2021 Yearender

Finally! A proper yearender post! 😛

Now that things have pretty much normalized for me, with the previous consultant routine slowly getting back on track, this time with a bit of accommodation for further opportunities opened up by my recently-concluded training. 😉

Hmm.. I would say that this year pretty much picked up where the shitstorm that was 2020 left off.. The introduction of vaccines early in the year brought a faint glimmer of hope, as cases were trending down and the vaccine rollout caught steam. This optimism was curtailed shortly thereafter though, as the more contagious (and no less deadly) delta variant finally hit our shores a few months after wreaking havoc in India. I would say that this particular wave finally brought the fight to all fronts here in the Philippines, as the outbreak epicenter shifted to the provinces. Fortunately, we were able to see a bit of change in the trend of admissions.. Vaccinated individuals were apparently less prone to wind up in the hospital and hooked to the ventilator. People who got their jabs still tested positive occasionally, but usually had little to no symptomatology to speak of. That's science at work, and no amount of denial by crazies or the ignorant is going to change those facts.

As the year wore on, the trends showed an ever-decreasing case count as more and more people began to shed their unfounded fears and got themselves protected. People started to go out more, and public areas slowly but surely became congested again, the only difference is that people were wearing masks (thank goodness!).

Enough about Covid for now though.. I admit I was a bit apprehensive about getting back into the game after having been away for so long. Fortunately, he clinics were always so supportive, and old familiar faces started to reappear during consults. In fact, I was extremely touched to learn that an old patient had been waiting patiently for my return and refused to see any other physician, because she said I was the only one she trusted. Fortunately, she followed my last instructions and continued her maintenance therapy religiously, which quite predictably resulted in minimal adverse events in the interim. 😛

I thought that I would have become quite rusty with my pulmo management, but apparently its just like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it once you already tried before. ;)

Let me just say that it really feels so good to be able to conduct face-to-face consultations again. I have become extremely sick and tired of telemedicine consultations as it was the only medium we used during fellowship training. I'm sure patients feel the same way, well, those without heightened anxiety about going out anyway. 😜

Hmm.. it's roughly 10pm, but things have still been relatively quiet outside. Perhaps people in the area have finally wised up and learned that it is not cost-effective to waste your hard-earned pandemic money by burning it all away on celebratory explosives. (Although if the news reports from Bulacan are to be believed, people are still going to be such petulant children who are unable to follow sound advice and still do the stupid things that they do, and lose fingers and limbs in the process. Not really my problem though, as long as they don't cause harm to me or the people I care about)

This past holiday season has been one of the weirdest I have experienced. I don't know if its because 24 and 31 are set during thursdays which threw off my internal calendar, but I seem to have trouble telling the days apart. Unlike previous years when people were more than happy to take time off during these holidays, this year seemed to be more busy, as people were taking advantage of relaxed restrictions to conduct business in an almost-normal setting, something most of us have not been able to do for the past 2 years.. I guess this explains my disorientation, since everyday seemed like a regular workday, only with more people at the malls doing their old-school face-to-face x-mas shopping, something they have not been able to do for ages.

Now we stand on the precipice of starting a new year, with a new, highly contagious variant already within our shores. I can only hope that the reports from Africa are correct, that they have already apparently weathered the storm and cases have already significantly dropped, and that this new variant apparently caused milder illness than previously encountered..

So yeah.. It has been a hodgepodge of a year, with equal measures of hope and anxiety mixed in, causing a roller coaster of emotions for all of us. Still, there was some silver linings that happened, and I am grateful for that.. But there are tragedies as well, especially the severe destruction in the southern part of the country brought about by the typhoon Odette, which caused unimaginable devastation as was seen in clips shot by brave individuals caught in the middle of it all..

Let's all pray for a better tomorrow, and a brighter 2022! Stay safe everyone! Please, keep wearing your masks and keeping your distance by avoiding crowds. Its for everyone's good. If you insist on being bullheaded about it, I  will just pray for your family such that you don't put them at risk with your reckless and inconsiderate behavior, because if anything happens to them, it will most likely be all your fault.

More stories to come, and I hope you will be here along with me for the ride. 😁 Have a Happy New Year!