It was a sunny Wednesday (March 19, 2008) morning, EJ and I were preparing – EJ for school and I for work. As part of my preparation, I checked my eyebrows and decided to pluck some excess hair when suddenly I noticed MY EYES WERE YELLOW! I looked closer and closer but the closer I looked, the more I saw that it was yellow. So I called Joey and told him I need to go to the hospital to have a check up.
I sent EJ to school first then off I went to the hospital with 2 friends – Imee (Filipina) and Cathy (Chinese) – both are English teachers like me. I was told to have my blood tests, urinalysis and ultrasound.
If you’re wondering how it was – well here are some things that are different from what we usually do in the Philippines:
1. BLOOD TEST – I was outside the laboratory. They have this lab – but only for workers. Those who are tested just sit outside and there’s just a small window for you to place your arm and they do the procedure. But they did it well.
2. URINE TEST – they just gave me a small container (WIDE OPEN) and asked me to go to the toilet and pee. Then from the toilet, with my urine exposed to the air, I had to bring it back to the laboratory. Then from there they transferred my BROWNISH urine to a small tube – covered one.
3. ULTRASOUND – when we reached the ultrasound station, I was supposed to be the next in line. When it was my turn to get inside, we were told to wait because they had to do the girl who came from the emergency. So I said OK. When the girl was done, I was told to wait again because there was another man from the emergency – so he had to go first. When the man was done, the ultrasound room closed and the one in-charge told us that she had to run to the emergency room for another person to have the ultrasound so we had to wait again. WHEW! I was losing my patience but there was no point getting angry. Besides, I was too hungry to get angry! But when it was my turn, the girl did it quiet well and she made me drink a porridge (which I didn’t like) and did some checking as I was drinking. She also tried to speak English to me and I really appreciated that.
After the tests we went home, had lunch, took a very short rest and then went back to the hospital to get the result.
BLOOD TESTS – My ALT = 1614 (SPECS: 0-54) ; AST = 723 (SPECS: 0-45) and TBIL = 147 (SPECS: 3.4-20). We were told these were main indications of hepatitis. The doctor referred us to go to another hospital to confirm the results and get the treatment.
URINE – the doctor didn’t discuss it but sure it wasn’t good, the color was rust brown!
ULTRASOUND – my gallbladder shrunk a bit. They even said it’s like a balloon that has lost a little of air.
From that hospital we went to Sydney and asked him to call Kongkong Friend, a Chinese doctor that helped EJ when he was sick. So he did and Kongkong Friend also said I need to be hospitalized as it may infect EJ.
Off we went to Jiaxing #1 Hospital and had the lab results confirmed in their HEPATITIS CLINIC. The doctor said I had to stay in the hospital, by all means. They will do series of tests to find out what type of hepatitis I have to give me the appropriate treatment.
So Joey decided that I can’t go home anymore, I have to stay in the hospital without saying goodbye to EJ, not even having to hug him mainly because he might get infected.
I cried – not because I was afraid of my sickness. I was rather sad of the thought that my baby had to sleep without me and wake up not seeing me. This is an unexpected separation so I wasn’t prepared, Joey wasn’t prepared, and EJ wasn’t either. But the best thing to do was separating from him for a while. As a mother, I would rather suffer the pain of not seeing him for several days rather than seeing him suffer because he got infected. It was a tough decision but I needed to comply to that requirement.
I thank God that all these happened in a time where I had friends here. Imee and Cathy are taking good care of EJ after his school. Joey took care of EJ at bedtime until he goes to school. Teacher Cathy took care of me the first 2 days to make sure things were put in place. God is awesome. Yes I have this hepatitis thing, but I couldn’t blame God for this. I can just thank him for providing extra hearts, extra hands and feet – to make sure things will work out smoothly. It’s times like these you get to see the beauty of God’s hand moving by bringing the right people at the right time. God is faithful – He always had been and always will be…
I sent EJ to school first then off I went to the hospital with 2 friends – Imee (Filipina) and Cathy (Chinese) – both are English teachers like me. I was told to have my blood tests, urinalysis and ultrasound.
If you’re wondering how it was – well here are some things that are different from what we usually do in the Philippines:
1. BLOOD TEST – I was outside the laboratory. They have this lab – but only for workers. Those who are tested just sit outside and there’s just a small window for you to place your arm and they do the procedure. But they did it well.
2. URINE TEST – they just gave me a small container (WIDE OPEN) and asked me to go to the toilet and pee. Then from the toilet, with my urine exposed to the air, I had to bring it back to the laboratory. Then from there they transferred my BROWNISH urine to a small tube – covered one.
3. ULTRASOUND – when we reached the ultrasound station, I was supposed to be the next in line. When it was my turn to get inside, we were told to wait because they had to do the girl who came from the emergency. So I said OK. When the girl was done, I was told to wait again because there was another man from the emergency – so he had to go first. When the man was done, the ultrasound room closed and the one in-charge told us that she had to run to the emergency room for another person to have the ultrasound so we had to wait again. WHEW! I was losing my patience but there was no point getting angry. Besides, I was too hungry to get angry! But when it was my turn, the girl did it quiet well and she made me drink a porridge (which I didn’t like) and did some checking as I was drinking. She also tried to speak English to me and I really appreciated that.
After the tests we went home, had lunch, took a very short rest and then went back to the hospital to get the result.
BLOOD TESTS – My ALT = 1614 (SPECS: 0-54) ; AST = 723 (SPECS: 0-45) and TBIL = 147 (SPECS: 3.4-20). We were told these were main indications of hepatitis. The doctor referred us to go to another hospital to confirm the results and get the treatment.
URINE – the doctor didn’t discuss it but sure it wasn’t good, the color was rust brown!
ULTRASOUND – my gallbladder shrunk a bit. They even said it’s like a balloon that has lost a little of air.
From that hospital we went to Sydney and asked him to call Kongkong Friend, a Chinese doctor that helped EJ when he was sick. So he did and Kongkong Friend also said I need to be hospitalized as it may infect EJ.
Off we went to Jiaxing #1 Hospital and had the lab results confirmed in their HEPATITIS CLINIC. The doctor said I had to stay in the hospital, by all means. They will do series of tests to find out what type of hepatitis I have to give me the appropriate treatment.
So Joey decided that I can’t go home anymore, I have to stay in the hospital without saying goodbye to EJ, not even having to hug him mainly because he might get infected.
I cried – not because I was afraid of my sickness. I was rather sad of the thought that my baby had to sleep without me and wake up not seeing me. This is an unexpected separation so I wasn’t prepared, Joey wasn’t prepared, and EJ wasn’t either. But the best thing to do was separating from him for a while. As a mother, I would rather suffer the pain of not seeing him for several days rather than seeing him suffer because he got infected. It was a tough decision but I needed to comply to that requirement.
I thank God that all these happened in a time where I had friends here. Imee and Cathy are taking good care of EJ after his school. Joey took care of EJ at bedtime until he goes to school. Teacher Cathy took care of me the first 2 days to make sure things were put in place. God is awesome. Yes I have this hepatitis thing, but I couldn’t blame God for this. I can just thank him for providing extra hearts, extra hands and feet – to make sure things will work out smoothly. It’s times like these you get to see the beauty of God’s hand moving by bringing the right people at the right time. God is faithful – He always had been and always will be…
March 22, 2008
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