Only a few hours of 2009 is left and we are about to start another year.
I really do not know what 2010 has in store for me, for us, but all I know is that a few days ago, my status message in Facebook read: “wishes for good health in 2010. Enough with the trips to hospitals.”
What many may not know is that this year, there have been several trips to the hospital, and those were not just for routine vaccinations. In March, my paternal grandmother was hospitalized, and subsequently passed away. Sometime in the middle of the year, Jeremy was taken to the ER of Asian Hospital because of an eye injury. In October, I was hospitalized due to my slipped disc problem, which also necessitated another MRI. At about the same time, my father’s eldest sister was also hospitalized due to an elevated blood pressure and difficulty in breathing. Then, last month, Kara was hospitalized for dengue. And now, it’s me again.
You see, last December 12, I felt pain at the right side of my back, waist area. It’s the same pain which brought me to the hospital last October. But unlike last October, this one was worse, with the pain going down my right leg, not to mention the pins and needles sensation. I was already warned by the Asian Hospital Ortho doctor that the protruding disc was quite large and very very near the nerve. This time, it’s confirmed, I have nerve impingement which is causing this pain.
So starting December 15, I had been on sick leave. I just had to go to the office last December 14 to finish a speech for our President. But even then, It was already very painful.
So anyway, I started taking pain reliever and muscle relaxant, but that didn’t relieve the pain. My cousin, an orthopedic surgeon in St. Luke’s who also holds clinic in Sta. Rosa prescribed me a drug for sciatica, or nerve pain. He told me that the pain in my right leg would unfortunately be the last to go. But while the pain at my back has already disappeared, the pain in my right leg still wouldn’t go away. Only a few minutes on my feet, even sitting up would already be very painful, that I would have to lie down immediately so the pain would subside. I do everything mostly lying in bed–eating, reading, net surfing, blogging, and most of all, laying out my magazine (I brought home work) that my left elbow has already gotten very dark, dry, and painful with blisters 
So earlier tonight, as he is staying at my tita’s (his mom) place, I decided to see him. I told him that the pain is still here and asked him what my options are. He told me I may take the nerve pain med for another week, but if there is no significant improvement by then, then that would mean surgery for me. Naturally, I got scared. Who wants to go under the knife, anyway? But he explained that surgeries like that are now performed with the least time possible and with a very short incision. It’s also, according to him, a usual procedure, about 5 a week at St. Lukes. yay! While he wouldn’t be the one operating on me (if this is my last resort,) he would be there and his wife, who is an anaesthesiologist, would also be there. He assured me I would be well-taken care of.
And so I thought, so much for FB status messages. Looks like I’d have to make a few trips to hospitals in 2010. But who knows, I still have a week before I would have to face that eventuality. In the meantime, I guess I would have to continue praying hard I wouldn’t have to go under the knife, and wish at midnight, that as 2009 leaves us, it would also take with it this illness that has been taking its toll on me.
And yeah, I wish you all good health in 2010. Enough with the trips to hospitals. Indeed!
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