Day 15 Chemo 4. Thu 10/05/2017 'Summary of my 4 Chemo Sessions"

Day 15 Chemo 4. Thu 10/05/2017 03:55 PM

I missed once again making my journal for yesterday’s date. So I have the entry done today instead. Life is indeed a series of thousands of tiny miracles. Such miracles came in the form of having the Lord bringing in more patients to me. Indeed, yesterday was packed with patients in the clinic. Surprisingly, heaven was also sustaining me with all the strength that I need, in spite of having a large number of patients I wasn’t tired at all.

I left the clinic at almost 4pm and to my delight there was no traffic on my way home. I had the chance to enjoy my snacks as I arrived home early then got some time to sleep before dinner. Yet, when they woke me up for dinner I still felt sleepy. Eunice called up and so did Jerome, but still felt heavy-eyed so I told them that I will call them back, however I wasn’t able to do so. I didn’t know why I was so drowsy that time. I was not able to write on my journal, not able to have my dinner and worst of all, not able to take my meds. I was only able to remember taking my meds when I woke up in the middle of night and felt my son Zac, who slept beside me was a little feverish and restless. Though a bit asleep on one foot, I got up and took his temperature that reads 37.8 degrees Celsius revealing he had a low grade fever. After letting him take a paracetamol syrup that was the time I took my medicine too. Then the night went on with Zac and I getting a good slumber.

As the day unfolded again with me back to clinic, the Lord always put an order to everything. When heavy days come with lots of patients he would also grant me days of relaxing days, still with good number of patients yet enough for me to give a breather. Such breather usually propels me to extend my energy in the household chores at home. Thus, coming back from work with calmer tempo I had ample time doing my typical tidying and arranging of stuff in the house which I haven’t done for quite sometimes. It gave me more time too, to scribble entries on my journal which my Guardian Angel asked me, to finish as my homework, especially the intended Summary of my 4 Chemo Sessions.

And here comes now the Summary of my 4 Chemo Sessions:

Among the 4 chemo sessions, the worst was the 3rd cycle. The feeling was so unimaginable to the point that even the  taste of water was not accepted by my tongue. I couldn't even drink a tiny drop of water. I was always vomiting and nauseous. During this cycle my creatinine level was slightly elevated so I was instructed to consume 3 liters of water a day but I wasn’t able to. I was basically thriving with gatorade and non-dairy soya milk. I could not tolerate solid foods.

I also had a very difficult time on my 1st cycle, I had a gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining) where only antacids and non-dairy soya milk made temporary relief. I think I drunk a minimum of 2 liters of non-dairy soya milk during this time with 2 bouts of vomiting.

My 2nd cycle was less difficult with no vomiting at all. However the gastritis was still there making it hard for me to feel comfortable because it occurred every 2 to 3 hours. Luckily I knew how to relieve it by drinking soya, doing the (fetal) curling position, and aside from taking antacids I also tried  to rest and sleep as much as I could.

Some of the other discomforts of Chemotherapy that I felt and experienced were..

1. Sweating profusely during sleeping time even with air conditioning in my room. I had tenderness, numbness and pain upon pressure on my left arm where my (intravenous) IV line was inserted for every chemotherapy, that’s why I didn’t wear any wrist watch anymore.
2. My nail beds were all black , but the nail beds of my fingers were more severe than my toe nails.
3. My head was glimmering and shining due to baldness which was natural as hair loss is a well-known side effect of Chemotherapy.  
4. I also had a sensitive tooth on my right upper third molar. I went to a dentist yesterday but she could not detect any obvious defect on my tooth. I suggested to have it extracted but she refused by asking me to get a clearance from my oncologist. So the  oncologist suggested to have my Pro-time checked first, and if the result is normal I can proceed to have a tooth extraction. Until today, I’m still observing if the discomfort will progress after taking one tablet of analgesic since yesterday. So far, so good. I felt no pain nor discomfort, that’s why for the meantime I decided to defer the laboratory test and tooth extraction.

Every cloud has a silver lining. I believed I was able to survive all my sessions with the conglomeration of forces at work.

The 3 things that sustained me during my Chemotherapy Ordeal.

1. Primarily through PRAYERS. My personal prayers, my guardian angel’s prayer together with his family, my family and friend’s prayers were big help in my healing journey. There is tremendous energy in prayer that the seemingly impossible would always come out possible.
2. Second, it was being optimistic. My positive attitude towards surviving to a 100 years supported by the daily AM/PM meditation that helped me go through with whatever negativity I may encounter. There were days when I had to let go of tears and get my voice to rack pitch high due to immense heartache felt, yet I never let myself succumb to the whiles and vicious pangs of stresses and problems. But by just remembering that I am love and I come from a place of Gratitude, Love and Peace I can recreate the same Love, Peace and Gratitude from within.
3. Third, the Love and Care of each and everyone of you who helped and supported me through my difficult times. I do not want that all the support you had given me will go to waste. I will keep on fighting and stay strong inspite and despite all the trials that will come in my journey of healing.

“Thank you, Thank you to all of you. Thank you God. God bless us all and Good health to all of us.

See you all in my 100th birthday.”

Day 1 Chemo 4. Thu 9/21/2017 "Trials coming along during chemo schedules"

Day 1 Chemo 4. Thu 9/21/2017 04:30PM

I had noticed that once my chemo schedule is approaching blessings and trials come intertwined. God usually gives me a lot of patients in the clinic. And there are also stresses that come along either coming from my husband, from my father, brother or perhaps from other sources. One of which was the trials like my mom getting a stroke exactly on my 3rd chemo cycle and then at dawn on my 4th cycle, I had been awakened by a smoky smell which came from the grounded electrical outlet that we had to turn off the main breaker because we could already see the smoke coming heavily from the outlet. Then on the first post-chemo day at dawn, I had to be awakened again by my brother’s very loud voice saying bad words because he was drank and most likely have taking illegal drugs.

While I’m doing today’s journal there is a heavy downfall of rain. Thunder and lightning was really strong and again  the roof is leaking with water and then later realizing flood is already inside the house. All we could do is pray to God for the rain to stop.

Day 0 Chemo 4. Wed 9/20/2017 "Finally done with my last cycle of chemo"

Day 0 Chemo 4. Wed 9/20/2017 05:10PM

4th Round of Chemotherapy
Finally I’m done with my last cycle of chemo though SGPT (Serum Glutamic Pyruvic Transaminase) was elevated. SGPT are enzymes that are normally present in the liver and heart cells. SGPT is released into the blood when the liver or heart are damaged. The only new thing that I took prior to my labs was the concoction that we made composing of apple cider vinegar, honey and garlic. Maybe it’s not a good combination with my meds that’s why my SGPT were raised. As far as I remember, ever since, my SGPT was always normal and this time it was elevated more than twice from the highest cut-off. Hopefully, in God’s mercy on my repeat labs after a week, it will go back to normal like my creatinine. Have mercy on me, Lord. I said goodbye to all the chemo staffs and gave them cake just to put a smile on their faces and told them that I will invite them on my 100th birthday. I also tried to influence my two seatmates to go non-dairy, no yeast, no butter, no caffeine because both their cases are recurrence of breast cancer. They’re both supposed to be breast cancer survivors and now they’re back with it once more. May God forbid recurrence on me. I will try my best to continue my advocacy to eat and live healthy and see my son be a man of values and so as be a man of success. A self-made man like my guardian angel. I will celebrate my 100th birthday conscious, coherent, cooperative, afebrile, ambulatory with normal vital signs. While I’m doing this journal, Zac’s teacher called me, informing that Zac is one of the achievers in their class and the awarding is this coming Friday, September 22, 2017. So I called my husband if he could attend because I could not and he said, yes. Again, I got a lot of blessings through the efforts of my good friend “Dr. Roselyn Yu” and from my previous OB-Chairman “Dr. Dolores Perez” then from:

1. Pogs Cebu
2. Dr. Cora Quijano
3. Dr. Gina Jiao-Cal
4. Dr. Asuncion “Chona” Tremedal
5. Dr. Liz Salarda
6. Dr. Rowena “Weng” Manzano

Then from D.R. Nurses from the USA:

1. Mila Jumao-As Estivore
2. Ruby Villamor
3. Mael
4. Apple
5. Emelyn
6. Maida

Thank you, Lord! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To all my colleagues and friends here and abroad. P.S. I would like to say my special thanks to Amy and TJ Magallanes for their generosity. Good night everyone! Love, love, love. Peace, peace, peace.

Day 20 Chemo 3. Tue 9/19/2017 Preparation for last Chemo Cycle

Day 20 Chemo 3. Tue 9/19/2017 05:17PM

I have just finished my labs for tomorrow’s chemo. I am hoping that all the lab results are normal so I can proceed with my last chemotherapy.

I was not able to do the journal yesterday because when I got home, I felt exhausted already. We had 35 patients catered in the clinic yesterday from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. I didn’t feel tired during and after the clinic, but when I was driving on the road the drain of energy seemed to have gotten me so badly that I felt like I was dead tired. Blame it on the traffic or whatever, the energy seemed to have waned so much that I just ate dinner and went straight to bed to rest leaving my journal with just a blank slate.

Sleep always works its magic. Upon waking up, my body has got back all its propulsion. Just right in time to follow through my usual routine of catering my daily patients. Clinic wasn't jam packed with patients, so it gave me ample time too, to drive myself from SRP Talisay City where my clinic is, to PSH (Perpetual Succour Hospital) and had my laboratory done in preparation for tomorrow's chemotherapy. Like I mentioned in the beginning, I am hoping that lab results would all show normal so the chemo session can go as planned.

Upon reaching home I tried to scribble right away and filled my journal with my thoughts of the day. That way, I will have extensive sleep during the night as preparation for my last cycle of chemo.

Thank you to my niece, Ate Sinead for tidying my room. Thank you to Eunice Salinas for giving me a bouquet of flowers as a surprise cheer for me in having a blissful energy.

In God’s mercy, everything will go smoothly tomorrow. Aja!!!

Day 18 Chemo 3. Sun 9/17/2017 "delicious organic vegan and non-dairy diet - Heal the World"

Day 18 Chemo 3. Sun 9/17/2017 09:35PM

I was able to wake up at 4AM though I didn’t have a good sleep because I slept in a folding bed set-up in our living room. This was of course due to the fact that there was an electrical problem with the outlet that got busted last night. A situation that forced me to evacuate from my own room and took refuge at the living room instead.

We were able to leave exactly 5AM and my first degree cousin, Noel Acosta, fetched us on time. Only Ate Sinead, “Bebskie” and I were his passengers. Our trip to Danao City was comfy because there was no traffic and it wasn’t that hot.

In the wake, the conversation was focused on healthy lifestyle because I was asking them if Auntie Precy was on non-dairy, organic or vegan diet and they said, she was not on it. I was encouraging them, my cousins, aunties, nieces, nephews and in-laws that since vitamin B17 deficiency runs in the family, then why don’t we all start a healthy lifestyle. I even gave them an idea that we will make the organic food readily available or accessible and less expensive and the aim is to make a healthy, delicious, organic vegan and non-dairy diet for our children’s future. I even made a joke out of the song “Heal the World”. I sung it as loud as I can so that everyone could hear.

They were so fascinated in the idea and I said in God’s mercy, it will be realized. I shared this to Jerome Noel in our conversation that night. I told him that I have a cousin who is also very interested in my intention and I think they both have a lot of ideas too because they’re both techy. In God’s time, hopefully we can put a team and do the first step.

I got tired from our trip but I was still able to cook for dinner. The Beef Caldereta which I served at home really made me sweat out, but again, worth the effort because it turned out delicious.

Day 17 Chemo 3. Sat 9/16/2017 "Electrical Outlet got busted"

Day 17 Chemo 3. Sat 9/16/2017 08:15PM

As promised, I will try my best to drink up the apple cider vinegar, honey and garlic every morning and so I did although the taste is getting stronger each day. The sour taste on my throat easily gets washed off upon drinking right away with water but the garlic taste that lingered in my throat was not pleasant at all. I like garlic bread, garlic rice but garlic breath? Not really! But again, for the sake of good health, I will endure this!

We didn’t have much patients in the clinic so when I got home, I headed straight to my room to sleep when all of a sudden the electrical outlet got busted. So, I rested in the sofa in our living area instead and slept there. I couldn’t be with nieces because their bedroom might be infectious owing to the fact that, Steffi had colds and my son had on and off cough secondary to his allergies.

Though I wasn’t so comfy sleeping in the living room, I tried to sleep early because we need to leave at 5AM for our visit to Danao City for Auntie Precy’s wake.

Day 16 Chemo 3. Fri 9/15/2017 "Remembering the mom of Dr. Prado"

Day 16 Chemo 3. Fri 9/15/2017 11:20PM

I went home early from work, because I attended Dr. Vilma Prado’s mom birthday celebration. There had been many celebrations lately and undeniably, life deserves to be celebrated. Though Dr. Prado’s mom had passed away already 2 years ago, still, she (Dr. Prado) continued to celebrate her mom's birthday every year. We started with a holy mass at San Roque’s church in Cebu City then we had dinner at their residence in Mambaling Cebu City. What she had been doing for her mom was really noble. Keeping the memory of her mom alive throughout the years is but a proof of her undying love to her mom. It was a blessing to be one of those invited to witness such devotion to a mom. Driven by such wonderful inspiration I ended up staying late in the party. That gave me a chance to return the blessing with a favor by driving Dr. Vilma Prado’s secretaries to their respective drop-off.

When I got home, I had a conversation with my guardian angel about his update on “To Live a 100 Years”. A conversation which triggered me to talk about the birthday celebration event, when I told the guests that despite being stricken with cancer, I am still aiming to live a 100 years. A resolve with fortitude to celebrate life no matter what circumstances life may bring, that's why they always see me in this residence every special occasion.

My cousin “Bebskie” confirmed our plan of going to my Auntie Precy’s wake to Danao this Sunday. She also told me that she will shoulder the expenses. Everything will be covered and as for me I only have to be strong and healthy always. By God’s mercy, I know I will live through a 100 years.