what a way to start the year...

***to anyone reading this, i intentionally didn't take pictures***

i spent the first week of january in a hospital bed. i had an emergency appendectomy done. to quote our friend arthur, "operada na din [ako]". here's what happened...
january 1st, i was still able to go to work. i ate a couple of donuts while i was at the office and when i went home that afternoon, i ate spaghetti and drank a few glasses of red wine.
a little before midnight, my tummy started to feal queasy. i dismissed it, thinking it was just one of those days when my tummy hurts. it hurt before, and i would usually just sleep on it and wake up feeling fine again. i was left at home alone to take care of the baby puppies, since peepee and his family went to moonwalk. so, after fantasia finished feeding the puppies, i left them in their cribs. i went upstairs and as i was getting ready to go to sleep, peepee called to ask how the puppies were. i said tasia has just finished feeding the babies. peepee asked me to feed them again and i said i'd set the alarm at midnight to feed them again.
i fell asleep and woke up when the alarm went off. when i woke up, my tummy was still painful, but it was still tolerable, so i went downstairs and fed the puppies. i went back upstairs and again set the alarm to 1am.
the alarm went off and when i woke up the pain is still there and it got a little worse. still i didn't do anything about it. so, i went downstairs and as i was starting to feed the puppies again, peepee, his mom and dad, and mamita arrived. since peepee and i still had to go to work, peepee said he'd take his turn feeding the puppies so i could go to sleep. i can't remember if i told him my tummy was aching. i don't think i told him. i can't remember anymore.
so i went upstairs, set the alarm to 4am and was dead to the world within minutes.
when i woke up at 4am, the pain in my tummy was so intense. i couldn't describe the pain i was feeling. as if someone is deliberately crushing my stomach. i forced myself to get my robe and towel and went down. peepee was still downstairs feeding the puppies again. i told him my stomach was aching. i went to the bathroom and i just couldn't bring myself to open the shower. i sat in the toilet clutching my stomach and then i started to feel really nauseated. i threw up.
when i was done, i washed my mouth and my face, went out of the bathroom and told peepee that i think i won't be able to go to work since my tummy was really hurting. i couldn't call coach mccoy because i didn't have his number then, but i called sir deej, but he wasn't picking up. so i asked peepee to tell coach mccoy i can't go to work.
after that, i couldn't remember anything else...
i threw up A LOT of times in a span of two hours, i lost count. i felt so weak, i couldn't stand up. i was in peepee's room, curled up with a pillow in my stomach. then i remember calling peepee up but he didn't pick up. he called back and told him my tummy was really hurting and i think i need to go to the hospital. since his mom, dad, and mamita were still sleeping, i didn't want to wake them up anymore (plus, i couldn't bring myself to stand up). so, peepee called his mom and told her my tummy was really hurting. i was brought to the USTH Emergency Room, and was immediately given an IV.
i can't remember much of it except for the fact that i was in so much excruciating pain and was throwing up for half of the day. when i was transferred from the emergency room to my own room, they had several tests done and i was also checked by an ob-gyne. the pain has moved from my stomach and was now on the bottom right side of my abdomen. the doctors were already suspecting an appendicitis, but they had to make sure that i wasn't pregnant or anything. i was told they had a similar case the week before. the girl was supposed to have an appendectomy but it turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy. by night time i was already feverish.
so, after the gynecologist said i was cleared (but she still wanted to see my fallopian tubes and uterus), the surgeon had ordered an emergency appendectomy. scared as i was of injections, i had to ask my anesthesiologist to have me sleep through the entire operation. so, i slept through it and the nurse had to nudge me awake when it was time for me to go back to my room.
the next day, my fever was gone, but it was back by mid-afternoon.
until after this operation, i never knew how important a fart and a poop could be. they said i couldn't eat anything unless i fart and poop. i couldn't even be given a drop of water. i swear i have never felt so refreshed after the first time i farted and pooped (it happened on the second day after the operation)!
my surgeon told me that it was indeed an appendicitis. my appendix got inflamed to the size of his pointing finger! my brother told me it was only supposed to be really, really small. i asked my surgeon why it got inflamed and he said a lining on my stomach wall got stuck and was preventing the normal circulation of blood. he also said it was a good thing they have removed it before it ruptured. i could've gotten killed by a ruptured appendix.
anyhoots, as what my high school teacher said, "i'm still here, alive and kicking", blogging about it...
i got out of the hospital just last thursday, and will be back on thursday for a follow up check up. the ob-gyne also requested for a follow up sometime next week.

all wrapped up and ready to be delivered...

finally! i just finished wrapping all the gifts last night. tiring, but i wouldn't hesitate to do it again next year! merry christmas everyone!

thanks veron and coach michelle!

got the phone charm from coach mitch and the other (i opened it already..it was a pouch!) from veron...thanks so much! i'll give your gifts on saturday - sorry, i don't have work tomorrow. =D
the other phone charm is for peepee...

ye, man!

De Original Jamaican Pattie..yum! i first got to taste it while i was still working at eTelecare. PBCom had the Patio, where peepee and i used to eat, and one of my favorite foods there is the jamaican pattie. when peepee and i left eTel, we missed eating it because we rarely saw a jamaican pattie store. the last time i ate a pattie was just last sunday. we watched a basketball game over at the araneta coliseum and kuya alvin bought jamaican patties for our snack.
then, just this afternoon, i was over at megamall running some errands when i happened to see this newly-opened jamaican pattie shop. i just remembered that we had seen it back then but it was still closed. i got so excited i bought four patties (a couple of cheesy beef and a couple of beef and mushroom). i took it home, and peepee and i ate the beef and mushroom. we have next to try their new flavor, which they call pinatubo. wonder how it tastes like...hmmm...

see that thinly sliced shitake mushroom and the beef chunks? yummyness!

blowout

good to see you again celani and art! =D

the parlor's almost complete...

i got this from peepee. yay! i've been wanting to own one for the longest time, but we just didn't have enough time to look at specific models until last sunday. a few days back (last week), peepee and i went to the mall to look at some possible gift items. i saw a Babyliss tourmaline/ceramic hair straightener (priced at Php2375). i wanted to buy it since i first saw it, but then we decided not to because we also wanted to look at other brands. also, looking at hair straighteners wasn't the main reason why we went to the mall. so, i said, we'll just buy it when we come back after a few days. when we went back last sunday, i went to the Babyliss area, but then the item that i wanted got sold out just the day before! i was so bummed out! so, i decided to not buy anything at all. i got so disappointed. the lady said there'll be another shipment that's due to arrive sometime next week. i didn't want to wait another day.
so, what peepee did was he looked at other brands and he found Vidal Sassoon. it did the same thing as the one from Babyliss did, but it was a couple hundred bucks more expensive than Babyliss. it was originally priced at Php3179.75 but we got it for just Php2861.
i mentioned that the VS straightener does the same thing as the Babyliss..well, the reason why i wanted the Babyliss was because it has tiny little vents at the side of the plates which acts as, well, vents. meaning, i could use it on either damp or dry hair, minus the worry of damaging my crown. the Babyliss lady was offering me another type of straightener (Php3450) which is just that...a straightener and nothing else. no way am i going to spend that hard-earned money on something that i half-heartedly want!
when peepee showed me the VS straightener, the first thing i asked the lady was that if it could be used on both damp and dry hair. she showed me a different model (which i think is much more compact than Babyliss'), and she immediately tried it on my hair. i'm glad she did, because i'm soo loving it now instead of Babyliss'

my newest babies

beauty gave birth last december 10 to two beautiful puppies, a girl and a boy, aptly named julio and julia. we just got back from the vet's clinic and had them declawed. they didn't cry much, not like the other puppies we had before them. but still, i feel sorry for them because their cute little fingers had to be cut off...

julio's on the left. julia's on the right. with little bandages covering their tiny injury. aww...