A very eventful week

I promise I'll place a picture here. Right now though, since I'm stuck in the hospital I have to make do without one.

Technically, the only noteworthy days were Monday and Friday. The rest of the week was pretty normal. SO far. I still have two days to go.

Last Monday, I was still lying in bed when I heard a big boom. Then the electricity turned off. I wouldn't have stood up but another boom went out. I stood up and started getting all the electrical equipments unplugged. My sister rushed inside the door as well. Apparently a Meralco pole cause the explosion and it was the one nearest our house. We went down to check it out and to take the dogs out as well. They were right beside the gate, near the wires and I didn't want them electrocuted.

Now, I wasn't really worried, we've had around 4 fires in the street in the last couple of years. The wires between the poles near our street are so intertwined it's not even safe to look out the window and reach out your hand if you're on the second floor. However, most of the fires in our neighborhood are short, dangerous but not fatal. No one's ever been killed and the fires thankfully, never reach the homes. It's surprising to see how many people there have fire extinguishers and if you look at the houses in our neighborhood, they're not exactly the kind of people who will be prepared for fire.

So this particular fire wasn't really scary until we got down and heard the news. One of our neighbors was constructing additional levels to their house. They were in the third floor and a welder, was killed. Have you ever seen a man electrocuted by a main line? I didn't want to see his body as they carried him past our house.

We went up again and this time we turned off the main line to our house. Then my sister and I took the dogs out of the cage. We just got back to get our office bags and since our relatives advised us to go out and stay in my aunt's car wash, a couple of blocks away, we left the house with the dogs and ran out. There was smoke everywhere. Later we learned that a fire did break out but someone used a fire extinguisher on it. So after staying near all our other neighbors outside their houses checking the fire, the firemen, the police and our house, my sister and I walked the dogs the long way around to the car wash. Tammy, our oldest dog was clearly out of shape and we gave the dogs water when we got there. However, all the excitement had stopped on our street. The fire was out, the firemen didn't do anything ans since nothing else was happening, our neighbors all went home. So did we. When we got back home, Meralco was already there fixing the line. We got our electricity back around lunch time.

Fast forward to Friday. I woke up and my scalp was itchy. Since Neal was still taking a bath, I tried to go back to sleep again but suddenly every part of my body was itchy. I don't exaggerate. I was itchy everywhere, and my ears felt like cauliflower and when I looked in the mirror, well.. all I can say is, Manny Pacquiao looked better after the fight with Cotto. My face was read, my ears were big, my eyelids were partially covering my eyes. When you watch people getting allergies in the movies, like in Hitch, I always thought that was exaggerated, until that morning.

I was red everywhere. They looked like small insect bites so we did the rational thing and went to the hospital's emergency room after we took a bath. My first choice was St Luke's. It's the closest hospital and I know from previous experience that their emergency room had good doctors. It's a good thing I also had Neal's HMO card, I wouldn't be typing this in a private room if I didn't.

We actually stayed in the emergency room for 6 hours. We got there around 7 and had to wait for a room till 1. I could just imagine myself walking up to the office and saying in a hoarse voice "I think I'm having an allergy attack." My face and my voice was enough to get their attention and I had my diagnosis and medicine within 30 minutes. The doctor said it was Anaphylaxis, an acute systemic hypersensitivity reaction. I get allergies in one form or another every month. Even I was shocked at how intense it was. If you watch House, this happens a lot. Imagine a scene where the camera zooms in to the patient's throat, "tok" the throat clamps shut and the camera zooms out to the patient who can't breathe. That's Anaphylactic shock, the most severe reaction to Anaphylaxis and since my voice was already hoarse, it was already getting there according to the doctor.

I was asleep for a couple of hours because of the medicines they gave me, I slept because Neal told me to go to sleep and I woke up because Neal was already bored and wanted me to keep him company. They gave me diphenhydramine(Benadryl), ephinephrine (adrenalin) and Solu Cortef (I keep forgetting. I'm always dizzy after they give me the Benadryl). The first shots were given directly through the muscle which makes the medicine more effective as opposed to directly in the IV where the medicine can react faster. The muscle shot hurts a lot too. The doctors say the shots hurt but the pain is after they give you the shot.

They kept me in the hospital for more medicines and to keep me under observation. Neal wants to go home and I know this because he has been saying that since last night.

I'm being fed hypoallergenic food. I thought it was fun at first because hospital food amazes me. I really like it and this is the first time my food actually fell into a category different from normal. Apparently hypoallergenic food is not that great because I have to stay away from food I loved: chicken egg, all forms of dairy including milk and chocolate, mangoes, strawberries, watermelons, eggplants, seafood ... The list goes on. I ate almost all of that yesterday which explains my reaction today. Correction, according to Neal, I could have eaten all of that but now I can't for the next few weeks.

I now have an allergologist. Who I may have to see regularly from now on. Funny, my dad never had one and he has more allergies than I do. I'm still here, taking advantage of the WiFi here at the hospital. Neal and I still have tons to do for the house and I want to go back to reality. I still need to take pictures of the home improvements, buy bathroom stuff and hopefully, choose the paint for the rooms. We also need to get permission from Camella to start on the fence outside the house. Arrgh. Too may things to do!

Morning gloom

I woke up to a bright and sunny morning. I got to work and I was shocked at how polluted our city becomes during rush hour. My friend and I had to get our phones to take a picture. This was taken on the 11th floor of our building. Note that the pollution seems thicker in the north rather than in the south. This is what we are breathing when we go out the street everyday.

new post rules

I've been thinking about adding pictures to every post. The fun thing is, it will help me develop my skills as a photographer and force me to learn how to fit photographs into my posts. However, I'm so busy right now so I may just use a stack of photos that I already have. Including the one posted here. It was a spur of the moment thing in Pagudpud. The sky was perfect so I decided to make a silhouette shot with Neal as the model. It reminds me of our mountain climbing days. I hope I can post our photos of it here soon.

Research

There are certain things I want to do this year, or next year if I'm lucky...

1. Study Japanese and pass JLPT Level 3 (December 2010)
2. Go to Japan
3. Go to Prague
4. Go to Greece
5. Revisit Cambodia
6. Go to Hong Kong
7. Go to Bangkok

I need to research though. Hopefully I can go somewhere nice next year. Whichever of the listed destinations are cheapest. Hehe.

bad omens

I've been scared to go back to bed recently. I haven't been sleeping properly and sometimes I go to the bathroom convincing myself that I just need to pee. The last two nights though have been rough. I feel like someone has been watching in the living room and I can't cross 10 feet (bathroom door to bed) in the darkness without someone awake. That someone is always neal.

I also had a nightmare last night
I dreamt that insects were crawling out of me. At first I though they were just inside my clothes but when I took them off, I realized they were coming from inside me. I had two running stitches on both sides of my body where my skin was just healing. I had one big worm stuck to my ass and I pulled it off against Neal's wishes since he was worried but I just wanted them to go away and I killed it with my hands. I woke up with my butt feeling strangely violated.

A short trip to Google and I found out that the insect type was important. I knew that the insects crawling out of me were cockroaches but the one in me was like a worm from Dune. Cockroaches symbolizes need for renewal and a need to rethink major aspects of my life. The worm is a little more complicated. It was inside me partly and I knew it was feeding off me so it probably represents something negative, a low opinion of myself or negative thoughts (most likely the latter). Freeing myself from the worm even if it was painful means I may be striving to free myself of negative thoughts. Killing the worm after getting it off me is a good omen I guess. After the worm killing thing, the cockroaches stopped coming from inside me and my stitches were partly healed. It's been a while since I've had symbolic dreams.

The ghost hanging around our house bothers me. It's usually a sign of a friend dying. Someone whose death will affect me. I hope everyone is okay.

Tragedy is always a personal thing

Ever since typhoon Ondoy hit the Philippines last Saturday, news about it have been popping up in Facebook. People have been sharing news and information regarding flooded areas, how to help, videos and pictures on what happened. Ondoy is lucky. It hit Metro Manila, one of the more densely populated areas in the Philippines and it got a lot of media coverage. It was also the highest rainfall recorded since 1967 but the fact that Metro Manila was hit also helped. People were uploading videos and pictures taken from camera phones and other hand held devices. Everyone was aware of what happened.
What you really can't erase from Facebook is the constant updates from Farmville, Mafia Wars, Castle Age, Restaurant City... Yes, people in the Philippines still play these games and they do post items not Ondoy related.
Ondoy is a disaster, yes. But is it something that everyone should focus on 24/7... No.
Unfortunately, disasters are not always considered as a tragedy by all. Though hundreds of thousands of people may be affected, you cannot expect everyone to react the same way you do. Just because you are helping out does not make the person posting about Sesame Street or Farmville less affected. Just because your house is flooded does not mean everyone has to feel sorry for you. People living in Cainta, Marikina and Pasig should be happy they still have houses, if not, they should be happy that they are alive. This disaster affects us in different ways.
I'm just reacting because a friend of mine was angry for all the non Ondoy related posts. I get that his house is probably flooded but the fact that he can still post in Facebook is already a plus. Some people have relatives who died. We Filipinos have close family ties and I'm sure, most of us have families or friends that have been affected.
Tragedy is personal. It is not something that can be shared. To the people who share my friend's anger, I understand you. However you also have to understand other people. Don't expect people to be sad just because you are. You can lose everything in the world but you can never expect them to feel the same way you do.
To cite an example, when my baby died, I was devastated. My family was devastated. My friends and relatives in Facebook all knew that fact but that did not stop them from posting pregnancy or baby news in their wall. Even if they knew I could see it. I don't know if it's just me but for me, back then, that bordered on insensitivity. I knew they were happy but they didn't have to shove it in my face. What could I do? Nothing. Stop reading Facebook posts and just play games.
Life's like that it seems and I learned abut it the hard way. I hope everyone else does too. Maybe the world wouldn't need another Ondoy like tragedy to remind us that we need to accept people and help them when they need it.

Year of Tragedy

I have been waiting for a while to post this. Personally, I believe this year, 2009, should be called the "Year of Tragedy". I didn't wish it but I felt that other people will also be affected by this. No one is going to come out of this year unscathed. I just wish that everyone will be able to recover.