Buckling up..

It's now just 6 days before the start of my pre-residency.. Time to get really focused and downright serious. :P I still can't belive its already been more than a year since I first got my license and signed up for my first pre-residency at UST NeuroPsych.. So much has hapened since then, and within such a short span of time! I've had the chance to "live life freely" for a little while, mainly due to fatigue, but also because I wanted to have no regrets before I started training again.

In line with this, I would like to thank everone who had been instrumental in making this year a very unique and memorable one..

- God, of course. He set me along this path to help me rejuvenate and rediscover what he probably wanted me to do with my life. Thank you for helping me maximize what would otherwise have been a wasted year. You truly work in mysterious ways, and I thank you forthe many woderful surprises I have stumbled across along the way. :D

- My family, for their continued support during the rough time I had during the transition from pre-res to normalcy, and beyond. :D

- My "Sweet Inspiration", it was an honor to see you make it through the boards. Thank you for your unfailing love and support especially during those times when I really needed you.. ;)

- The "Brotherhood", thank you for answering the call. It was great to see you guys again, and I hope we could all meet up sometime in the near future (and hopefully we'll be complete by then :P) But November is a little sketchy for me, so I guess you'll have to convene the "Brethren Court" without me. :P

- The staff of the "Company". :P Thank you for accepting me as one of your own, and for entrusting your health to me. Thank you for the experience I've gained as your company doc, and all the different insights I've gained while being a part of something other than a medical/hospital community. A big thank you to my loyal patients (mostly from the warehouse), whose unfailing commitment to follow up with me makes me feel like I'm doing something really worthwhile.

- "Grand uncle", thank you for the warm welcome, and for treating me as one of your own. Thank you for this unique opportunity and experience, and for all the food too! :D

- Cousin "Grumpy", you've affected my life in a way you'll never imagine, setting me along a path where I now feel I should have tread a long time ago. Thank you for showing me the way, and for believing in me (although you hardly show it :P).

- "Auntie Doktora", the mother of "Grumpy", who is probably looking down from heaven watching over us. I guess you had a hand in all of this as well. Thank you.. I won't let you down, and your legacy WILL live on in us.. I promise...

- "LittleSister", it was a pleasure to finally get to know you. I feel you deserve special mention here because meeting you was one of the things that made this year so unique. :P Thanks for all your concern for us during the flood. Good luck in your studies and playing! :D

- "Second cousins" (Rain, TwinBrother, TallTree), thanks for all the fun times we shared this year. It was great reconnecting with you and getting to meet your spouses (NineBoss and CrocWrestler), and the little baby too! :D Thanks for letting me see the world through a whole new perspective.

- Dra. "Pulmo consultant", thank you for letting me share your clinic and position for this limited period of time, and for all the experience and advice you've imparted. Thank you for your words of praise and encouragement. Sorry I chose not to train at your hospital. It's just too far po kasi eh. :P

I've been studying (relatively) more as of late, in preparation for the forthcoming month. I hope I can make a good impression and eventually get accepted, because I've already had my year off, and now I'm raring to go!..

The starting line is in sight.. The tank is full and I'm revving up the engine. Strap yourselves in, we're in for one hell of a ride! :D

Simplified

While I was in the CR, I was suddenly struck by the calm and quiet of midday (since it was brownout, the distant rumbling of air conditioners in other buildings were absent). I looked out the window and chanced upon a forklift going about it's business shifting stuff around on the vacant lot where a factory once stood (demolition was done a few months ago). I then imagined the forklift driver, having a rather simple job (although entailing much skill) doing stuff of very little serious consequence. After work, he'd go home to rest up and spend time with his faily. Sure, he wouldn't earn that much, but he could probably get by if he spent his money wisely..

I'm suddenly on a "simplicity kick" a day after I bought a pair of long-sleeved shirts (on sale! 50%!) for use during pre-residency (and hopefully residency as well). When I got home, I took stock of the clothes I was using on a regular basis. I was most struck by my footwear. Apparently, I had been getting by with using only 4 pairs:

- A pair of slippers for home use and short trips (ie. to the supermarket, etc)
- A pair of adidas trainers I had bought on sale which served as my all-around casual/gym shoes
- A pair of black leather shoes which I wear to work (incidentally, I had bought these for residency last year :P)
- A pair of aging black suede shoes which have seen better days that I now only use during select "fancy" occasions

Thankfully, none of the four were swept away or damaged by the flooding, so I need not buy new ones. (although I was alarmed when I noticed that the sole of the trainers were starting to show wear and tear..) I'm not really much of a shoe person. In fact, I don't really recall having more than 5 or 6 pairs active at any given time. Still, it was a bit of an awakening to see my shoes lined up like that and realizing that a person COULD live simply if he/she really wanted to. As my dad always reminds me, its all about adjusting your wants and living within your means. This basically entails making sure your basic needs are met while tuning down your lifestyle to something sustainable within your given income bracket.

People have to adapt to their situations, and must learn to make the most of things. Otherwise, he/she would end up miserable because the wants are not met while at the same time the needs are neglected in favor of the former.

I guess the main questions that need to be asked here are: "What do you feel is important to YOU?" and "What do you think SHOULD be given importance?". Depending on the person, the answers to these very similar questions may vary widely..

I'm not one to give a lecture on how one should manage his/her money, but I can say that happiness is not defined by how much money one has or whatever he/she spends it on. It's about those intangibles that make up the human experience like faith, family, friends, and love, things that money truly cannot buy..

Thoughts Along a Hospital Hallway

2nd flr, CMC, 2:22pm

Bummer.

While waiting, I was struck by a sudden moment of clarity about our chosen careers and how we'll probably be living our lives for the next three or so years..

Sometimes I'm still astounded with all the sacrifices one has to make in being a doctor. You sacrifice personal time, earning capacity, and even a good part of your youth, all in the name of training, training to help sick people get better..

Sure, it may all seem so lofty, noble, and idealistic. But during those rare unguarded moments when you're tired or just sick of everything, you begin to question yourself and think: "What the hell am I doing with my life??"

Sigh.. I know that the end is in sight for people at my level.. Residency would (hopefully) go by pretty quickly, but that doesn't change the fact that it still goes uphill from here.. Another glaring question awaits when you get a little older: "Has it all been worth it?" Check back with me in a few years...

Recollections from the "Storm Week"

*sorry folks, no pictures this time. It was either the phone had no bat or my hands were too dirty. :P

It has been 9 days since Tropical Storm "Ondoy" (Intl name: Ketsana) ravaged the land and dumped tons of water on the unsuspecting Metro, resulting in massive widespread flooding, displacing thousands of families and resulting in hundreds of deaths, not to mention the billions of pesos worth of property ruined by the flood waters..

After riding out the storm at the aforementioned gas station (see previous post), I decided to make my way home at around 9:15 PM since traffic was already flowing smoothly and I was getting really bored as well. :P I had initially planned to go home by 10pm just to make sure that all the flooding along my route home would have subsided, but thought better of it since almost everyone waiting at the gas station had already left, and it WAS pretty dark there too..

Before leaving, I had been intermittently listening to the radio for news about the flooding. Apparently, it was a total disaster all over. Text messages were being sent to the radio stations with pleas for help. People were stranded upon rooftops because the water level had risen too quickly for then to get out of their homes. Hardest hit were the areas of Marikina, Pasig, certain areas of Quezon City, and most of Rizal province. The major roadways going in and out of Manila (and even the mighty EDSA itself) were at a standstill, as flooding has rendered them impassable. Ill-prepared rescue teams were being scrambled all around, and at times even the rescue teams themselves were stalled because the waters were just too deep at certain points. I never thought this would happen here as images of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans came to mind. Truly, climate change had come to retaliate for Mother Nature, and we have no one to blame but ourselves..

After gassing up (just in case), I said a little prayer and drove off. The ride home was mostly uneventful, save for the slight flooding I encountered when I turned left at Scout Albano from Quezon Avenue. Good thing it was pretty shallow, and I managed to get the vehicle through that short stretch (I was advised to avoid EDSA and so I had to go the longer way home). Although the rains ahad already stopped for quite some time, I still proceeded cautiously, passing areas which had been blacked out. I finally arrived home at 10 pm, much to  the relief of my family who had been keeping vigil until I got home. Dad himself was stranded in downtown Manila and decided to set up camp at a small local hotel. When I got out of the car, the first thing I noticed was the stench in the air which smelled faintly of garbage and soil mixed together. It didn't really smell as bad as, say, crap, but it hung everywhere like a gloomy cloud. Some of the movable big stuff we had at the ground floor (like dining chairs and electric fans for example) had been moved outside the house because mom and bro had been cleaning up when they got home. The stairs going up were littered with stuff salvaged from the rising waters like shoes, books, and so on. I was unable to grasp the entirety of the destruction since it was really dark at the time. I was also astounded to find that the ceiling in the master's bedroom had leaked onto the bed a a result of the roof drains being clogged.. Good thing it was only partially soaked and was still usable. Before going to bed, I took stock of everything that happened.. At least all the members of my family were ok. We were without power and phone but at least we had running water.. sigh.. I slept like a rock that night, unsure of what the next day would bring..

I awoke to the sound of mom sweeping the laundry area downstairs. I went down and realized that things weren't really that bad, or so I thought.. When mom and bro got home at around 6pm, the waters have already receded, but they were greeted by the sight of upturned chairs, soaked papers strewn all about, and mud EVERYWHERE!! There was a visible water line delineating where the muck had risen. I realized that they had done a pretty good job on the initial cleanup. The floor was already spotless when I got home, and the walls were already scrubbed down. Even the downstairs CR which was below street level had already been cleaned up somewhat. Thankfully, we had a little help from our people who were likewise trapped by the flooding. I'm really grateful to my uncle who came in when the waters had not yet really risen and saved my precious new edition of Harrison's and my brother's laptop.

I went outside to help mom with whatever she was doing and saw the front porch/garage/front lawn.. Whoa!! Garbage all over the place, a desk on it's side, and mud covering pretty much everything at or below waist level. We borrowed a window cleaner(?) and used it as a kind of "water rake" (sorry, don't know the right term :P) to move the muck out while mom hosed stuff down. Eventually, things got cleaned up as the pile of garbage grew higher and higher. At around 9 AM, my uncle asked me to accompany him to go and fetch dad from downtown. Apparently it was a blessing that I wasn't home at the time of the flood, as the other vehicles parked at the house had been flooded in and were unusable. Before going there, we thought of grabbing breakfast for our families, so we drove to the nearby McDonald's, which turned out to be closed because of extreme flood damage (it was sitting beside a creek, and I found out later that the flooding there was around 5-6 feet!). So we then went to the nearby panaderia which made excellent pan de sal. A lot of other people seemed to have the same idea, and we were told that we had to wait 20 minutes for another batch that was still in the oven because they had already sold out the first batch. Trying at a different bakery yielded the same result. To kill time, we decided to just go ahead and try to make our way to Manila, but we turned back around 3/4 of the way since the area was still heavily flooded. My uncle and I returned home triumphantly with our freshly-baked bread and our famished families eagerly wolfed them down (since we had been working on our houses for quite some time now).

While on the road, I noted the water lines on the walls of those hard-hit areas. A lot of areas we passed through had water lines higher than the average car!! That's some deep water! I chanced upon one of those big provincial jeepneys that brings produce to the markets is Manila, and realized that it was running quite late since those jeeps usually deliver their stuff before the break of dawn.

After finding renewed strength with the help of the delicious pan de sal, we soldiered on, cleaning up and tossing stuff out. Dad was eventually fetched at around 3 in the afternoon, and we then had our dinner at the local hypermart. Man, I'll never look at chicken inasal the same way again!! :P We also went there to get some batteries for our flashlights since we still had no power, but thought better of it when we saw all the lines. Since a lot of people were hit by the storm, I'm assuming that their stores of food were ruined by the flooding as well. Our beloved refrigerator was a victim too and we had to empty her out, but since the water level wasn't so high, it was back in working order after cleanup and is now once again silently purring in the kitchen. :P

When we got home, Hallelujah! The streetlamps were on!! We had power! :D Dad switched on the breaker power for the entire 2nd floor and the ground floor lights ONLY (since the water level had risen higher than the power outlets). Phone lines were restored a little later, so everything was returning to normal.. somewhat..

When we switched on the TV, the devastation caused by the storm came to light.. Entire subdivisions with two-storey homes were totally submerged underwater. Riverside communities were totally washed away. The storm had dropped a month's worth of rain on the metro in a span of 24 hours. The dams were filled to capacity and had to be opened lest they break, thus causing more flooding and the persistence of high water levels in certain areas. This storm seems to have been a great equalizer, affecting rich and poor alike. A relatively affluent neighborhood in Marikina whose residents included movie stars was one of the hardest hit by the flooding.

The next few days found us doing more cleanups, and I was so busy helping out at home that I had almost forgotten that I had applied for residency and was supposed to be entering pre-residency soon.. In the days before, I thought that my chance of receiving the text from my hospital of choice to go be a pre-res was getting slimmer. Imagine my surprise when in the midst of cleaning up, I received a phone call on my cell from an unknown number. Lo and behold, it was the chief resident of the department I was applying for! He told me that I had been accepted as a pre-resident and was inviting me to come to their office for a meeting/orientation with the training officer! :D What a relief!! I have been dealing with feelings of uncertainty ever since I passed my application 3 months ago, since I considered this as a "gamble". The Lord is really good to me, and he has led me on to this path and guided me all the way. :D Thank you!!

I was so ecstatic that I felt I could clean the entire house all by myself. :P So I tried, and when all the adrenaline wore off, my body was really sore from all that scrubbing, lifting, etc. :P

Orientation day came and went. We drew lots to see who would be assigned to what batch. Luckily I drew 2nd since there was still a lot of cleaning up to do. To date, I'd say we are 70% done with the cleanup. The bulk of the work that remains is setting aside dad's books and other stuff from his study (which had been displaced as a result of a bookcase collapsing and a cabinet being thrown out). At least everything is almost done, right? :P

All this time, there have been numerous blessings that came our way despite the calamity:

- The fact that I was able to survive being stranded (for the first time at that!) unscathed is something to be really thankful for, especially being adjacent to important u-turns or exit points at just the right moments.. ;) There's also the food lady and the little improvised wee-bag.. hehe

- Though stranded, I knew the rest of the family was safe, with dad neatly holed up in a hotel near the office and mom and bro stuck in a well-stocked shopping center until they were picked up by an uncle

- Despite having only a half-full battery on my cellphone, I was miraculously able to conserve the power until I got home.

- My mom and bro ran out of bat sometime during the day and thus lost all means of communication with me and dad. Luckily, bro thought of using the the older phone we had already retired (and I had luckily charged it to full before putting it in storage. Talk about LUCK!)

- Many thanks to my god-sister Shel who went out of her way to bring us lunch while we were in the midst of the first day of cleanup. Thanks shobs! You're the best super chef talaga! :D

- Thanks to Ate Peachy, the daughter of a family friend, who brought us packed food that we had for dinner on the second day (we haven't been cooking right away because the LPG tank connected to the stove was lying on it's side after the flood, and mom was scared of a possible leak)

- My uncle who, despite the flooding at his own house, took the time and effort to save some of the really important stuff at our place.. Thank you so much...

- The call from the chief resident.. Thank you doc, for the really good news which brightened up my day despite everything that had happened.

The relief from surviving the storm was short-lived, as there was news of a more powerful super-typhoon headed towards the country.. At one point, this storm was projected to have the strength of a category 5 hurricane (putting things in perspective, Katrina was a category 3..). People began fervently praying for intercession, as many areas were still flooded and thousands of families were just recovering from the shock and devastation this storm had wrought. People warily began to follow the weather reports more closely. I myself tuned in every hour to see the latest reports from CNN and PAGASA for the storm's current location at the time and where it was plotted to move next.

It was kind of miraculous in a way.. The storm was on a northwestward course, and was projected to hit the already-battered cities and municipalities of Metro Manila, but then, something must've happened.. The storm was altering it's course and was undertaking a more northward path! People within the Metro were nervously awaiting the arrival of the storm, ready to move stuff or move out should the need arise, but thankfully it never happened. Besides a few intermittent strong showers and a continuously cloudy day, we never experienced really strong effects of the storm. Our hearts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters in northern Luzon who were directly affected by this second calamity. At least the government was able to to something right, with preventive evacuations saving lives and minimizing casualties from this second storm. You can buy back or make stuff that you've lost, but human life can never ever be replaced..

Now, it's back to the daily grind for most of the people in the Metro. Storefronts are being cleaned up, businesses are resuming operations, and even I'm back behind my clinic desk. ;) A semblance of normalcy is now taking shape, but that still doesn't change the fact that thousands of our brothers and sisters are still displaced or are still stuck in their homes with little to no relief..

You have to applaud the spirit of the Filipino people, finding humor in the most dire situations, but also the spirit of "Bayanihan". As soon as the calls went out, people who were barely affected began extending whatever help they can in the form of relief goods, medical missions, and what have you. I'm sure there were also many individual acts of heroism that mostly go undocumented due to the gravity of the entire situation. Sadly, we have to take the power of the human condition with a grain of salt, because although it may be true that calamities sometimes bring out the best in people, it may bring out the worst in them as well.. Reports of unscrupulous individuals selling much-needed relief goods to starving refugees who have no other choice.. or people who refuse to stand in line and instead find ways to get double rations amidst the chaos while other people who try to follow the rules get nothing.. and now I've recently heard that the stupid government is ordering a freeze on international aid coming into the country with the intent of taxing them before they can be distributed here.. it's just sickening... :( and to think I was starting to believe that the government could do something good for the people for a change when they evacuated the danger areas in the path of "Pepeng" (Intl name: Parma)..

Weather You Like It Or Not

* the following entries were written using a pencil and a sheaf of scratch papers serendipitously found in the glove compartment while stuck amidst horrendous traffic at the height of the wrath of Tropical Storm "Ondoy"

Commonwealth Avenue 9/26/09  1:00 PM

I'm permanently stuck in non-moving traffic headed towards the QC circle amidst what appears to be the worst storm to ever hit the Metro in recent memory... I actually found myself thinking "Man, where the hell did all this water come from???". I was supposed to meet up with my girlfriend today, for what would probably be our last date before pre-residency. Apparently, the heavens had other things in mind...

Before I left the house, it was already raining heavily, but having driven under similar conditions before, I had no idea that it would be this bad. After dropping off mom and bro at the hospital for checkup, I settled myself down for the long trip ahead, and what a long trip it turned out indeed! :P

When I made my way along EDSA, I began to notice that something was amiss.. The very idea that EDSA could be flooded HEAVILY was beyond my imagination (since I don't really drive around much anyway), until now..

Having narrowly escaped being trapped along Highway 54, I began to wonder how I would get home while I neared the QC circle via Quezon Avenue. Traveling along Commonwealth, it was really raining buckets already, with visibility reduced to about 4-5 car-lengths ahead. As I neared the Fairview branch of Wilcon Depot, the traffic slowed to a crawl, and as luck would have it, I found myself close to a u-turn slot. After much waiting, debate, and hesitation, I decided to turn back, aided by the advice of a local resident that the road ahead had been rendered unpassable due to waist-deep flood waters.

After making the U-turn to head back, I proceeded cautiously, knowing fully that I wouldn't be able to go home anyway since it's reportedly flooded there already. What surprised me was a text I got from my uncle saying that it was already flooding INSIDE the house and that it was already knee-high!! 😨

Oh well, the important thing is that everyone close to me is safe and sound. As of this writing, I'm in front of the UP-Ayala Technopark nearing the QC circle and I've been on the road for about 4 hours... Luckily there was a lady vendor going around selling baked goods (I though she sold buchi because she handed me a soft yellow rounded goodie covered in sesame seeds which turned out to be some kind of bread) so bought a pair and I didn't have any food problems.

Good thing I was able to bring along the plastic cylindrical case of my shades, so I had an improvised wee-bag as well.. hehehehe! 😜

I'm trying my best to make light of the situation since being a worry wart never did anybody any good, and besides, it looks like I'm gonna be here for quite a while... Will rest first, and I'll try to make another entry while there's still daylight.. (1:49 PM)

Entry #2 3:30 PM - still haven't moved an Inch..

Whew! That was fun! A short while ago, I decided to leave the car for a while to buy provisions to last me the night, because although I still have another piece of bread to serve as dinner, the fact remained that I had absolutely nothing to drink (wee-wee is out of the question! 😅). Not wanting to compromise my very healthy urine output, I knew I had to do something..

After informing dad of my little plan, I said a little prayer and left the car to head to the nearby Petron station for my supplies. I had luckily brought along both an umbrella and a jacket before I left the house so getting wet was never really an issue.

While braving the downpour, I was suddenly concerned whether they still had anything in stock, since we motorists have been stuck here for quite some time now. On arrival, I noted only a handful of C2 bottles on the shelves. Luckily they still had considerable stocks of purified drinking water, so I hurriedly grabbed a pair of 500ml bottles for my own. They didn't have much food left, so I had to content myself with a pair of small Goya chocolate bars.

Just as I was finishing the above paragraph, the cars in front began to move, but about 50 meters later, things are at a standstill once again.. 😅

Anyway, as I made my way back to the car with my precious cargo on hand, I had the misfortune of half-stepping into a shallow puddle and I got my feet wet. 😐

So, prior to the aforementioned disturbance, I had already been preparing to hunker down for a most memorable night since I felt that I had all the provisions I needed for an overnight stay...

Safe Haven 4:50 PM - Petron Commonwealth near Philcoa

Woohoo!! I'm finally off the road and am now sitting pretty here at the Petron station just after the Technopark. I was really lucky to be able to have squeezed in here as I had already missed the entrance but was able to back up because the cars to my rear refused to move forward, leaving a clear path for me to enter this oasis.. (Thank you Lord! 😇)

Now I can kick off my shoes indefinitely and hang up my poor little socks up to dry. 😛 I guess the main reason why I managed to remain this cheerful in spite of everything is because I have already resigned myself to spending the night in the car. 😅

Mmm... the Goya chocolate bar is really delicious, or maybe it's just because I'm really hungry.. 😅 I'll save the other one, along with the "buchi-bread", for later. It's getting dark, and I better set up camp before nightfall.. 😐 (I wonder when I'll be able to blog all of this?...)