Down with the flu or Just how difficult it is to be checked-up in Pinas

I have been really sick for the last three days, hence the silence over here in my blog. I unfortunately and unwittingly caught the flu that's been going around here recently. Summer ended quite abruptly for us here in the tropics. This hasty change of weather has been harsh on the healthy and not-so-healthy.

I really hate it when I get sick. Aside from the physical and emotional suffering it brings, it is a pain in the butt and the wallet to schedule appointments with local doctors here.

Take the case of my Dad, who is asthmatic. His doctor is THE top pulmonary specialist in the city. Now, because this doctor's expertise is so heavily in-demand, a long line of people is stretched out on the corridor outside his office. Say, if you call today for an appointment, his secretary will tell you that the doctor will be able to see you three weeks later. It got to the point that the secretary shooed my Dad away and told him to go see another doctor since he wants to be checked-up immediately.

Although the situation is not the same anymore with my Dad and his doc (my father can see him anytime, anyday even without appointments *wink*), my point is this: this current set-up between patients and doctors in this country, to be blunt about it, sucks. The ideal situation would be if you feel sick, you call your doctor, tell the secretary you need to see him, she says yes just come over, and then you haul your sick tush over to the clinic, period.

But in the Philippines, it's simply a hassle getting checked-up by a physician. If the clinic is housed inside a hospital, most likely your doctor's clinic would be more aptly described as a cubicle; very tiny, very fishbowl-like. While outside, there's a long line of sick people stretched out on the corridor waiting for their turn. And inside there's the cranky secretary who gives curt replies. And when it's your turn to step inside the doctor's clinic, what you get is a few minutes of hurried, perfunctory clinical exchange with your doctor. You walk out with a prescription for medicines worth more than what you get paid for in a week at work (that is, if you're lucky) as you almost gasp when the secretary bills you 350 pesos (roughly 8 USD) for that it's-over-before-you-know-it moment with the good doctor.

I'm not saying this pitiable situation is true everywhere in the Philippines. Most likely it's not true for the "high-end" physicians whose clients are, of course, getting what they are paying so much for. But in the provinces, it is. In my case, when I went to see my doctor last Wednesday, I waited for a little over 3 hours before she showed up, and another almost-an-hour wait again before she finally saw me. And all the time, I was feverish, tired, with my nose feeling like it was stuffed with cottons.

Needless to say, the cold medicine cocktails that my doctor prescribed me worked. It was darn expensive, all four medicines. I'm about a thousand and three hundred pesos poorer right now.

Like they say, bawal ang magkasakit sa Pilipinas ngayon. Ha-choo!

Anyway, before I sign off and since I'm on the topic of doctors anyway, I'd like to insert a shameless plug here for my all-time favorite nasty doctor Dr. Gregory House who is currently on the prowl for the next set of elite medical dream team that he can offend, scold and abuse. As of last count, 40 applicants have dared to submit themselves to the grueling, bordering on sadistic "auditions" ala-Survivor style that House will make them go through. It would be fun watching as House breaks them in one by one when Season 4 kicks off on AXN on June 2. Only five will survive. Only the most courageous, brilliant, and practically brain-dead if you ask me, will make it. This is one job interview you don't want to miss :-)

So hard to be yourself (myself)

If there's one thing I learned from tonight's events, it's this: it's so darn hard to be truthful, especially to oneself.

I have for so long believed that I am okay, that I'm fine despite what most people think I was missing in life, that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Tonight though just rammed home the painful truth that I'm not okay, I'm not fine and I'm wishing that I was somewhere else.

It is so strange how simple conversations, a simple bringing up to speed between friends who haven't seen each other in a while, can lead to an emotionally exhausting baring of deep-rooted secrets. You then find out that someone else is walking on the same rocky road. Someone else is carrying the same heavy cross. What's staggering is, that someone turns out to be a really close friend.

I don't know though if this knowledge of a kindred hurting soul will help even the tiniest bit in soothing those unseen open wounds that have long been festering. If it won't, then I don't know what will.

Grrr

I am just so pissed off right now I could probably exhale fire. I’m writing this to let off steam or else I might go ballistic.

In my ten years as a government journalist, nobody has ever accused me of any hanky-panky. Mainly because I’m proud to say my parents have raised me well. I’m not perfect, like the rest of the human populace. I have my own flaws. But I have always gone out of my way to make sure that I never step on anyone’s shoes, never insult anyone even if it is called for, and basically never do anything to cause harm either emotionally or physically to other people.

Today, for the very first time, somebody did.

To add insult to injury, the said accusations were done thru text (an act of cowardice). But there’s an advantage to this, I guess. I can “save” these accusations and use it as proof should the accusing person turn the tables against me later on.

I was, in a nutshell, accused of being unfair, inconsiderate and devious. This person, a "reporter", believed that I was intentionally not sending her the press releases I regularly email to all local reporters every week because she did not pay her debt to my father and my boss on time.

The said accusations basically insinuated that I have, for reasons stated above, let myself be prejudiced by personal matters and in turn, I’m supposedly retaliating by depriving a local “reporter” of press releases.

I don’t know which I should be mad about: that I was accused of being small-minded enough to let such a petty thing affect my work and my dealings with the press, or that I was being insulted by a person who’s a newbie in this business and one who is not exactly popular for reasons that I am decent enough not to blurt out here.

I rarely get mad but in this case where I am insulted and accused of such baloney, I let my temper get the best of me. I shot from the hip and fought back, sending her a long, angry reply.

To make a long “text” story short, she ended up apologizing, almost groveling, for her “line of questioning” but added that I was being “sensitive” about the whole thing as she was just “asking”.

Asking, my foot. I’m not stupid; I know how asking sounds like and her text was far from being one. And I’m being sensitive? Wow, I’ve just been insulted twice!

Should, for some reason, this person I am talking about is you, then I have but one advice to give you:

“It’s better to close your mouth and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Drama!

I had so much drama today. I once remarked that nothing interesting ever happens to me, that my life is too boring to be blogged. What was I thinking?? In fact, so much has happened to me these past weeks but I never had the time to sit down and blog about it. So much to write about, so little time! I never thought that would happen to me!

Today's drama stemmed from the stir caused by a news item I wrote last week. To cut it short, a police officer here somehow landed in hot waters because of what I wrote. I learned from one journalist that the said police officer was told by the local court to explain herself or else be cited for contempt of court. Wow, all this drama just because of one news item.

However, it wasn't my fault as I based my report on a very reliable report released by the Capitol. This is a trustworthy source, no doubt about it. There was no malice involved in the "mix-up," just pure honest mistake, I guess. The kind that can happen to any journalist. The kind that can happen to me.

Every time I release a news item, I always have this fear that somehow I made a mistake somewhere, or misqouted someone, or have all my facts mixed up. I always feel this way, without fail, every Thursday (the day I release all my press releases to all media outlets). So this fear - bordering on paranoia, I admit - pushes me to review my reports once, twice, thrice until I look at the clock and realize I'm just minutes away from my self-imposed deadline.

I've already had some reporters complain to me about this. Yes, my press releases are much awaited by the local press. As much as I would like to say that this is because because I come up with the most newsworthy items, but the truth is most of the local media just don't have much material for their broadcasts or newspapers. So they need as many news items as they can get.

So what did I learn from today's drama? That I'd rather be late in releasing my news items than be sorry. Seeing that one news item can raise so much furor, I can't be too careful enough.

Another lesson learned- always, always attribute statements, especially when it involves sensitive matters. Let's just say that if I had not properly cited my source in the said controversial news item I wrote, then it would be me in hot waters.