So I was originally medically ineligible to get vaccinated. 

Good thing my respiratory doctor nudged me to get vaccinated so I re-checked with my two other doctors. They both said yes, but they wanted me to be admitted for monitoring when I get vaccinated. I tried, but there was no clear process for it so I just asked my doctor if I could just get it from a clinic. He agreed and asked for all my appointment details. I'm so lucky to have doctors who care so much. 

It's a bright, sunny and hot day today and I just felt that things would go smoothly. I told Sweetie I wasn't sure which appointment I was apprehensive about. He reassured me that things will go well. My favorite titas in Australia and Japan also gave me extra good vibes. 

I think I was the only one set to get vaccinated at the clinic. The doctor reassured me also and he was cheerful throughout the process. He also allowed me to take a video haha. It happened so fast I didn't even feel the pinch of the needle (or maybe coz I'm so used to getting blood drawn hrhr). Then I went outside to wait out the 30 minute monitoring time. My Tita told me, "Don't even think about getting a headache or any side effects coz it will happen." So I just played Pokemon Go and I the staff pointed two electric fans towards me (it's truly my lucky day!). 

Yeah, and today is my third clotiversary. It's year 3 since a huge blood clot was discovered in my left lung. I survived that and survived another one last January. My doctor earlier told me maybe we'll never really know why it happened. I'm fine with that because I know God has my back :)

CB///*Yr2/159 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/182 #NewG288 #Home46 #Xmas99 #StayHome #BeKind 

Indestructible

"There's nothing you cannot do," is a lesson my parents taught me growing up. They impressed this on me whenever I would share my fears (like recitation!). They also told me how Ate topped the chemical engineering board exam. She set aside her nervousness while taking the exam. I learned to take a deep breath and pray to calm myself before I do anything that makes me nervous. 

Abating fears is not easy especially if you have anxiety. It's often hard to quiet down the voices in your head. I've recently had to deal with being medically ineligible to get vaccinated. At the prodding of my respiratory doctor I rechecked with my vascular doctor if I could get vaccinated. He said yes. I also checked with my cardiovascular surgeon and he said yes too. I trust my doctors, but of course I'm still scared because of the previous risks that were raised to me. 

So I prayed and asked God to remove my fears. My doctor gave instructions on how I should go about it. I then did some research and slowly started to understand why I should not be scared to get vaccinated. The NUH website gave advise for those medically ineligible. There were two important points that struck me:

(1) If medically ineligible check back with your specialist every few months because more data may be available (I was told no in June and by end August there was more information available for my doctor), (2) You are ineligible if you have low platelet count. [Source: NUH Infographic]

It was a blessing in disguise my other doctor ordered for a blood test. It included my blood count and I'm in the normal range (in fact it increased the past few months). Whew! What also helped me was Dr. Mike Hansen's video explaining the death of a doctor (video here). All of these just unfolded a few days after I prayed for help. I really want to do this for my family. 

I wasn't sure about writing about this today. I read first today's Kerygma reflection and was surprised to see the headline, "Do not fear, God is here". So I went ahead and wrote about how my parents taught me how to be resilient -- just have faith and trust in God! <3

"Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. – Isaiah 35:4"

CB///*Yr2/147 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/170 #NewG300 #Home58 #Xmas111 #StayHome #BeKind

Breakthrough Coming!

My respiratory doctor told me last week I need to get vaccinated before I go back home. We've been working on my transition the past few months. He's the one who saved my life three years ago when he discovered I had a huge clot in my left lung. He saved my life again when he instinctively tested me and saw I had multiple clots in my left lung. A nurse told me that he said I was a challenging case, but he really took care of me. He's a rockstar doctor. 

The discussion about getting vaccinated started when I asked him if I should get the flu vaccine. He said we'll do it in my next appointment. He then asked me if I've been vaccinated for COVID-19. I said no because my vascular surgeon said it wasn't safe for me. He reassured me it was safe for me and I should definitely get it before I go home. The next day I tracked down my cardiovascular surgeon and vascular surgeon to get clearance. 

My cardiovascular surgeon is in the UK right now, but he kindly responded to my Whatsapp message. He gave clearance for me to get vaccinated. On my birthday, my vascular surgeon, the one who said I shouldn't get vaccinated, also gave his clearance for me to get vaccinated. Yaaaaasssss! That really made my birthday happy since I want my family to be less worried for me. Of course, we still need to take precautions. 

I did some research over the weekend and saw the MOH has some guidelines for those who are medically ineligible. One should check back with your specialist every few months since more research and data become available. I guess my doctors finally gave clearance because there's more data to support that it's safe for me. I'm now trying to find out how I can get vaccinated at a hospital. MOH website stated that if you are immuno-compromised or have health issues you can request to have it done at a hospital. I'm just waiting for my doctor's nurse to respond to my request. 

I'm also happy that Miggy and my Mom got their first dose. They only felt sore for a few days, but have been fine so far. We've had to remind Mom everyday not to do any gardening for the meantime. The rest of my family have been fully vaccinated. Thank you Lord :D

Day 30 Minimalism challenge, Re-purge your wardrobe. This is what I started to do at the beginning of the month. I realized though that I didn't have the space to keep those clothes that I plan to bring back home. As it is our home is currently really messy since we've started to sort things that will be brought home. We stalled sorting for now until we finalize plans with the movers. For my wardrobe I'm thinking what I should do with my winter clothes. I used to use it a lot when I traveled, but I think it's going to take years before I use them again. What about you? What have you done with your wardrobe? 

CB///*Yr2/141 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/164 #NewG306 #Home64 #StayHome #BeKind