wot in the world...?!

New Directions

2011-12-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, I really feel guilty. I have been neglecting this blog over and over again. I am amazed it hasn't been deleted by blogpost. Anyway, I'm still in my "hapiness is a blank page" phase.

NEWS: I gave birth to a baby girl last September 4. As of last count, I now have 2 babies in a span of 3 years. I think I have reached my quota but we never know, do we?

NEWS: I plan on giving up my teaching job. I feel not quite up to the task. Not the teaching part, I enjoy it. It's the fact that I have to be there Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 11:30 am that I'm not capable of. I do have a few patients and sometimes they go into labor at around that time. And I feel guilty not showing up for work when that happens.

NEWS: I started an online job, pretty smalltime, but hey! I'm still starting. I can be more flexible with regards to time. The project I'm currently working on is medical-related and entails writing, which we all know I love doing! So it's a win-win thing. Plus, I have a really supportive boss. Isn't that just cool? I work here.

Mini-blog # 3

2011-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

A mistake is an opportunity wrapped up in layers of anguish and shame.

My Very Own Spaghetti Sauce

2011-01-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day and we had some left-over pasta noodles from our Media Noche and no more sauce!
My sister asked me to make a sauce kind of like Tita Clarisse's Basil Spaghetti Sauce. TC wouldn't disclose the recipe, by the way, so I had to improvise. I'd say the result is nothing like TC's sauce but my sister and I thought it was delicious anyway.

The Recipe

Ingredients:
15 pcs medium-sized very ripe tomatoes, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced fine (i love garlic - you can use less if you like)
1 medium-sized sweet white onion, chopped coarsely
1 chicken breast, filleted and cubed
1 packet McCormick Pesto Sauce Mix (we cheated here, we couldn't find fresh basil in our local
grocery store)
2 tablespoons cooking wine
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup grated quick-melting cheese
some dried basil, salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan over low to medium heat, melt butter and saute the garlic and onions until the onions are caramelized. Add tomatoes and wine. Simmer until the tomatoes have wilted. Add in the chicken. Simmer again until the chicken is cooked. Blend in the Pesto Sauce Mix. Add cheese and stir until it has melted before adding the olive oil. Season with basil, salt and pepper.

Tadaaa!

Notes:
You can use shrimp instead of chicken. Shelled and deveined.
It would still taste good without any sort of meat (for vegetarians). Haven't tried using eggplants. Hmmm...
Fresh basil would be better but some adjustments may have to be made to the seasoning.
Freshly grated Parmesan would be great sprinkled over the sauce just before serving.
There's just enough sauce for a 400g pack of spaghetti.
Washing the pan with left-over sauce sticking to it would be a waste of good sauce. You can wipe the pan with bread and pop the bread directly to your mouth. Yum!

I don't have pictures, though. Sayang!

Pictures

2011-01-06T06:51:00.001-08:00

I shall be posting, soon :-)

another explanation for why I was blog-mute again

2011-01-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

Whooooo!

I have been blog-mute for a year now!!!
Beats my previous record of 5 months. See here. A lot more has happened in this blog-mute episode than the last time. (Do I sound defensive? I'm not! Really.)

And my mini-blogs were supposed to reach 365, at least. Oh well.

Anyway, here are my reasons:

1. I fell in love! (Hi MS! Mwah mwah!)
2. I got married.
3. I had a kid. His name is Lucas and he's everything to me. Believe me, even mini-blogs take too much time and trouble when you have a baby.
4. I started my practice. Doing quite well, if I may say so myself. I'm sharing an office with my cousin who is a pediatrician. Actually, she graciously and very generously let me time-share with her. She started her practice around 5 years ago and she's quite established already. She's done a lot to help me get started. (Thank you, Ate Mayet!)
5. My cousin and I started a business. A birthing center in our hometown, Talisay City. We're still struggling to make ends meet but, so far, so good.
6. I started teaching (facilitating, actually). Who would ever have thought I'd go back to my medical school to teach? Definitely not me. But, I find that I like what I'm doing. PBL is quite different than the traditional curriculum.

Don't you think that those reasons are quite reasonable? (LOL)

Mini-blog #2

2009-12-02T07:49:00.001-08:00

The wait may have been long but it was worth it.

Mini-blog #1

2009-11-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

When it comes to getting to know a person, it's always quality over quantity. Right, MS?

What's a Mini-blog?
It's just my way of expressing things right away and without explanations or definitions. You can say, I even want it to attain a "mysterious" veneer. Little tidbits, aphorisms, or maxims that I find meaningful and relevant. Expect to find many more of them here, that's why they're numbered.

after the silence

2009-11-23T04:26:00.000-08:00

Five months!

That's how long I was blog-mute. So why write now?

1. I have news to share. I will be done with residency in December. Four years just went by in a flash but it feels like the final two months are creeping by like earthworms on asphalt.

2. I have news to share. I'm happy. I used to be sad. Well, ain't life just grand? Thank you, MS.

3. I have news to share. I will be embarking on a new challenge that will take up most of my time, energy and my friend's money. Wish us luck! (especially, my friend)

4. I have news to share. I have finally and just barely accepted my lot in life. This is the life I chose, this is the life I trained for. This is the life that will sustain me, challenge me, sadden me and gladden me.

5. I have news to share. Guess what? I'm back!

The Blog Rounds: Blogging our way through medicine and beyond.

2009-05-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

The Blog Rounds: Blogging our way through medicine and beyond.

To Write, To Live

2009-05-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

My world is all about life. The giving of it, the revival, the enrichment and finally the taking of it or the giving up.

Two pink lines on a pregnancy test kit still gives me the shivers everytime a patient shows them to me. A gestational sac clearly outlined on a sonogram printout causes goosebumps. The dubdubdub of the fetal heartbeat first heard by Doppler at around ten weeks causes my heartrate to rise as well. This is how much life excites me.

The soft undulations of a pregnant woman's abdomen as her baby moves inside is such a joy to watch. And ultimately, to be the first one to hold a newborn's wriggly, slimy body as he cries out his exultation at joining humankind is an honor too profound for words.

Likewise, I am always teary-eyed at the precise moment when I clamp a patient's hemorrhagic Fallopian tube containing its unwary victim during a Salpingectomy for an ectopic pregnancy. Poor fellow, his life cut off even before his cells develop and differentiate into the wonderful and awesome design dictated by nature.

To be able to express such joy, such anguish will be a relief. To know that someone will read these and understand will be heaven.

To be able to read other perspectives, other points of view, other experiences, other opinions, other joys will be beautiful.

At this, I hope The Blog Rounds will be able to help.

Another Link

2009-05-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

Something I wrote for a close friend :-)

http://wotwotwatin.multiply.com/journal/item/57/The_Trip_to_Solace

Subay Sa Laing Dalan

2009-05-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

When I reminisce about my childhood, one year always stands out. And that was when I was nine. So many things seemed to happen that time. It seemed that my life started from that point. Anyway, this short story is not autobiographical, although most of the events here did happen, I embellished it a bit...no, a lot!

The Albino Cockroach

When I was nine, I was visited by an albino cockroach. She had been living under the Balete tree in the front garden of an abandoned hotel in the middle of the village I was living in at that time. Tropical Palace, it was called, and the Village was BF Homes, Paranaque. My father used to work for the hotel before it closed down. In what capacity, I now do not remember. It just wasn't interesting information to a nine-year-old.

We rented an apartment (my father, mother and I- well, they rented it, I just lived with them) across the street from the hotel parking lot. It used to be a grand hotel, too. Five-star, they say. Judging from the size of the parking lot and lobby, I could well believe it although everything seemed big to me at that time.

The kids next door and I used to treat the hotel complex as one giant playground. The parking lot we used for patintero, the mini golf-course we used for bahaw-bahaw (the soft grass kept skinned knees to a minimum), the lobby (with its dilapidated counters and giant banga) we used for taguan. The swimming pool was still functional and the village employed a lifeguard, so we also had our swim parties during the weekend.

What wonderful summers we used to have there! It was there that I learned how to ride a bike. My father would run after me holding the seat of the bike because I couldn't balance yet, while I pedaled furiously with no regard to the buckets my father sweated. What a workout he must have had! My playmates just looked on drolly from the sidewalk.

I remember my first crash. I had just learned to balance and was enjoying my independence when out of the blue, a big tourist bus came at me head-on. I don't know if the driver saw the little girl on the bike too big for her just paces away from him. I would never know because I had decided to swerve sharply to the right and crash the bike into the gutter. You see, I have not learned how to brake yet!

All the while, my father was watching. With his heart in his throat, he later told my mother. He didn't shout at me because he didn't want me to panic and he was too far away to run after me. I think it was at that moment that my father learned to trust my decisions. He knew after that day that I had a strong sense of self-preservation and I would always find high ground.

Have I introduced the kids next door? There was Rosalie whom we called Lalie. She was a year older, tall and skinny. I always thought she walked funny, like she was always on stilts. In retrospect, I think her body outgrew her and she didn't know how to handle her long legs yet. There was Ian, who had a repaired harelip and a lisp. He was understandably shy and he never spoke when not spoken to. Then there was Bing, the baby. She was merely six and had the sweetest and most endearing personality. I was never cross with her. I never got annoyed with her. Even then, I may have subconsciously known how little time she had left.

There was also Lucille, with whom I shared a nickname (Lotlot), the adopted daughter of our landlady. She was nine, too but she seemed much older because she was so obese. Then there was Iyay, the daughter of our landlady's helper. I remember the three of us playing with Barbie dolls in Lucille's air-conditioned bedroom. Lucille sent Iyay's mother to buy lechon manok and we anticipated eating it with her. She did not share! Can you imagine a nine-year-old girl eating a whole roast chicken by herself?! I told my father about it and he just laughed.

It was 1986, the year when the Marcos regime fell and the widowed housewife of a slain political leader rose to power. Her favorite color was yellow. With the naivete of children, we were influenced by all the media hype, choosing good over evil, yellow over red. Our playtime uniform consisted of shorts in floral print paired with yellow tanktops, with or without the painted hand forming the sign for "L". We collectively insisted on yellow slippers, too, to the amusement of our parents. Our favorite song was "Magkaisa" and our favorite snack was "Cheesedog", barrel-shaped chips packaged in yellow plastic with the requisite "L" hand sign and the words "Laban". That was the marketing strategy of a genius.

It was one lazy afternoon when it was so hot we did not want to play patintero, that I first saw the albino cockroach. The six of us were resting on a nylon folding bed we had dragged all the way from the apartment. We were under the ancient Balete tree in the front garden of the Tropical Palace and swapping outrageous lies. Lalie was bragging that her Barbie had a castle. Well, what else could I do but say mine had her own swimming pool? Lucille was just listening to us, with a sneer that said, "you poor braggarts". She didn't have to boast, we've seen and played with her multitude of dolls and the Barbie car and Ken and the walk-in Barbie closet.

Just at that moment when I wanted to punch Lucille's face, I saw movement near our dangling feet. I looked and stared at that tiny cockroach skittering from one slipper to the next. My eyes bulged and it was several seconds before I was able to scream, "White lady!" In our haste to run away, the folding bed toppled over and we left our slippers behind, unmindful of the pavement scorching our bare soles.
Perhaps, so deeply entrenched in my consciousness was the sinister reputation of Balete trees. Paired with the rarity of a pure white cockroach, I instantly jumped to the conclusion that the hapless creature was a white lady taking on an animal form. It was fortunate for the cockroach that we didn?t trample her.

That night, when I told my father about the cockroach, he reinforced my beliefs about the supernatural, advising me not to play near the Balete again. He was capitalizing on that incident to make sure I stayed indoors during the hottest time of the day. Naturally, I dreamt about the albino cockroach in a dream so cliche, I probably just saw the whole scene in a movie before. In it, she transformed into this faceless maiden with, what else but a flowing white dress. Everywhere was gray smoke and the smell of burning candles was redolent.

"Charlotte," she said in a whispery contralto that scared rather than soothed.

"Yes?" I managed to squeak.

"Charlotte, don't play in the parking lot tomorrow."

It rained that night. Peculiar rain with a smattering of ice, our lady neighbor claimed. We were all asleep when the lady came home from work. She was a pokpok, I heard the tindera in the nearby store say one time. All I knew about pokpoks then was that they came home late, slept all morning and were really pretty.

The morning after, the streets were still wet, but the ice had all melted, it seemed. However, my father exclaimed that the plastic roof over our makeshift garage had lots of cracks and holes. There may have been some truth about the lady saying it rained ice the night before. The morning light itself was strange. There was an orange cast to it, the blues and greens muted but the yellows and the reds hurt the eyes in their brilliance.

I spent the morning indoors watching television, something I rarely do in the summer. I could still remember the dream, and was full of a morbid expectation. I knew something was going to happen that day. I knew, too, that it wasn?t going to be pleasant.

At around three in the afternoon, my playmates were banging at the door, calling out and asking if I wanted to play patintero. I did not even come to the door to refuse, I just went on watching the television set but seeing nothing. I kept hearing the scary whisper from last night's dream, "...don't play in the parking lot tomorrow...", over and over again.

They tired of waiting for me and left. I assumed they went to the parking lot. We had a patintero tournament going on at that time and the score was tied. I was assuming, too that one kid was going to sit it out because I didn't play. Most likely Bing, since she was the youngest. It turned out that I was right, horrifyingly so.

Thirty minutes after they left my front door, I heard them running back and shouting. I couldn't make out what it was that they were screaming but my heart was beating so fast, my palms were so wet and I was shaking. What I dreaded had come to pass, I knew. I just didn't know what it was.

I went outside on leaden legs, afraid of what I might behold. They were at the next door, Bing?s door. Lucille was sobbing, Ian was deathly pale and silent. It was Lalie, the eldest in our group who was shouting, "Bing! Bing! The bus! The bus!" while pointing towards the parking lot and I knew. Iyay was gasping for breath but she noticed me looking on and stared at me with accusing eyes.

I ran to the parking lot and the tourist bus that nearly ran me over was there, huge and menacing. People surrounded the front - helpers, drivers and guards. Everyone was silent. I squeezed between them and stopped. The bus driver was crouched by the right front wheel. Near his legs I could see a small hand, so still and white.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?" I heard Bing's father behind me. He sounded angry, scared and hopeful at the same time. Is that even possible? The throng parted to let Bing's parents through. The silence became even more pronounced.

"You son of a -" Bing's father has now collared the bus driver and was getting ready to punch him when he was stopped short by Tita Evelyn's shout.

"My daughter! My daughter! Call an ambulance quick! What are you waiting for?! What are you all waiting for?!" I saw Tita Evelyn crawl under the bus and pull at something. I saw her cradle a body in her arms. That couldn't be Bing. No, Bing would never have worn red. We always wore yellow, yellow was our color for the summer.

Tita Evelyn was rocking back and forth now, her face crumpled and purple. There was an odd sound coming from her throat, like my dog Onni when he was growling at strangers. I felt hands on my shoulders, trying to pull me back. It was my father.

"Lot, let's go home."

"No, I want to stay. That's not Bing. Bing doesn't wear red. I want to find Bi---ing." Why did my voice tremble? My father lifted me up and got me out of there. My mother was waiting across the street and my father handed me to her.

"Come here, anak," she was cooing. I put my arms around her and rested my chin on her neck. My mother smelled wonderful. Like the sampaguita flowers we hung on our Sto. Nino every Sunday. I will never forget the smell of my mother?s hair that day. I didn't see my father head back towards the crowd. I didn't know that he was the one who called an ambulance and that he went with Tito Egay and Tita Evelyn to the hospital. I only learned about the details the next day.

I didn't eat dinner that night. My mother tried to spoonfeed me but I just turned my head. She finally gave up and helped me change for bed. I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow?and dreamt again.

This time the cockroach retained her insect form but she was much bigger. She kept on twittering her antennae and flashing her wings. She was in the middle of the parking lot. From out of nowhere, the tourist bust ran her over with a big crunchy sound and then everything went red. I heard myself screaming, "Bing!"

The next thing I knew I was being shaken awake by my dad. "Shhh, it was just a dream, Lot."

"It was my fault, Daddy! I didn't play. The cockroach told me not to. The cockroach told me." I was sobbing.

"It was nobody's fault. It was an accident," my father tried to soothe me. "Promise me, you will never play at the parking lot again, okay?" I just nodded.

There was a wake for Bing the next night at their apartment. I went with my parents and held on to my mother's hand all the time we were there. Lalie and the rest were sitting at one corner, being uncharacteristically well-behaved and quiet. They looked at me when we came in. Then Iyay whispered something to Lalie and Lalie whispered to Lucille and Lucille whispered to Ian who just shook his head. They never looked at me after that.

I wanted to cry but I didn't. I looked down and saw something that scared me enough to tug at my mother's hand and ask to be taken home. There, on the floor near Bing's coffin, was a tiny pure white cockroach.

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION AND ONLY VERY LOOSELY BASED ON TRUE EVENTS.

My very first TBR :-)

Oi!

2009-05-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

First of all, Shing, congratulations on your nomination!
Second of all, thank you for the stimulating and relaxing conversation yesterday.
Third of all, I am so looking forward to working with you on our "secret project".
Hehehe. Wala na'y fourth oi.

Diay, unsa man ju'y naa anang sikreto? Ngano man jud nang daghan mang kasikas mahitungod anang sikreto? Ihilom gani kay sikreto, kasikas man hinuoy pirmeng mahitabo.

Ug nganong ingon sila ang sikreto kuno mura'g aso, dili makumkom. Kay nganong kumkumon man sad jud ang aso? Ug nganong dili na lang buhian ug paundayunan ang iyang kinaiyahan? Wala man say aso nga magpabilin sa ubos. Musaka man jud na paibabaw. Nganong dili na lang pasagdan? Kay sa physics pa...ambot, nakalimot na ko nganong musaka jud ang aso. Gamay sad ko ug grado anang physics.

Mao na ang pangutana karong adlawa. Unya unsa ma'y tubag? Secret!

Ano ba talaga ang meron sa sikreto? Bakit ang daming ingay tungkol sa sikreto? Dapat nga tahimik lang, kasi sikreto, puro ingay naman ang nangyayari.

At bakit sabi nila ang sikreto parang usok, hindi nakikimkim? At bakit naman kikimkimin ang usok? Bakit di na lang hayaan na sundin ang natural sa kanya? Wala naman ding usok na nananatili sa baba. Lahat naman ng usok umaakyat pataas. Bakit di na lang talaga hayaan? Eh, sa physics pa...ewan, di ko narin matandaan kung bakit umaakyat ang usok. Paano, maliit din kasi ang marka ko sa physics.

Iyan ang tanong para sa araw na 'to. At ang sagot? Secret!

READERS READ THIS!

2009-05-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Great Book Blockade of 2009!

http://gangbadoy.multiply.com/journal/item/358/DAMN_IT._IF_YOURE_A_READER_--_READ_THIS._

Crazy Facts

2009-05-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

This made the rounds in e-mail inboxes. You may have been sent this e-mail before. It's still darned funny.

Subject: Pig or Lion?

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.. (O.M.G !)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.)

(I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour (Don't try this at home, maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (Honey, I'm home. What the...?! *cruch*)

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field.

(30 minutes..lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life....quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmmm.... ..)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (Okay, so that would be a good thing)

A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out??? Doesn't all pee glow under a black light?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains (I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread these crazy facts and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to, maybe even a chuckle.

In other words, send it to everyone! (And I love that pig!)

Poor Hatton

2009-05-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

I cannot help but feel for Ricky Hatton.
Downed in the 2nd round, tsk tsk.
His head just wasn't thick enough to take Manny's power punches.
No baby, it don't matter if it's left or right. ;-P

Mortality

2009-04-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

In four hours, we will be attending a Quarterly Morbidity and Mortality Conference of the POGS or Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society - Cebu Chapter. The census for the accredited hospitals in Cebu will be presented as well as one chosen mortality case. This time, it will be our case that will be presented.

You may ask, "What's so significant about that?" In medicine, death is a fact of life. That may be so in most specialties. In GYN, yes, especially if it involves cancer. It's different in OB, though. Aside from the fact that you are taking care of two patients at the same time, most maternal deaths are preventable.

As of 2004, maternal mortality was 107.1 per 100,000 live births with the NCR and Central Visayas having the most number of reported deaths. Largest number of deaths also occurred in the 30-39 y.o. age group (41.1%) and most were due to complications of labor and delivery (34.3%).

Source: National Statistics Office (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/sr08320tx.html)

It has been a point of pride in our institution that we have a low maternal mortality, usually only 0-1/year. In the 1st quarter of 2009 alone, we have already had two deaths. This saddens me so much. The first death was due to complications of abortion who came to us already in refractory sepsis and the second was due to postpartum hemorrhage, the patient was delivered at a lying-in center and referred to us too late.

Indeed, death is a reality that we, medical professionals must learn to face and accept. Easier said than done. The death of a loved one is always hard but it helps if we know that the dying one has lived life fully and is ready to face the Maker. What of the mother who died leaving behind her child? What of the young wife who died leaving behind her husband? What of the teen-ager who died because of complications of an induced abortion?

Recycled Posts

2009-04-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

Now that i'm here, i don't know what to write! So, let's just recycle.
Here are links to some of my older posts in Multiply :-)

Alang Kang Part Rudy

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Iring Gilaygit

...and links to much much older posts in Friendster :-(

All of the Above

A MedSchool Poem

Rites of Passage