Wow... almost an entire month has gone by since I last posted here, eh? So much has happened during the last few weeks but for some reason whenever I go online to update I just can’t find the compulsion to actually type something (anything!) and actually post it in the blog. Even now I’m forcing myself to type this and I still don’t know if I’d actually post it; but anyways, here goes. Let’s start at the, well... the beginning?
San Lorenzo Ruiz Dormitory ... wasn’t as bad as I expected it would be from the numerous accounts I’ve heard from the previous year batch who stayed there for their summer affiliation. I ended up sharing a room with Matic instead of Hazel coz they made us choose roommates by RLE group. The 3 boys ended up sharing a room at the boy’s building which is of course off limits to us women, while the rest of the girls paired up as well to share rooms. Our room is this cramped space at the very end corner of the girl’s dormitory’s third floor. It overlooks the street of Legarda and is a just a few feet away from the LRT2 lane; so you could just imagine the noise pollution we have to put up with…so I usually just plug on my earphones and play mp3s to drown the sound so I can fall asleep. After several days, and probably coz we were all so dead tired from the duty and lack of proper sleep, we got used to the noise and usually are able to sleep through just about any kind of racket going on in the street below us. Yes… fire truck and police car sirens, jeepney honks, and train rattling and screeching and all that.
The food at San Lo is my pet peeve. I really don’t want to elaborate. Just suffice it to say that I live on a steady diet of canned tuna, instant cup noodles, canned coffee, C2 lemon and water, water, water, water… I get bloated coz of drinking sooooo much water and coz my bowels don’t cooperate with me whenever I’m staying at some strange place. I’m constipated half the time when I’m there, which is in a way a good thing coz I’d rather be like that than have diarrhea while on duty at the hospital which some of my unfortunate classmates are suffering from.
The reason why I couldn’t meet up with you guys like I planned is coz I couldn’t get out of the dorm. We have a curfew: 6:00pm at the latest. Go beyond that without the permission of the Matrons and our C.I.s and we get banned from San Lo and get a whoopingly huge I.R. to add to our school record. Considering we get back from duty around 3pm to 530pm at the latest (depends on the C.I. and traffic), there isn’t much time to meet up with the people I want to see in Manila. Haaay... how about the weekends, you ask? Well… we have to be back at the dorm by Sunday and I usually spend Saturday dead to the world and sleeping like a fallen log. Daig ko pa po yung pinainom mg sandamakmak na sleeping pills coz Friday pa lang ng hapon sa kotse pag sinusundu ako ng mom ko at tito tulog na ako. When I get home I just drop and go unconscious. Hinahabol ko tulog ko. Hindi lang kasi sa inggay e, dami pa requirements to pass for each day so although lights out na by 9pm, gising pa ko past 12mn and I wake up at 4am every day kasi alis ng service namin is 530 or 6 (depende which hospital).
Lung Center Had two patients to take care of for an entire week there: C.F. (70y/o) and G.A. (19y/o). Both males and both are PTB(+). C.F. had an NGT tube and foley cat, needed regular suctioning, OF 3x/day with meds, urine bag draining, etc. G.A. was less work but had hemoptysis (he’s coughing up blood). We were required to wear masks the entire time spent inside our patients’ rooms, and I just need to say that dealing with ornery patients AND their sleep-deprived SOs is a huge test of patience I’m glad I was somehow able to pass coz by the end of the week I was on chatting terms with them, thank God!
National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) Was assigned to M.J. (43y/o female) who was suffering from Undifferentiated Schizophrenia (just look it up in the net if you want a description of what Undiff. Schizo is, okay? Me too lazy.) Suffice it to say that it’s nearly impossible to talk properly with someone like M.J. She’s irrelevant and off-topic 99.9% of the time, and the remaining 0.1% well… getting her to open up about anything is so difficult; she tangents from one topic to another, so I ended repeating myself and eventually running out of questions to ask.
By the way, we were assigned the Pavilion 5, Ward 3; the ward reserved for ‘disturbed’ female patients. Disturbed meaning they regularly become violent and attack people for no conceivably sane reason at all. That and they walk around naked as the day they were born, and it’s NOT a pretty sight to see, let alone smell.
So aside from taking charge of M.J., of making sure she participates and that she doesn’t suddenly run off and escape from the hospital, we also facilitated (and financed) several therapies for the patients we were assigned to. Wish I had a copy of their drawings and the interpretations for each. MJ’s drawings showed that she’s bottling up her anger. She didn’t have an ‘attack’ when I was handling her, but the next group who were assigned at that ward told me later that she went and bit a fellow patient the week after. Thank God it wasn’t during my watch...
USTHospital We were assigned at the St. Blaise Ward, Clinical Division of USTH. St.Blaise is a ward for patients suffering from Ears Nose Throat disorders/diseases. My first patient was not supposed to be K.S. (19, male) coz he was assigned to Mirra at first. But then Mirra was nervous of handling him for he had a Japanese sounding name and thought she might find it hard to converse with him if he couldn’t speak Filipino or English, so we exchanged patients. K.S. ended up going home against medical advice coz he was supposed to have an excision of a mandibular mass but had no money to pay for the operation. It turned out that his father is Japanese but his mother is Filipino and he speaks Tagalog fluently and only knows a few Japanese phrases (I asked him). I ended up having almost nothing to do that first day of duty at USTH. The second day was different.
Tuesday at USTH, I was assigned to two newly admitted patients: A.C. (72y/o male) and R.F.(69y/o male). God what a different path these two took… A.C. who we thought was more toxic coz he needed constant I&O monitoring got a MGH (may go home) order from his doctor and was discharged come Thursday noon. R.F. who seemed stronger and more stable than A.C. had a heart attack Wednesday night, had a DNR order (do not resuscitate) Thursday morning and died during the night. I was shocked. I left him sleeping soundly by the end of our shift Wednesday afternoon, he was joking around and chatting with his family during that shift and they were planning on going on a vacation as soon as he gets discharged from the hospital. The next morning he was already in a coma, his eyes dilated, his whole body edematous, intubated and hooked to a mechanical ventilator.
Ana-nechan, thank God your follicular neoplasm in your thyroid was detected early before it could metastasize. R.F. had the same problem but his spread to his lungs na. Nagkarespiratory failure siya coz too many lung tissue had the CA and his heart just gave up from trying to supply his body with oxygen. And the doctors weren’t able to detect the CA until after his attack. He was admitted for an entirely different diagnosis. Gawds...
I felt like crying while I was there but couldn’t. We’re not supposed to. Crying would have been unprofessional on my part, so I didn’t. Not there anyway. I did when I was finally alone at the dorm and when I got home. His family, so happy and full of laughter the day before all had tears and were so quiet. It was just so difficult holding back tears while talking to them, especially R.F.’s wife. Why’d I cry, you wonder? Well, I got to talk with R.F. and his wife for two days, got to learn things about their family and life and problems while there, so it’s hard not to feel for them when something so tragic happened.
Non-Nursing News: Hmmm... what to say?
Oh yeah… bought copy of Shinigami no Ballad.
Watched just about every animated film Studio Ghibli churned out thanks to Nicky lending me his DVD collection.
Got immensely pissed off by my dad’s relatives who are yet again being general pains in the ass (ang kakapal talaga ng mga mukha ng mga bwisit!) Wish I could just use my mother’s maiden name coz I hate having to associate myself with the lot of them, but to be fair I have to admit that a handful of them are worthwhile people… but only a handful! Maybe two or three or so… But of course I can’t not use my father’s name, and it would hurt him if I did do that so I won’t. Haaay…
What else?
Ah, Tita Betty and Tito Susing are both here in the Pinas but they’re both going back to the US on Thursday; Kuya Tan’s planning on annulling his civil wedding with Ate Rhea, dunno what’ll happen to JR though, but Kuya’s in serious trouble with Tito coz of his extramarital relationships and their costs. But to be fair Ate Rhea’s got herself two boyfriends since she and Kuya separated. I heard there’s a chance JR might end up living with us (mom and me) coz Kuya’s almost always not home and Ate’s the same. Tell you more about this once I know more.
Okay, that’s all I can say. Haba no? Heheh ^^ So how are you guys? And what the hell is up with my tagboard bakit puros spam halos?! Geez -_-
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