My mother was released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, I was at home preparing to return in the hospital in the morning when I received a text message from my sister that my mother was already given a permission that she can go home already, so I have to prepare money so they could checked-out. My father fetched me at home, he went back ahead of me in the hospital because my mother has to pee and she need to be assisted to the public toilet, my sister can’t carry my mother alone that’s why it needs two people to bring her out. It was been our routine for over a week already when we are at home and my mother’s need a toilet break my father has to return to the hospital.

We have no health insurance, we are not given free health insurance from our barangay because I guess they thought we are rich. For over a week my mother being confined in the hospital she is stressing herself with the hospital bills and our due dates in direct selling group in town, we have told her that it won’t help her thinking too much all she has to do is to get well so the hospital bill will not soared too high, our relatives were being problematic too that we are staying longer in the hospital, I think they pity us, they’re thinking of our hospital bills because they believed every time the nurse were called or went to the patient room there will be payment, my father became distressed because I guess he doesn’t know in who’s hands he’ll get the money for my mother’s hospital bill, my parents has no savings since my father’s wages is just enough for our daily living.

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The good thing I have money, which is supposed to be our tuition fee (my sister and I are planning to take up education unit this school year but I guess it wasn’t for us) and then I received some payments from people who has due dates from the things they loaned from direct selling so your guess is right as mine I didn’t pay in the direct selling group in town right away since my mother’s medicine comes first but of course I have informed them what we are going through and why we are going to be late in paying, we are willing to pay penalties anyway.  The church and other relatives extended financial help, my grandmother and older aunt also handed us some rice grains, I may say it was an unexpected blessings that we are thankful, honestly I have already thought setting up a fundraising profile online if my mother stays in the hospital longer and our hospital bill soared very high.

It was true that you will only knew your real friends in times like this and I may say I have a lot of superficial friends, I guess they were scared that I’ll borrow money from them or asked some help.  I knew the fact that most of them were talking behind my back, asking what had happened on me and in my personal life.

God is gracious, He prepared and supported us financially because I also received several tasks on my few blogs before and after my mother was hospitalized that help us a lot so we are able to pay our hospital dues and take my mother home, the doctor prescribed sets of medicines and required a follow check-up in two weeks.

A new doctor check-up on my mother since today, her second doctor was in Manila and I guess the first one wasn’t around or been busy with other patients. According to the new doctor my mother’s sugar level and uric acid wasn’t too high, his finding my mother maybe had a stroke because of cholesterol, he said that even a person has a lower cholesterol level it can cause a stroke. Her medicine were changed  to tablets already unlike before they were thru IV,  one of her medicine were lowered on dosage.

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We are told that my mother might be discharged tomorrow, my mother requested the sales clerk in the hospital pharmacy to have a partial account of our hospital bill, she was from our barangay so we knew her. The partial amount was quite high, it was almost three months of my father’s monthly wages as a carpenter (his rate is ₱2,100 per week) and we have already spend almost two months of my father’s wages in medicines and other expenses so the bill was like a fortune for us, quite sad too we have no health insurance.

My mother can now sit without being felt dizzy unlike the last few days that she can’t even raise her head although her affected body has still no sensation but she can move her hands and feet already.  She’s recovering quickly isn’t it?

My head is spinning, maybe because lack of sleep, fatigue and not eating on time.  Everyday the doctor handed a new prescription and everyday the prescription bill cost more than a thousand of pesos, my mother’s first laboratory test cost a lot as well and then there are other succeeding test that isn’t free at all. My mother was recovering, she is doing better than her first two days in the hospital that she looks like in a vegetative state. Every day something is improving, she’s able to move her paralyzed body but there isn’t a sensation yet. At first I have thought there was but I guess my mother is confused and high with different medicines injected to her, she became short tempered, emotionally down and stressed with anything, the house, the hospital bills and money no matter how we told her to relax.

On the first few days my mother doesn’t eat anything nor drink, the doctor says it was fine since there is nutrients coming from the drip in her hand. The laboratory tests shows she has high level of sugar, high uric acid and UTI problem that resulted her stroke attack and with this a lot of food was prohibited for her to eat, mainly the food she enjoy so much.

It was hard for us to see her in bed lying and can’t do anything that even a little move required an assistance, my mother was put in a cathether when she can’t pee in the adult diaper, she can pee in the toilet but the problem the public toilet is a little bit far from the room since the room we rented has no private toilet room. The doctor ordered that my mother needs a complete bed rest since when she insisted to go the public toilet of the hospital in a wheelchair she went very tired and exhausted. The doctor says going to the toilet won’t help her recover faster since it is draining her energy.

As day goes by, she is able to drink a little as 20 ml of water.  It was hard at first because she can’t drink or swallow well, we massage her paralyzed body the best we can. She complaint of pain which she can’t point where, it was also difficult for her to sleep especially the first day where she doesn’t want to sleep scared of not waking up anymore.

Medicines are expensive the good thing a few relatives and the church extended financial help to us, we are not expecting it but we are thankful because it helps a lot to us, my father wasn’t able to work and my sister too while my mother is confined in the hospital.

Today was a sad day in our clan and neighborhood. It was early in the morning when we’ve heard our relatives, shouting and running towards our other relative’s house. Our second elder aunt who was confined in the hospital because of high sugar level a few weeks ago needs to be immediately rush in the hospital since she unexpectedly vomited blood in the comfort room. It was told that two of our cousin visited in their house since our older cousin came home from the city and while they are talking happily she went to pee and then it happened.

We didn’t run to their house since there were already a lot of people who went there, we are not going to be a big help too and will only occupy space and then seeing blood make us nervous and we might lose consciousness before the patient.

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Within less than thirty minutes a news came that our aunt passed away in the hospital, they tried to revive her but she was already responsive. The doctors says the lump on her lungs exploded, an older cousin also says that the lump on her back neck exploded as well.  A different doctor gave a diagnosis a week ago that there’s water in her lungs and one of her lungs was already half in measure, as I look online  I found out that a condition in which the lungs fill with fluid is called Pulmonary Edema and when this occurs, the body struggles to get enough oxygen.

The rumors circulating our aunt has lung cancer but I don’t think it was really lung cancer since she  doesn’t smoke or drink liquor and she was not properly diagnosed yet, before she died they were set to go to the city to have her check-up and CT scan but it didn’t happened anymore because she had an attacked suddenly that lead to her death.

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Anyway, according to mayoclinic.org in most cases, heart problems cause pulmonary edema. But fluid can accumulate for other reasons, including pneumonia, exposure to certain toxins and medications, trauma to the chest wall, and exercising or living at high elevations but based on my research my aunt maybe has acute pneumonia because according to American Lung Association when the germs that cause pneumonia reach your lungs, the lungs’ air sacs (alveoli) become inflamed and fill up with fluid and pus, maybe that’s the lump that they saw on her x-ray results. This causes the symptoms of pneumonia, such as a cough, fever, chills, and trouble breathing. When you have pneumonia, oxygen has trouble reaching your blood.

Maybe one of the things we wanted to avoid is being confined in a hospital but as we grow old our body is becoming vulnerable and prone to sickness. Last night we went to the hospital to visit my father’s second elder sister, she was confined in the hospital for the second time, her blood sugar went up to the roof.  She was diagnosed as diabetic and since then her weight loss tremendously and felt other issues on her body.

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The hospital is full of sick people, when we went there I almost didn’t breath because most of the people being confined are coughing their lungs out. It looks like the hospital mixed the patient altogether because one of my aunt room mates whom they know was confined for asthma and dunno the other three I didn’t ask anymore since I think it is improper.