It was a Bad Day

Last Monday started on a bad note. I was feeling unwell and saw my doctor during my lunch break. My stomach acidity was triggered when I went for physiotherapy just after lunch. And then it got worse when I enjoyed eating too much during my birthday weekend. By Monday my body was going bonkers so I went to see my doctor. With just a few questions he knew what went wrong and gave me a some medication and a lot of reminders.

I was back to my happy self the next day and I resumed my usual activities. Attended my physiotherapy session on Wednesday. My PT adjusted my activities to lessen the impact on my tummy. I was feeling okay the next day and we even went to the park. Friday was busy and I puttered around the house all weekend. I was happy I didn't need to see my respiratory doctor since he said if things got worse to go see him again before the weekend.

I had been ignoring a symptom which I've been feeling for a few weeks now. I sometimes feel like I'm being choked. My doctor explained that it's probably some of the acid reaching my throat. Last night though the feeling was quite unbearable and this morning I was having difficulty breathing. I already took a shower and was getting ready for work when I felt really weak. I laid down on bed and when Sweetie checked on me I told him I probably needed to go to the emergency room.

I was not sure if it was my tummy or my lungs. I just watched a vlog last night where they mentioned, "If you're feeling pain make sure to get yourself checked!" So I did. We were ushered to the A&E (ER here in SG) and I was greeted by a Pinoy nurse. The A&E is located in I think a basement parking area. I was the only patient and was quickly attended to by a nice doctor who explained everything to me. He said not to be worried because it's just still the acid affecting my throat.

There was one important tidbit the doctor explained to me -- even just drinking water can affect my tummy. So even though I've been following my doctor's advise, there are other adjustments I need to make so my tummy will go back to normal.  I usually just eat 3 meals per day, but now I need to chop that up to smaller meals. I love drinking water, but I need to drink in smaller quantities too. I didn't sleep well last night and doctor advised to rest for two days. I'm not allowed to do anything exhausting so my body can recuperate. Arggghhh.

It was a bad day, I'm still experiencing the symptoms. Hope tomorrow will be a better day. Pray for me okay?


CB//153 #StuckAtHomeDay/183  #StayHome #BeKind 

Tomato Plants are Bearing More Fruits!

It took awhile before my tomatoes started to bear fruit. I had to learn how to pollinate them by hand since bees rarely visit my balcony. The mustasa plant decided to bolt already and there's a bee that has been visiting it daily.

I've been hovering over the tomato plants the past two weeks because the cucumber plant has been plagued by a pest. I've been actively pruning the tomato plants to remove affected leaves. I don't want to use insecticide so I've been using neem oil to ward off the pesky bugs.

Surprisingly the plants are bearing more fruits. I'm not sure if it's the bee, the frequent pruning, hand pollinating or the neem oil that encouraged the plant to bear more fruit. It's probably a combination of all the efforts. The fruits though are so small. I planted it from one huge tomato that I sliced into four so I'm not sure why it's not growing bigger. I'll need to research more about that issue.

What about you? How are your plants?


CB//152 #StuckAtHomeDay/182  #StayHome #BeKind 

Thinking About My Christmas Project

I just woke up from a nap. We've been busy tidying up since after lunch and I also took care of scanning some stuff. It took longer than I expected and I tired myself out from puttering around the house. I haven't started planning for my Christmas project which is what I set to do this afternoon.

I try to plan for Christmas early. When I have enough time I try to send out homemade Christmas cards and quilted gifts. I haven't been consistent in my plans since making things by hand takes time (not just time, but forever!). For this year we probably won't be able to come home for Christmas. I'm still hoping we can have Miggy and Mom over for Christmas. I can't imagine celebrating Christmas without Miggy and my Mom.

For the Christmas cards I'll probably head over to Art Friend to get some supplies so I can start the project soon. What takes time when I prepare the cards is writing out the addresses! I had an address stamp made early last year, but we moved! Haha. I should order a new one soon. I'm still thinking what kind of cards I'll be sending out.

Two years ago I made pouch bags for friends. It was all handmade and I embroidered their name on the pouch. I made about 30 sets which took three months. I also made some pillowcases for some friends, but I didn't finish it in time for that Christmas. I was supposed to give it last year, but I took a break and it was lost in storage. I found it today and decided to use it after we installed the elastic sofa cover hehehe.

Hmmm, it's going to be challenging this year because I need to finish whatever I make by October so I can ship it back to Manila early. I already have an idea what I'll make. I just need to determine how long it will take for me to make it. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions on what I should make for Christmas?


CB//151 #StuckAtHomeDay/181  #StayHome #BeKind 

3 Things You Need to Keep Healthy According to My Doctor

I went to see my doctor today. He's the one who did my open heart surgery (twice!) seven years ago. He remembers me well because they only discovered I was a complicated case after they opened me up. The original 2-hour surgery lasted 4 hours and then they had to do it again a few weeks later when I had water in my heart. He is one of my heroes. His expert hands ensured I would live.

He is one of my favorite doctors because he's so chill. Whenever I come for a check-up we always end up having a long chat especially when he's not busy. He took over management of my MTS issues last year and has been really supportive whenever there's something weird going on in my body. He checked my heart and said that the valve is beautifully placed and there are no leaks. In a few months he said we could likely remove one of my maintenance meds. Yay!

I've been going to this clinic for 8 years now, this is my first photo in it haha. 

I've been nagging him on when we can remove one of the maintenance meds. I gave him the good news that my respiratory doctor discontinued one of my inhalers. I really want to eventually get rid of all of my maintenance meds. My doctor said that medicines help in some way, but ultimately there are three things you can do to be healthy.

1. Diet 

When I told him a few months ago I was learning how to bake bread, the first thing he asked was, "Does it have a lot of butter?" So far the buns I've been cooking does not require a lot of butter so it's been okay. My doctors don't prohibit me to eat anything. The only usual reminder is not to eat acid inducing food and to eat on time. 

2. Exercise

Since I've been working from home my doctor has been teaching me quick exercises I can do in between meetings. I actually taught my colleagues some of it. It's usually stretches you can do so your back won't hurt. I'm lucky my physiotherapist is so patient with me. I feel we'll soon be back to the strength I had in early April. She said soon I should be able to go biking. Yay!

3. Sleep

Eight hours of sleep is what you need everyday. For your body to be restored overnight you need 8 hours of sleep. Ahhh I don't have any issues about sleeping long. It only gets interrupted when I have early morning meetings. Oh, my doctor also said that if you drink sleeping pills that doesn't help restore your body when you sleep. His advise for those who have a hard time sleeping is to take a walk after dinner. That would tire you out and you'd have a good night's sleep. I had a good night's sleep last night because our walk in the park covered 2 kilometers.

I think to support all three points one should also top it up with positive thinking. :)


CB//150 #StuckAtHomeDay/180  #StayHome #BeKind 

Beautiful Afternoon Walk

It was raining cats and dogs all day, but it stopped around 4 in the afternoon. Around six in the evening Sweetie came up to me and asked if I wanted to accompany him to the park. I hurriedly said goodbye to my manager and said I'm going out for a walk to exercise! Surprisingly he bit me goodbye immediately. I guess he was pleased to hear I was going to exercise haha.

I quickly changed to sportswear ("If you cannot perform, japorms!" - Marc Macalua, circa 2007). I have a very small selection of workout outfits so it wasn't hard to choose. Few minutes later we headed to the West Coast Park. It's only my second time to walk around the park, so Sweetie wanted to bring me to the edge of the water. Last time we only walked half-way. I completed 2 weeks of PT sessions without cancelling so I thought I'm in better shape now.

Sweetie was forced to walk slowly since I stop to catch my breath every 50 meters (may be shorter than that tbh). We made the whole round without me sitting so that's quite good. We stopped for awhile by the beach to check out the ships. Sat for about 2 minutes, but insects started chomping on our legs so we started our stroll back.

The weather was a bit cooler than usual, probably because of the rain. I loved it and I love just looking at the trees, the sky and the sea. The gigantic ships, boats and yachts were fascinating to watch. It's just simply a great feeling to be out and about. I think we're starting to feel a bit safer now because confirmed cases is averaging about 50 per day, with only 3 to 5 community cases. Sweetie even allowed me to go to Spotlight tomorrow after my doctor's appointment! Yaaaas!

Someday I hope when I go back home we'd have a nice home near a park (farm would be ok too!). By the sea would be nice too, but I dread being near the sea during a typhoon. My "someday" plan is still fuzzy, I just know I don't want to live in a condo unit anymore. I want a right-sized house with a garden or backyard where I can plant more! I also want a hobby room. That's what I hope to have someday!

For now I content myself with where I am now. My immediate goal is to be able to go biking around the park and hopefully check out Clementi Woods Park (it's an uphill park so it's gonna be hard!). We have a company holiday tomorrow, ahhh it'll be good to have some rest after a very busy week.


CB//149 #StuckAtHomeDay/179 #WFH104 #StayHome #BeKind 

Living with MTS

Last week I blogged about that time I had pulmonary embolism. My long-time doctors were baffled about it. I was super lucky and blessed that the doctor I was referred to found out what was ailing me. It took two weeks of tests before I was properly diagnosed. It was a huge blood clot that grew over a year. I had been doing a lot of overnight flights that year and that probably made things worse.

When you are diagnosed with pulmonary embolism it's important to know whether it's provoked or unprovoked (the cause). This was undetermined after doing so many tests. I had just finished my medications 9 months later when weird symptoms started showing up. I was having frequent headaches, blurring of vision for a few weeks.

It was another series of ER visits, new doctors until I ended up with an interventional radiologist. I had an angiogram and venogram and it was found I have May Thurner Syndrome. It means I have an artery and vein pushing against each other. This is what caused the clots that eventually found its way up to my lungs.

I probably have it for a long time because my cardiologist through many years always wondered why my calves are always swollen. I would usually tell him I just have thunder thighs and it runs in the family! To fix MTS one is given the option to have a stent placed in the vein. I was super iffy about it and got the second opinion of my cardiovascular surgeon. He did two open heart surgeries on me and so I sought his opinion. He said I shouldn't do it and explained that one should only do these kinds of procedures if your life depended on it and whether it would improve your quality of life.

Pain goes hand in hand with MTS. Swelling is an everyday thing and I have other medical conditions that complicate matters. To this day I follow my allergologist's advise, "Accept things early and be flexible". I believe I will get over this. My doctor reduced my medication already. It's hard because there are good days and bad days. My goal is to go back to the days when I didn't have daily medication (my Mom is 85 and doesn't have any meds and she had medical conditions also in the past).

Here's what I'm doing to work towards my goal -

(1) Physiotherapy
(2) Exercise
(3) Staying positive (meditate!)
(4) Eating properly
(5) Pray

The World Needs Christmas

Happy September first! Today is the day we start Christmas in the Philippines. I'm not entirely sure how that started since it wasn't always like that. I remember when I was a child, my parents together with neighbors would organize Halloween trick or treat for us kids. And it was only after All Saints Day when preparations for Christmas start. We don't really celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines.

I guess when celebrating Halloween really did not pick up in the Philippines, the coming of the ber (brrr) months was associated with the cool air during Christmas. Or maybe it was a commercial push. I dunno really. Whatever it is we've all accepted that Christmas in the Philippines lasts more than a hundred days.

With our situation now I think we need to sprinkle everyone we can with positivity. When I woke up this morning I had a thought, "During Christmas everyone tries their best to be happy, caring and loving. If we stay on Christmas mode then maybe we can get through this pandemic better". 

Family is Christmas.

2020 is one of the toughest years in my life and that's why I think the world needs Christmas. And Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. He is the only one who can redeem us. I hope by then the situation would be better and I pray I can be with my family. I can't imagine celebrating Christmas without my whole family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

CB//147 #StuckAtHomeDay/177 #WFH102 #StayHome #BeKind