It was one mid-afternoon at work when my mother told me that they were going to town, for a check-up.  My father woke up feeling unwell, and upon checking in our barangay health center, his blood pressure was higher than normal it spiked up to 220/100, which is already a hypertensive crisis, and immediate action was necessary so he was given a referral to the town center.

 As expected there was a long line of people, and after waiting for several minutes, he finally got to the receiving person where he was interviewed and asked when the personnel took his referral, I felt a bit worried because I could see distress in her face, she moves quickly and immediately checked my father’s blood pressure and then inform the public doctor about it. My father was given a small tablet to take, and while waiting I asked about my father’s situation, then I was given another tablet and instructed to give it to my father after a few minutes and to inform her when the time had passed, so she can check his blood pressure again.

[Photo courtesy of Thirdman/pexels.com]

People come and go, and yep we are still there, my father’s blood pressure was still a bit high. Anyway, my father was given a referral to undergo a laboratory test, and upon looking at the referral with many checks in it, my mind started to calculate how much are we going to spend to have it done.

It was a good thing the kind and jolly doctor was very friendly, and yes he was the doctor who I spoke with regarding my health issue. He asked my father if he had money, and I replied we are poor, haha. The doctor jokingly says, maybe my father is poor, but I am not which I laugh it out, and says I am poor too.

To make it short, the doctor instructed us what to do and where to go.  We went to the public hospital right after, to find out what we needed to avail the service, and since my father need’s to do fasting, we decided to have it done next week without knowing the laboratory and the office is opened during weekends.