Wednesday, October 29, 2014

NCIS: Goodbye, TIVA

A few posts ago, I noted how much I've grown to love NCIS, which was the most watched program in the US since season 7 and reaching number one in season 10--which was the best season, in my opinion. It was the year of the TiVa (a play on Tony and Ziva's names--two of the characters in the show who are romantically linked--sort of) and sadly, the last season of Ziva David.

In today's episode (S12 E6), they finally discussed Ziva ever since she left last year. Yes, only a couple of dozen of episodes later that they said her name once again. I really feel so sad for Tony and it pains me to see how much he's still pining and missing her.

I can't believe I'm this much invested in these fictional personalities. Maybe that's why I love the show so much. Its characters are so interesting and they don't just let the story be all about the cases. Not like what's happening in the recent season of CSI where it's all cases-cases-cases. So sad that it had to happen 15 years into the series.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels that Tony and Ziva should end up together. There are several fan videos uploaded in youtube that pays tribute to their characters. The one below is nice--just ignore the grammatical and spelling errors. The person who made the video really captured all the special moments (oh, and the editing needs work too).

Now, I wonder if Tony will be able to move on with another love and if that person will be someone that will be accepted by the TiVa fans.



Sunday, October 26, 2014

All By Myself

Getting sick is not my cup of tea. Heck, it's not anyone's cup of tea. Last week was the first time that I got seriously sick since 2007 when I got an appendectomy.

Funny thing was, I was not down with something extreme like dengue or ebola. When I started feeling funny last Sunday, 3 days after my son was discharged from the hospital, I knew I got the bug that infected my son. When my temperature rose to what could be defined as high-grade fever, my in-laws kindly brought me to the hospital so I can be checked.

I was prescribed the same type of antibiotic that was given to my son by the hospital doctors after they ruled that I have upper respiratory tract infection. They sent me home with prescription medicines that would do a drug dealer proud. Unfortunately, it's either the dosage was too low or the virus or bacteria was not responding to the drug. By Wednesday, the fever would still not abate.

I returned to the hospital and went to see a specialist -- a pulmonologist. According to her, my URTI is actually acute exudative tonsillopharyngitis. Meaning, there's pus growing on my tonsils. She prescribed another set of antibiotics for the bug and more medicines to control my asthma as usually cough triggers the wheezing. My temperature went down the next day and 24 hours after, I was officially on the mend.

One thing I realized is that it's so difficult to get sick if you're by yourself. My husband was not around as he's out of town on a business trip. I needed a lot of sponge baths to control the fever so I had to do it by myself. I had to limit my contact with my son as I did not want him to have a relapse.

It's also important to keep yourself entertained. If I had it my way, I would've wrapped gifts or made headway on my complicated cross-stitch piece. But I could barely keep myself seated so I spent most of the time on bed. So it was either read or watch TV.

I whiled away the time by rewatching the Twilight series (which, for the life of me, I could not bear to watch any other day) and catch up on the shows on my favorite channels. I was so bored and also sore that due to my illness, I missed the festivities at work.

Upside of the whole thing was that I lost at least 5 lbs. Hopefully, I won't gain it right back. I've also (hopefully), lost my taste for sweet stuff (except for Mogu Mogu which was my only source of sugar) and just the other day, just had salad for lunch and deemed myself full.

I'm scheduled for an APE later next month. Hopefully, I'll get to know the real state of my health so I can make changes--hopefully, I'll have the strength to make them.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

P is for Pneumonia

My son has been struggling with his cough since early this week. His cough was so bad that his school sent him home Tuesday morning and he was made to rest for another day.

He returned to school on Thursday and come Friday evening, he was complaining that he was not feeling well. I woke up around midnight with Basti burning with a 39.1C fever. I panicked as it was the first time ever that he sported such high temperatures. We gave him Paracetamol which he fortunately was able to take and we went back to sleep.

The next day, I had to go to school to give my final exam and I immediately went home afterwards. When I saw that Basti's temperature was not improving, we brought him to the ER at Asian Hospital.

I was initially hesitant to do so as my recent experience with them was not pleasant at all (e.g. we were here last month when Basti was complaining of an ear ache and the ER doctors had no beside manners and the ER nurse gave my son Ibuprofen without asking whether he ate something. It was not surprise that he started throwing up afterwards). But since I was anxious already, we hurriedly brought Basti to Asian.

A few minutes after we were ushered into a cubicle in the ER, a Dr. Carlos Vicente Gabriel checked Basti and I was very happy with the way he did the examination. He certainly knows how to handle children and he was definitely a big improvement compared to the previous pedia resident that looked at Basti before. After a couple of tests, it was found that Basti has pneumonia and since it was at the early stage, we were sent home with an assortment of medicines that will do a drug dealer proud.

However, Basti could not tolerate the oral medication and would throw up everything that was given to him. I called the ER spoke with Dr. Gabriel. I mentioned that we will be returning and would request for confinement. He readily agreed and waited for us to arrive to process our admission.

The admission process was also hassle-free. I was very pleased with the nurse when he was able to administer the heplock with no fuss at all and with no need of a repeat. I was also amazed with Basti as he insisted on observing when we told him to look away. He did not scream although he did voice out his pain. He also stared with wonder when they extracted blood from his arm. He barely flinched when he saw the needle enter his skin.

Unfortunately, his pedia, Dr. Clemente, no longer has a clinic at Asian so we went by his referral, Dr. Morada, the same pedia that admitted him a couple of years ago also due to pneumonia. He was able to see Basti earlier today and prescribed more medicines which would hopefully kill the bacteria, thereby bringing down his temp and ultimately, letting us go home in the fastest period of time.

I decided to stay in the hospital every night with no assistance from the yaya to take care of my son. It's our bonding moment and something that I hope he would remember when he would start questioning my love for him when I practice my usual tough love stance.

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Lea Salonga's Awesomeness

I am such a fan of Lea Salonga--ever since her Miss Saigon days. The 25th Anniversary of the musical that made her famous worldwide made my admiration for her reach new heights.




She returned to West End in London for the gala and she has not lost her touch. I cried when she appeared and saw how much the crowd still loved her. I wish the show was longer and the same tribute was given like was given to Les Miserables. But then, the latter is more famous than the former so it was more deserving of its O2 Arena venue.

While surfing for more singing videos of her, I came across this clip of her singing in Cory Aquino's funeral more than 5 years ago. I recall crying so much during the funeral and those tears flowed freely again when I watched the clip below:


Earlier in my class, my students and I were discussing taxes and I expressed my frustration with my government. I expressed my dismay in not getting anything from the taxes that I paid. I'm still paying for the use of the roads, for water, for health, for education. Basically, I am not benefiting from my taxes other than giving our politicians more money to line their pockets. And then I wondered why I'm still here in this country when there is always the opportunity for me to leave and settle elsewhere. But after watching the video above, I suddenly remembered why I'm still here. Regardless of all the news that are surfacing about incompetent politicians and government officials, I still have faith and I still love my country. And I still have hope that one day, I will see it free from the shackles of corruption.

Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal-dilag
Ang 'di magnasang makaalpas.

Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha at dalita
Aking adhika
Makita kang sadkal laya