Okay, I really shouldn't be drinking sugar but I decided to take a small treat this afternoon so I asked for a shot of liquid sugar instead of my usual plain black iced tea at Dunkin Donuts.
DD staff assembles my tea and hands me a cup that had what seems to be a half-inch sludge of white sugar granules.
I didn't reach for it and pointed instead, "oh, that's not liquid sugar. I asked for liquid sugar".
DD staff says "Yes, it is. That's liquid sugar."
I say, "Oh no, it's not. See that it's white ? They're clearly sugar granules. Liquid sugar is clear."
DD staff tries to hand the cup to me and asked, "have you tasted it ? you haven't tried it yet"
I respond, "I don't have to. I know it is NOT liquid sugar"
DD staff then says "okay, I'll change it."
"Thank you."
Monday, August 31, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
My visit to the ER
We had a very bad scare last weekend.
It was Saturday, I took a nap with Swe-cha and woke up around 6p with a headache. I decided to tough it out and by 8p, the headache had only gotten worse so I decided to take an Advil.
At around 9:45p, my sister called and while I was on the phone with her, I felt dizzy & nauseous. I went to bed to lie down while talking to her and she suggests taking my BP.
175/113.
"Try the other arm.", achi suggested.
173/115.
Sh*t.
She then tells me that I have to get husband to drive me to the nearest urgent care center. NOW NA! I started getting scared and looked at the operating hours of nearby urgent care centers. They all close by 8p. So we decided to go to the ER.
So we packed up Swe-cha, already in his PJs, in the car and drove to the nearest hospital. Swe-cha kept crying because he thought we were bringing him to the doctor.
When we got there, I got off the car and signed myself in the ER. Hubby stayed in the car w/ Swe-cha. I had asked him to leave me behind and just go straight home but he opted to stay in the parking lot and wait a while.
We were in the ER by 10p. 15 minutes later, I was already being interviewed by a nurse. They checked my BP, 197/115. F*ck. The nurse turned out to be Filipino and I asked, "uh oh. that's really messed up. I guess that means that I'll be here a while ?" Then I explained how my husband is outside with our son and are waiting for me, should I just ask them to go home ?
Nurse confirmed that it will be a while since I would have to be medicated and maybe, the doctor may order a CT scan. So I call up hubby and they left for home.
In the meantime, I was assigned ER bed #17 and attached to all sorts of monitors. A different nurse would come by every now and then to tell me that the doctor is coming. But he wouldn't really come until an hour later at 11:20p. During the wait, the BP monitor attached to me would automatically go off every few minutes. By the time the doc comes to check me out, my BP had gone a bit down - 180/110. Still very high.
Doc says that he will give me some meds and that he will also order a CT scan to make sure that everything is okay. I see him walk out, give some instructions to the nurse and walk away.
I wouldn't get the medication until just after 12mn.
All this time, I was alone and so scared that nobody would notice me if something happened to me. I asked the nurse not to close the curtains, telling her that I was alone and that if I had a stroke, I don't have anybody to call for help. I didn't care about privacy and would feel much better if I knew that they (hospital staff) can see me. She obliged.
I'd get the medication by 12:20a and would get a CT scan just after 1a.
The CT scan came out clear, thank God! and I was able to get out by 4a. My plan was to take a taxi home but was discouraged from doing so by hubby and by the nurse who did my initial interview.
There wasn't really any definitive conclusion as to what may have caused my elevated BP. I did come home with an Rx for maintenance meds and instructions to see my doctor ASAP so that my primary care doc can adjust the dosage.
This was such an eye-opener. I am not in the best of health, alam ko yan. But I have been making steady improvements since then.
2 weeks ago, I had some labwork done and it came back with the nicest numbers I've seen in a long long time. 1 week ago, I went to my endocrinologist for a follow up and my BP was 125/80 (higher than normal, but not bad). These days, my bp is at 150/90 w/o medication and only goes down to 120/80 with medication.
Ano kayang nangyari ? ER doc suggests my episode on Saturday could've been caused by dehydration. Feeling ko, it could be also be this virus that I picked up from Swe-cha + dehydration.
Would appreciate it if you would say a little prayer for my health.
Thanks :)
It was Saturday, I took a nap with Swe-cha and woke up around 6p with a headache. I decided to tough it out and by 8p, the headache had only gotten worse so I decided to take an Advil.
At around 9:45p, my sister called and while I was on the phone with her, I felt dizzy & nauseous. I went to bed to lie down while talking to her and she suggests taking my BP.
175/113.
"Try the other arm.", achi suggested.
173/115.
Sh*t.
She then tells me that I have to get husband to drive me to the nearest urgent care center. NOW NA! I started getting scared and looked at the operating hours of nearby urgent care centers. They all close by 8p. So we decided to go to the ER.
So we packed up Swe-cha, already in his PJs, in the car and drove to the nearest hospital. Swe-cha kept crying because he thought we were bringing him to the doctor.
When we got there, I got off the car and signed myself in the ER. Hubby stayed in the car w/ Swe-cha. I had asked him to leave me behind and just go straight home but he opted to stay in the parking lot and wait a while.
We were in the ER by 10p. 15 minutes later, I was already being interviewed by a nurse. They checked my BP, 197/115. F*ck. The nurse turned out to be Filipino and I asked, "uh oh. that's really messed up. I guess that means that I'll be here a while ?" Then I explained how my husband is outside with our son and are waiting for me, should I just ask them to go home ?
Nurse confirmed that it will be a while since I would have to be medicated and maybe, the doctor may order a CT scan. So I call up hubby and they left for home.
In the meantime, I was assigned ER bed #17 and attached to all sorts of monitors. A different nurse would come by every now and then to tell me that the doctor is coming. But he wouldn't really come until an hour later at 11:20p. During the wait, the BP monitor attached to me would automatically go off every few minutes. By the time the doc comes to check me out, my BP had gone a bit down - 180/110. Still very high.
Doc says that he will give me some meds and that he will also order a CT scan to make sure that everything is okay. I see him walk out, give some instructions to the nurse and walk away.
I wouldn't get the medication until just after 12mn.
All this time, I was alone and so scared that nobody would notice me if something happened to me. I asked the nurse not to close the curtains, telling her that I was alone and that if I had a stroke, I don't have anybody to call for help. I didn't care about privacy and would feel much better if I knew that they (hospital staff) can see me. She obliged.
I'd get the medication by 12:20a and would get a CT scan just after 1a.
The CT scan came out clear, thank God! and I was able to get out by 4a. My plan was to take a taxi home but was discouraged from doing so by hubby and by the nurse who did my initial interview.
There wasn't really any definitive conclusion as to what may have caused my elevated BP. I did come home with an Rx for maintenance meds and instructions to see my doctor ASAP so that my primary care doc can adjust the dosage.
This was such an eye-opener. I am not in the best of health, alam ko yan. But I have been making steady improvements since then.
2 weeks ago, I had some labwork done and it came back with the nicest numbers I've seen in a long long time. 1 week ago, I went to my endocrinologist for a follow up and my BP was 125/80 (higher than normal, but not bad). These days, my bp is at 150/90 w/o medication and only goes down to 120/80 with medication.
Ano kayang nangyari ? ER doc suggests my episode on Saturday could've been caused by dehydration. Feeling ko, it could be also be this virus that I picked up from Swe-cha + dehydration.
Would appreciate it if you would say a little prayer for my health.
Thanks :)
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Baseboard heater covers
We had known that they were loose even before we moved in. Our painter had alerted us to them and told us that it wasn't really a problem, we just had to attach them again using drywall screws.
1.5 years later, nagawa rin namin. And if I have not mentioned how slow we are yet, yep, we are slow. Kaya lang rin namin inasikaso na agad because one section had already fallen off because Swe-cha keeps stepping on them so he can climb onto the bay windows (he loves to look outside from this spot). If we didn't get it fixed right away, the heating element inside could get damaged.
As it turns out, it wasn't so difficult. We kept putting it off because we didn't think it was going to be this easy - the baseboard cover was made of some sheet-metal material and we were anxious about punching holes in it (baka mahirap). As it turns out, we found some videos on You Tube that showed how to do it, easy lang if you have the tools.
a) Look for studs in the wall, this is important. The reason why they were falling off in the first place was that they weren't anchored to studs. The baseboard covers were just screwed onto the drywall so the screws worked themselves loose over time. I suspect that all the other baseboards are attached like that as well, but since they aren't in high traffic areas, they're still secure.
We used our stud finder to locate the studs and marked their locations with tape.
c) Then we got All-Purpose construction screws. These ones we got are rated for wood, concrete, metal and drywall.
While purchasing screws, I realized how much variety there is - there's a whole wall of them in our local home depot. It also occurred to me how expensive they could be. For exeample, we paid $3 for 15 of these screws - that's roughly P8 / screw = 4 pandesals (nagtakam tuloy ako bigla while I was doing the math), kaya wag sayangin!
The next bigger pack of drywall screws (not all-purpose ones) cost $8 for a 1-lb box, not sure how many screws are there. We didn't need that much so it does not make sense to get a 1 lb box.
I've never really had a need to buy screws when we were still in Manila (home projects were overseen by Dad, he took care of everything) but are they that expensive in the Philippines as well ? No wonder, Dad has a habit of picking up loose screws and nails that he sees anywhere and then saving them. I picked up this habit from him too so I have a jar of orphan screws I picked up and don't really have to buy unless I need more than a few. Needless to say, I did recover and save the loose drywall screws that were used to attach the baseboard covers originally.
d) and then just because I like being sigurista, I also got a pack of washers (30 zinc washers for $1.xx).
We secured 3 sections of baseboard heaters in the living room this afternoon before our drill ran out of juice and had to be recharged. I did an inspection and looks like we still have 1 section left to do in the dining room.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Ta-hoe
The little boy just asked for Ta-Hoe.
Specifically, he said, "Ta-Hoe ? Mommy get Ta-Hoe. Thank you."
Had to think about it before I realized what he wanted, eto pala:
We usually get our Ta-Hoe fix as part of our Sunday dimsum. Monday pa lang. It's gonna be a loooong week.
Specifically, he said, "Ta-Hoe ? Mommy get Ta-Hoe. Thank you."
Had to think about it before I realized what he wanted, eto pala:
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| image from: http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-sweet-tofu-pudding-doufu-hua/ |
We usually get our Ta-Hoe fix as part of our Sunday dimsum. Monday pa lang. It's gonna be a loooong week.
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