27 August 2010

Pregnancy.

I went to see my new dermatologist this morning. Before I lay on that ‘facial bed’, she discussed to me the regimen that she required me to do so.

"I'll prescribe you a medication that you will have to take but you are not allowed to get pregnant on the course of the treatment. You will sign a waiver for it later. But if ever you do wish to get pregnant, you better tell me earlier so we can do something about it. Don’t worry, taking that medication will not affect your fertility or whatsoever."

Whenever I'm being asked or being ‘automatically’ linked to pregnancy, it never fails to stun me. It’s the third time that happened to me.

Let's go down the memory lane for a while here.

First was way back senior year high school. I passed out in the church and later vomited (Eiw. I know. Haha.). The prefect of discipline told (or somehow teased me, I guess) me, "Baka buntis ka ah." In my mind, I was like, whuuuttt?! Thank God I didn't vomit on his face after he said that. Haha.

Second was in senior year college. I was late for our community thing and of course, I faked my reason so my instructor asked me to get a medical certificate to prove my ‘reason’. So I headed to the ER Department of UERM Hospital after. I told the resident-on-duty that I had dysmenorrhea and I needed a medical certificate because I was late. Being a nurse and of 'borderline-allowable-age-of-reproductivity' at that time, I know it’s a normal thing (and a protocol) to be asked things like, "Are you sure you’re not pregnant?" "Are you on pills?" "Are you sexually active?" But still!! Haha! Plus, if ever I had an existent sex life at that time, talking about it is just awkward. Haha. Yeah, parang di pa ako nasanay e no? I ask this to patients all the time when I was a student. :p

I know I am of reproductive age and to be sure, doctors generalize that age group. Of course, they don't want to risk their license. And if only I wasn't aware of that protocol, I would have said to my doctor, "Uhh, hello? Child-bearing is sooo way behind my mind so don't worry, your license is safe with me! :D" And given the fact that IT is a normal protocol, it just never fails to still surprise me whenever doctors ask about it. Haha.
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25 August 2010

Yaya Nurse.

“Ang NURSE ay hindi YAYA.”

There is a big difference, please.

And that means no offense to the yayas out there. I love yayas! :) I just can’t fathom the crappy association of a nurse to a yaya. It’s a big insult for our part when we studied and worked hard for it for four years. Last time I checked, you need to have a degree in order to be a professional nurse. Just because we help people alleviate their condition and we work in service of those sick people out there means anyone can call as yaya and treat us less professionally. Even yayas don’t need to be treated less! Pero diba?

Respeto lang naman. Propesyonalan naman.

We are not even yayas to the doctors, please! Get over that notion and move your ass to the hospital and see it for yourself!

You all get what I mean. If you’re not dumb and shallow, that is. :)

Hindi naman nakakahiyang maihalintulad sa yaya pero ang nakakainis lang ay may mga taong ganun mag-isip.

Oh well, what can we do? If we can’t change how they think, we can always prove and say that fact straight to their faces EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I vow from this day on that I will not allow anyone, a doctor, a patient’s relative or even a patient itself, to treat me like a yaya na kung makapag-utos e akala mo siya nagpapakain sa akin. I did not study and become a professional to be treated that way.

So to all nurses out there, please, preserve the name we worked hard for and protect our profession.

Thank you.

>>> This is not due to a recent incident that happened to me. This is just my mere realization over recent events that happened in the world of nursing that were either told to me by my colleagues or from an observation.
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24 August 2010

At the corkboard.

ATTITUDE

Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstance, than failures, than success, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a business… a home… a friendship… or an organization. The remarkable thing is that everyday you have a choice of what your attitude will be. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the actions of other. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can change is our attitude. Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it.

As I wait for that person my mom asked me to meet in City Hall and watch Ms. Universe 2010 (Congratulations to Ms. Venus Raj for winning 4th runner up! :) I know you could have won if you only justified your answer better but what the heck, you still rock!), I saw this posted at their Announcement cork board.

And I was also about to meet Isko Moreno in person but due to the horrifying and gruesome hostage incident yesterday, he was too busy to meet me.

Speaking of the horrifying and gruesome hostage incident, I feel terribly sad for the people who were unfortunately on tour and was unfortunately on the tour bus when that 'lunatic' did that hostage drama. My heart goes out to those who were traumatized and to those who lost their loved ones because of a selfish drama that lead to manic act. Three things:

- I don’t like to point fingers but the way I see it, the police are to blame for that lame rescue strategy. It’s all front act bullshit because the truth of the matter is, they are incapable and inadequate when it comes to hostage drama.

- I don’t think the media is to blame, contrary to what others are saying, because that’s their job – to bring news to the people as real and raw as it is. Unfortunately there was a TV in that bus and he turned it on so he saw the commotion happening outside. The media also happened to show to the whole world how the police 'overkilled' the situation by arresting the hostage-taker's brother. Uhh, why did they take him down first instead of the real person involved??

- Two emotions: I’m sorry Lord for saying this but thank God that hostage-taker was taken down and died. He deserved that for taking other people’s innocent lives. But a part of me wanted him alive so he can personally feel the wrath of the families left behind by the people he murdered and he can pay for what he did. I wanted to understand why he did what he did but I just can’t. What he did was just out of impulse, out of desperation but totally irrational.

With what happened, we just placed our country on an upper notch on the shameful list. Wow, right?
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21 August 2010

The Perks of Unemployment?





Two weeks ago, my training at Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center officially ended! :)








I never thought that day would come but it did! Oh how I’ve longed for that day! Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love what I did and that experience taught me a lot but it sure burned me out and frustrated me alongside because I want a job that PAYS me. I’ve had enough training I think. Haha!



And since I’ve been a bum ‘unexpectedly’ (I was supposed to fill 24 days of make-up duty. I already did 6 days of make-up when we double checked at the office, turns out I only have to make up for three days! And I exceeded already.) for four days now, I became a bit clueless and overwhelmed on what to do next (aside from looking for a job) since I set myself to do things starting September.
As I was preparing my credentials the other day, I saw an article from a magazine which I got from a Nursing Expo that I attended last year. I’ll quote some lines.
Unemployed? Turn the tide to your advantage
Unemployment might not seem like an attractive alternative, but with it comes a major advantage – you have more time in your hands. With the right game plan, you can take advantage of a temporary pause between jobs to reevaluate and rejuvenate your career.
Earn another degree. In addition to traditional graduate schools, there are dozens of options for getting job-relevant training year-round. Get an additional degree in marketing, business administration, law or anything related to your current field. This will provide you with an edge over others.
>>> I’ve thought about it way before. I just don’t know what to take first: my Master’s degree or my Fashion Design dream. If I take my Master’s degree, I don’t know if I should take it here or to try my luck applying for a scholarship abroad. And to add to those decisions to make, I also don’t know when should I start reviewing for my NCLEX and take the test because I am also considering the fact ‘what-if-I-get-hired-unexpectedly-soon?’ I also like to take Creative Writing units in UP Open University, just to enhance my ‘writing’ expression and talent (if you really call this talent. Haha!).
Your Hobby could be the next goldmine. Ever spent a spare moment at work wishing you could spend more time fishing, painting, cooking, or whatever your passion is? Well consider your wish granted. Unemployment can be a perfect time to explore your personal passions. At worst, you’ll get to enjoy yourself, at best you may find a way to make money doing what you love.
>>> My passion? Fashion! :) With this free time, I will have the chance to practice (and eventually discover, if ever I have, my innate drawing skills. I HOPE.) sketching or drawing. And I could also try my luck in business! I’ve always wanted to try serious business way back in college. I just didn’t have enough time to do it and enough money to invest for it.
So there! :) Instead of being frustrated at waiting for a job, why not divert that negative energy into something positive by taking it as an opportunity to do things that I’ve always wanted to do? And I wonder why it didn’t hit me before?! Well actually, it did. But I was unclear about the things that I wanted to do before (you can check out my ramblings at my former entries. Haha!). Now that it is all clear and I have the time in my hands, let’s go baby! :)
“Do not fret when things don’t go your way. Maybe there are other opportunities just waiting for you. Get involved, get into the action.”
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20 August 2010

22. :)

In exactly 19 days after this day marks my 22nd birthday and as I’ve always done since my 17th or 18th birthday, here is my wishlist. No, more like, what I want to do for my birthday this year. As usual, it is a list of simple thrill stuff. All of it doesn’t have to happen and they are not written in a chronological order.
  1. Gobble at Serendra or Banchetto.
  2. Experience La Mesa Ecopark.
  3. Midnight salubong of my birthday at [see number 1]
  4. After the midnight salubong, celebrate until the morning then wait for sunrise or have breakfast.
  5. Be a kid and experience for the first time the Star City. (I KNOW! Loser much. Haha.)
  6. Experience Manila Ocean Park.
  7. Mass at St. Jude (suggested by my bestfriend and this offer was long over due: last year) for the first time. Visit St. Clare.
  8. Get a date! Be it with a random person whom I don’t totally know (like an acquaintance, not a total stranger, of course!) or with a friend whom I haven’t spent time with since I can no longer remember. :)
  9. Eat isaw in UP!!! :)
  10. Have fun at a comedy bar! :)
  11. I wish we could talk and be forgiven. Okay, I think that might be asking for too much. Well at least, I wish he would remember my birthday AND greet me. Haha.
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08 August 2010

My daughter’s letter to the man she will love someday


Cathy Guballa-Babao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

*She published her daughter's letter she found in her website. See it here.*

Dear You,

I will admit that sometimes I really do wonder if you exist.

There is a part of every little girl’s heart that envisions her prince charming. At age three, it is usually of a man who can save her from the wrath of an evil stepmother, wake her from eternal slumber or give her that true love’s
kiss.

In elementary school, he becomes the boy with the least cooties, the one who’s willing to cross the playground to share his Oreos even if it makes him a target for the week of all the other boys.

Come high school, it’s that boy you stand with at prom, who your father stared down at the door, who provided you with an experience complete with photos you will cringe at a decade later, a corsage that yellows in the refrigerator, and a faded memory of a night that seemed almost too magical to be real.

Nineteen years into this life, however, and still unwilling to give my heart away,
I am still that same little girl who hopes for her prince charming. And although I wonder why it has taken you this long to sweep me off my feet and whisk me off to your palace on horseback, I know that it is probably because meeting you will be better than any fairytale I could’ve read as a kid.

A
couple of heartbreaks and a few years wiser though, I will admit that there are times when I question your existence. Because I have yet to meet the guy who makes me hear songs like “All My Life” or “A Whole New World” in my head when I see him does not mean I don’t hope that it’ll ever happen.

I may already know you or may still meet you someday—something I leave completely up to God because I’m pretty sure our story will be epic.

However, I can’t promise you that I’d make the world’s most perfect princess. In fact I’ll probably keep you on your toes and amuse you with my eccentricities—there are a lot of them. I’ll probably steal a bunch of your T-shirts and turn them into shirt dresses, or drive you slightly mad with my obsessive compulsivity and my need to fix your collar constantly.

I can promise to be your best
friend however—that person you can rant to after a rough day, the hand you can hold when you get sad, or the person you can text when situations get awkward.

I’ll probably mess up your hair sometimes and hug you for too long, but that’ll only be because I absolutely adore you. I’ll bury my head in your shoulder during scary movies and make you feel like superman when you kill those flying cockroaches that really shouldn’t exist. I’ll cook your favorite food on your birthday and try my best to
make friends with your mom.

I’ll respect your nights-out with the boys and make you seem like the perfect guy to my barkada. I’ll watch basketball or soccer games with you, and not complain when you cheer too loudly at the TV set.

I’ll know the difference between giving you space and being constantly there for you—even if it means sitting and playing video games with you or taking hot chocolate runs when it rains.

I’ll listen to your
music and we’ll go on epic adventures together—seeing the world, taking awesome pictures, eating awesome food, and never running out of things to tell each other along the way.

I won’t be waiting for you to sweep me off my feet and take me on a magic carpet ride, because I know I won’t need anything like that to fall for you—I will love you for you.

You will be that someone to make goofy faces with in pictures, to lace fingers with when I’m lonely, and to take long walks under the stars with on the beach.

You’ll be the guy who takes me the way I am—and will laugh as I burst into Disney song or pick out pink wallpaper.

You’ll be that someone I envision a future with—us filling out visa forms as we travel the universe, picking out our first dog together and arguing about what to name it, or being snap-happy stage parents in our preschooler’s annual mini-plays. And I keep hoping that maybe someday when we find each other, you will become that someone whose smile I wake up to in the morning and the last one I speak to every night.


So to the man I know does exist, and who will help me maybe make sense of the world someday, this man I can’t wait to
love. Please know that I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. But for now, I wait. Fingers crossed and palms held together, I hope that you’re out there somewhere, waiting for me, too.

With the hope I will be yours for always,

Me
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