What Late?

Not to boast but I'm not the type of person who arrives late at class/work. Since I was a kid, I was trained by my parents on avoiding tardiness. Even until my residency, I haven't gotten tired of that habit. Of course, you cannot avoid unexpected incidents (like car radiator going up which eats up a lot of time or very very heavy traffic) but those were just rare occasions. My colleagues will start to wonder that something did happen to me along the way. To quote a colleague, "Bihira lang ako ma-late." I'm a professional, and it starts at arriving on time.

With my present work, there's a rule imposed that tardiness will be sanctioned through salary deduction to encourage us to arrive on time. There was no "grace period".  Since I started there, I didn't receive any salary deductions due to tardiness. There were occasional days that I logged-in between 8:01 to 8:10 am (the latest) but I guess they were okay with it. There's just this 1 incident when I was late because of car radiator problem. I informed a colleague and a nurse by phone that I will be arriving late. I logged-in at 8:18 am. I thought "One time lang naman, hindi naman habitual. Baka pwede pa nila akong pagbigyan since may dahilan naman ako." And with my overtime hours, I guess makakabawi ako.

When I saw my payslip for the second half of December via email, I was shocked to see that I had 251 minutes (equivalent to more than 4 hours) tardiness. Almost P1000 was deducted from my salary. What?! Where did that come from? My colleagues and even the staff were surprised when I told them about it. I called our Payroll division to clarify/verify that. It turns out that the accountant was wrong about my actual clinic schedule. For 2 days (wednesday and friday mornings), she assumed that my log-in time was at 7 am but my actual time-in is at 8 am. So when I logged in at 7:59 am, she thought I was 59 minutes late. She repeated that pattern for the other days. Thus tallying to 251 minutes late. Right then & there, I corrected her by giving her my actual clinic schedule. Surprisingly, that's the first time I encountered it. If she's unaware of my actual clinic schedule, why didn't it happen before or during the first few months? Why only now? She told me that she'll give back the amount (that was deducted) on the next pay. Dapat lang! Sayang din yun.

Prayer Answered

I just received the best christmas gift ever... Never mind that it arrived early.

I passed the Diplomate Exams! Woot!

My batchmate and I were going nuts since yesterday about the results. I was hesitant in calling the PAFP office to learn the result. I was so scared, anxious. While I was having my usual clinic hours in the morning at a big industry, little did I know that there was a text message going around about the results of the exams. My batchmate called me over my mobile phone, she was frantic and I could barely understand what she was telling me. I was also distracted because I had a patient/employee in front of me at the same time. Keeping my professionalism, I told her I'm quite busy and I hanged up. After 30 minutes, another female colleague (junior co-resident) called me & greeted me "Congratulations!" Coincidentally at that moment, I didn't had a patient so I talked with her for a while. She told me about the text message. I was puzzled because I haven't received any other text message that morning. She said that according to the text, my batchmate and I passed! I swear I wanted to shout for joy right then and there. But I still had doubts, maybe it was a hoax. After our conversation, my inbox was flooded with messages saying "Congrats!" It was around 10am that I received a forwarded text message stating that we indeed passed the exams. The original message was sent by 1 of the national directors of the Academy and a former specialty board member. My doubts were cast aside and I felt relieved. I told the good news to my family and my boyfriend. Everyone's happy for me.

Aside from my batchmate, I also greeted 1 of my co-workers (had residency at Veterans Memorial Medical Center) for passing the exams. I'm extremely happy to share the same joy with them, relief that we won't go through the same hardships all over again.

Can't wait to wear those togas during the Annual Convention next year. And I'm psyched to add 5 initials to my name - DPAFP.

I just wish my professional fee also goes up. Haha! :p

SGV Fun Run

My youngest sister invited me to join a fun run organised by her employer, SGV. For this year, this is the 2nd "fun run" we joined together. The run happened in the grounds of SM MOA but it was a rainy start. I thought the run was going to be suspended but the organisers decided to push through. Thankfully, the rains stopped before the race started.

The roads were damp, the air was cold, and it was cloudy. Thank goodness, or else I'd be looking hard for a sunscreen. With new, comfy running shoes (ahem!), it was a good day for running. Not to mention, it was a long weekend. So I didn't mind the muscle sores that will happen after.

My sister ran ahead of me, but I didn't care. I alternated my jogging with walking and occasional brisk walking. Nevertheless, I crossed the finish line and she was waiting for me. I asked her if our gap was long. She said it was less than 5 minutes. After a few drinks, we headed back to our car and went home.

I'm not a fitness buff but I'm glad to run again. I just wish I had the luxury of time to run more often.

RIP, Grandma Regina P. Lopez

July 27, 2011
Around 1pm

While having lunch with my youngest sister somewhere in Pasig, I got a call from my younger sister informing me of an unusual situation back at home. She was called firsthand via mobile phone by our helpers that our grandmother was found unresponsive in her bed. I told her to bring her to the nearest hospital immediately and we will follow them. At that time, my parents were also somewhere else but they were also informed about the situation. 1 hour later, I arrived at the hospital. Our grandma was being attended to by the emergency physicians on-duty. Being a physician myself, I told them about her past medical history - diabetic for more than 15 years, controlled, not on any insulin therapy nor oral hypoglycemic agents, had stroke around 2003 with left-sided residual weakness, had upper gastro-intestinal bleeding due to aspirin intake, transfused with 2 (I think) bags of packed red blood cells, admitted at another private hospital last year due to complicated urinary tract infection. The ER physician also told me his working impressions - another episode of stroke, possibility of heart attack (NSTEMI/non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction), Pneumonia in the elderly. I saw my grandma intubated, but with stable vital signs, yet still unresponsive and a high capillary blood glucose level. I was also told that she must be admitted at the intensive care unit/ICU but I didn't give my consent. Instead, I told them I had to wait for my mom & will ask her. I doubt she'll agree with it. Moments later, my parents arrived and they went to the Admitting section to get a room. Not surprised, my mom didn't consent for my grandma to stay at the ICU. She opted to hire a private bedside nurse instead. 3 hours later after arriving, we finally settled in 1 of the private rooms in the hospital. And we hoped, prayed for her recovery.


July 28, 2011 to August 3, 2011

I always visited her at the hospital on my way home from work. There were moments that she was "going down" and I had a feeling that we will not be able to bring her back home alive. My mom decided to bring her home to her original home town, even if it meant travelling by ambulance for many hours. My mom's relatives arranged for my grandma's transportation and transfer of hospital. On her last night at the hospital in Manila, I realised that probably it was the last time I'll see her alive. She was transferred after midnight. She was accompanied by my parents and another relative on the maternal side.


August 4, 2011
AM

When I woke up for work, my dad left me messages on my mobile phone, giving me updates about their travel and grandma's condition. It seemed that she was "stable" during the entire travel. They finally arrived at another hospital by 9am. They were attended to, immediately brought inside a room. I thought everything was going to be okay.

12noon

I got a text message again from dad. The content was what I dreaded for - grandma joined our Creator. I was stunned, distracted from work. I informed our friends, other relatives about it. Details regarding the wake and interment followed suit.

She was 86 years old.


I went home (with my youngest sister) to Ilocos night before her interment. When we arrived early morning, everyone was in frenzy and we were extremely busy. No time to catch up for some sleep. Mass was at 8am, followed by the procession to the cemetery, the burial rites, and finally lunch at her place. We headed to the beach for awhile at high noon for a ceremonial "cleansing" and letting go. Of course, we had to put lots of sunscreens on ourselves. Then back again at the house for bathing.

(My younger sister stayed behind in Manila because she was reviewing for the Physicians' Licensure Examinations. Thankfully, the results turned out to be great.)

The activities didn't stop there. Since we had guests from Manila, we toured them in Vigan, ate empanadas, bought lots of souvenirs. By night, I was so tired. Since I was also headed back home, I decided to sleep in the bus. I was in Ilocos for less than 24hours.

Tomorrow is her supposed to be 87th birthday. We will still celebrate it, like she's still alive.

We will celebrate her "40 days death anniversary" on 13 September 2011. I'm not sure if I was going to Ilocos because of work. But I'll try to file for a 2-day leave.