A Doctor's Plea

"I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice." 

That's a quote from Hippocratic oath I vowed to follow during my graduation day of becoming a physician. From then on, it's been marked in my heart - I will keep all of my patients from harm and injustice. But some unfortunate circumstances (yes I call it unfortunate, referring to myself as the one suffering bad fortune) of being a doctor that I would like to plea to not be repeated. (i reckon many physicians would thumbs up on this one :-))

Situation #1: At 12 midnight when I was fast asleep after a long day of work, my phone rang for a missed call, then followed by one message : Doc, ano po ang gamot sa singaw, 1 week na kasi at ayaw pa rin mawala? Goodness gracious! My initial reaction was I would like to call back and shout at the person texting me, do you know what time is it now? Ang singaw ba ngayon ay emergency na at kelangan itawag sa doctor ng madaling araw? At bakit naman 1 week na pala yang singaw mo eh napili mo pa magtanong at 12 midnight, di na ba kayang maghintay ng umaga kinabukasan? Ayayayay!  But since I was already awake, mag reply nalang, inom po kayo vitamin C, and put rowagel bukas po ng umaga after nyo po kumain ng breakfast. Hoping that the person texting me got the point that mouth ulcers can wait til tomorrow morning to be treated and we can go back to sleep undisturbed. 

Situation #2: Still in the wee hours when I was retiring, my phone rang unceasingly that I had no choice but to pick it up: then a happy voice from the other line saying: hello doc ja, pasensya na ha? yung anak ko kasi may ubo at sipon magdadalawang linggo na, ano pwedeng gamot? I would answer back as polite as I could be, may lagnat po ba ang anak ninyo? nahirapan po ba huminga at hindi makatulog dahil sa ubo at sipon? An answer that got my nerve, ay hindi naman, okay naman sya, natutulog ngayon ng mahimbing. Goodness gracious! What in the world made you call me in this unholy hour when your child was sleeping well? Besides, if you've waited two weeks before calling me that you're child had cough and colds, then it may not matter too much to wait for few hours, til the morning before calling me. Justifiable right?

Situation #3: Still in the middle of my sleep I received a call, doc ano po gamot sa pigsa ko, mag iisang buwan na kasi to ayaw mawala? Grrrr! ang pigsa mo, pigsa parin yan bukas, kaya pwed matulog muna tayo ngayon at bukas pagusapan natin kung ano gamot nyan? I wished to answer, but no, doctors can't do that (at least I won't do it) So in the middle of the night I will discuss the treatment of boil, that is not so emergency. :-s

I loath of having a cellphone sometimes...

Hmmm...It seems like I'm complaining here, but I am not.  I'm really not! Anyone who needs my help can still call me anytime they want. :-) I would just like to remind everyone, in a doctor's point of view, that not all diseases are emergency cases that need to be consulted in the wee hours. Doctors are humans too, they are not awake 24/7, they get tired like everybody, they need to rest and have a good night sleep. So if its not heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, seizure, or near death situation, I plea, wait until the decent time of the day, before you call a doctor and have a consult for free. :-)

Body Image

It's a woman nature I should say, to constantly check, may it be a conscious or a subconscious effort,  if our body still fits to the body image we'd like to have. Regardless if it's on the anorexic side, curvy side or rarely obese side (i personally think it's very rare for a woman to want an obese body, unless one is part of a tribal tradition where obesity equates sexiness and full womanhood). A body image is one's perception of a perfect body figure and one's desire to have her body to be. Some dangerously desires to have a model-ish body where every bone is popping out and no trace of cellulite one could see. Blame it to the prints and tv programs that perpetually equate sexiness and beauty to anorexic body and size zero as the perfect size.

I was once hooked to this body image. It all started when after passing the board exam, with the feeling of being deprived of sleep and hearty meal for years of junior and senior internship, I ate like there is no tomorrow of all the possible food my hands could grab, and slept for long hours like I've never slept for thousands of years! In other words, baboy mode! (waaaahh!) These lasted for long months of so much enjoyment that my eyes slipped to notice that none of my wardrobe fits anymore and comments from my friends kept coming that I've gained weight (ouch! I hate it when people tell the blatant truth that I'm fat, though it's true). It took me a year to internalize the truth that I indeed gained weight. But it's not just about adding pounds to my body, it's about how unhealthy my eating habits had become and how long I did forego exercising. Bad.

One day I suddenly felt the rush to lose weight. Unfortunately, disarmed with proper knowledge then (don't blame me, proper diet is not structurally taught in med school) I chose the wrong way of shedding pounds. Diet pills that claimed to have decreased appetite, increased metabolism, decreased fat absorption and all those nasty tea and concoction that claimed to lose weight, you name it I've tried it. I went to not eating for few days, and later on found myself binge eating with junkfoods and sweets. Some of these pills that I took caused severe acne breakouts that caused me bouts of depression. My body image at that time was so bad, I felt I was the fattest and the ugliest.

Then I discover juice fasting and detoxification. I read the book, understood the principle and did the fast properly. I slowly shed few pounds at a given time, and I was again inspired to do it more, and this time with exercise. I was enlightened that it's not just enough to have  model-ish body, it is very, very important to have a healthy body. A sexy body is not bones popping out of your body, a sexy body is a body with strength and nourishment.

Free as a Bird

What a big sigh of relief! That's what I'm exactly feeling at this moment that I'm writing this very first blog ever of mine. It's been years that I'm wanting to do this. But for some reason, that I can't point out now, I didn't have enough courage and strength to do it before. But deep in me, there's always the desire to write my thoughts, contemplations, angst, happiness, loneliness or anything that life has brought... even just the sweet nothing moments I'd like to share...

I very much enjoy reading blogs and tweets from the people I look up to, from vegan blogs to fashion blogs, to friend's blogs to celebrities' blogs. It inspires me to look at life at a positive perspective. It broadens my knowledge on how to live a healthy happy life and it gives me an idea that I'm not alone to any ordeal that I'm facing or have to face. It liberates me in a way.

I hope that my blog will do the same to anyone who visits my site...

God bless!