LGBT kids and teens: Tomorrow Will Be Better

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We are all different, but we must embrace and respect our differences. We must come together through the very emotion that makes us human: love. US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr.at at the LGBT Pride Month Reception

What a long but productive day. I treated my family for lunch in celebration of my 54th birthday because I wanted to attend the dinner reception of US Ambassador Henry K. Thomas Jr. in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month in the USA. President Barrack Obama proclaimed June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. It is about time our country also take initiative to stop the hate and homophobic attitude. Last year, I was shocked and saddened by the suicides by young American kids who were bullied for being gay. I often wonder the extent of our Filipino LGBT kids who suffer bullying. Is our school system supportive? Is our society even supportive?

The US administration is taking steps to engage with LGBT communities even outside the USA. The Philippines can certainly learn a thing or two here.

The message is important. The Ambassador started off his speech with “I am gay.

I am gay.

I am gay.

Three little words.

Six letters.

Three syllables.

It is not a phrase that trips the tongue. It is not a phrase that should take lifetimes to utter.”

One need not be ashamed to say if one is gay, or lesbian . There is no need for condemnation. There has been so much discrimination on the basis of gender identity and bullying on young LGBT kids. President Obama adds that ” No one should be harmed because of who they are or who they love, and my Administration has mobilized unprecedented public commitments from countries around the world to join in the fight against hate and homophobia.”

I cannot imagine how many LGBT kids and teens hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. “Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can’t imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted — even tortured — simply for being themselves.”

I approached the ambassador for a photo op after the reception. After all, I gave up dinner celebration to attend his reception at his Makati residence. Ambassador Thomas laughed at my request and thought I should have given a dinner blowout instead of him.

But guess what? I celebrated with Melo Esguerra whose birthday is also June 14 and Harold Geronimo who celebrated a day before.

Now lying in bed, I read through the message of President Obama and searched for more information on US support of LGBT. What struck me most is the “It gets better project”. While many of these teens couldn’t see a positive future for themselves the, “It Gets Better Project” was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years.

Maybe one day, a similar initiative can be organized to help our LGBT kids and remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone — and it WILL get better.

It was Chronic Calculous Cholecystitis with Choledocholithiasis

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butch-and-me

What a mouthful of a tongue twister! Chronic Calculous Cholecystitis with Choledocholithiasis simply means Inflammation of the gall bladder with dislodged gall stones. That was the diagnosis when I got my medical certificate after being discharged from Medical City. The operation itself called for Open Cholecystectomy with IOC, Common Biliary Duct (CBD) Exploration Tube drainage. I stayed in the hospital for 8 days.
gall-bladder-operation
Everything happened so fast on December 22 at the emergency room of the Medical City which is close to our home. I didn’t realize surgery was an option. This pain I was told is due to bilary colic, a dislodged gall stone causing me pain. My liver, pancreas enzymes, were elevated. My blood sugar shot up to 379 due to body stress. My surgeon said he will try laproscopy with open surgery as the last course of action, However, he changed his mind after assessing my lab results. Open surgery was decided late at night of December 22 due to my elevated enzymes.

Since I wasn’t prepared for my surgery, it gave me little time to research on my ailment. All of the materials online were from medical bulletins or rehash of previous web content. I decided to share my personal experience to add to all the medical materials scattered online for those that need more information on gall bladder removal and common bile duct exploration. Remember, this is my personal experience and will vary depending on lab results and the overall assessment of the doctors.

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Open surgery to remove a dislodged gallstone

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hospitalThe abdominal pain started last December 16 but after a massage, the pain was gone. Then that sunday, my sister in law told me she has gallstones. As she described her symptions, it sounded like mine. So on Monday, I visited Philcare, my HMO for 23 years. An ultrasound of my abdomen on Tuesday showed I had 5 stones which were only .33 cm and didn’t need surgery, however my blood tests showed I had bacterial infection.

The extreme pain started at 10:00 AM today. I cannot describe the excruciating pain. Cold sweat was all over my body. There was no way the pain would go away even with two Buscopan pills. By 11:30, my husband drove me to the emergency room. There were so many people in the ER that I wasn’t attended to at once. I begged for pain reliever. The gave me IV for abdominal pain. The pain refused to go away. They tried Demerol. Pain still didn’t go away. I asked for more and the doctor gave me higher dose of Demerol which relieved me but only for 3 hours.

The gastroenterlogist assessed the problem to be biliary colic probably due to gall bladder stones. Repeat ultrasound was done this afternoon–distended gall bladder found. Doctor thinks a small stone could have lodged in the common bile duct this morning.

This pain I was told is due to a dislodged gall stone. My liver, pancreas enzymes, were elevated. My blood sugar shot up to 379 due to body stress. My surgeon says he will try laproscopy with open surgery as the last course of action. Then change of plans..it will be open surgery just when the pain and tenderness is totally gone.

What gives? I told attending doctors to please check my blood sugar as it is still high and might not be ideal for surgery.

I am a bit sad that I won’t get to meet M who is flying in from Australia. Butch will stay with me. L will fly as scheduled.

Surgery is scheduled at 8:00 AM 12 noon, December 23. I hope they find the dislodged stone and that I recover fast.

Let’s take control of diabetes. Now.

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285 million people have Diabetes. That is 6.6% of the world’s adult population.

I am one of them.

diabetes-control

Let me tell you my story.

I was diagnosed of Diabetes on June 2000 a month after my beloved son died. I desired to have another baby at some point so I got a thorough medical checkup. The diagnosis should not have stopped me from having another baby but I felt I needed to have my diabetes under control. I was given Solosa (2 mg) and metformin (500 mgs after meal). Overweight at 145 pounds then, my blood sugar was pretty high at 180 mg/dl. Perhaps it was because of my deep sadness over my son’s death that I had no desire to take care of myself. I struggled with my overweight body until there came a time that my blood pressure shot up to 160/90 which seemed so scary. My stress test showed distressing results that the doctor thought I needed Angioplasty. An angiogram revealed no major arteries were blocked. Phew what a relief.
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Committed to a healthy lifestyle

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There is no other choice. Choose a healthy lifestyle. I am diabetic and though my blood sugar is controlled, my cholesterol level is quite high. It is a genetic predisposition that my siblings continue to battle daily. I have removed pork and beef in my diet but still struggle with high cholesterol levels.

My new-found friend, Jean Goulbourn invited me to try her other advocacy for the weekend and to take a walk in the path of natural healing and enter a journey into optimum well being. Her company, Global Vital Source (GVS) had this weekend session in New World Hotel, which was called the called the digestive clean-up or DCU, part of the Clean and Nourish regimen that GVS offers. We were a large group of 34 but eager to know more of

Digestive clean up is akin to an internal spa. It is supposed to be a natural method of cleansing the body. It is a detoxification method of cleansing that causes the discharge of accumulated toxic matter from the digestive tract, liver and gall bladder.

Two days before, I received a text message to refrain from coffee and fatty foods. Vegetarian diet was suggested. At around 8:00 PM the night before my weekend overnight, I had to fast. No food or water. Off I went to the venue, the New World Hotel in Makati, at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. The GVS staff were already there ready to take our weight , blood pressure, waist measurement and materials. A medical technologist took blood samples for blood chemistry.
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Is there life after high school?

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The Groovies, my high school classmates (circa St Theresa’s College Cebu 1974) once again got into the groove of bonding moments. There were reasons to celebrate. Our class salutatorian, Deirdra came home from New Jersey for a visit. Birthday celebrants needed to make a wish and the groovies from Manila missed Cebu. You know, I look forward to these small reunions. Groovies remind me that we are still cool and awesome despite the passage of time. I draw inspiration from classmates that still manage to look good.

Marget Fernan-Villarica not only hosted the party but our stay as well in her lovely, comfy home. Our current president, Nerissa Soon-Ruiz gave this brilliant idea of auctioning off our give-aways to raise funds for our batch project. What fun!

Tess, the preceding batch president told me to write an article for our Coral reunion last year. It is only this year that I got to read the printed version of the STC Annual 2009.

Here it is:

Is there life after high school? To be honest, I was relieved when my high school graduation ceremony ended. In high school, I was a painfully shy, mediocre student with average grades (as in 81 to 85). I often felt intimidated by the smart and outspoken girls. You know how it is in high school – there are the popular girls and the invisible girls. I was one of the invisible girls but I was lucky enough to have a few friends who made me feel like I belonged to a group.

So do people ever recover from that intense high school social experience? Some don’t. They spend the rest of their lives trying to justify what they were, or were not, in high school. This is why high school reunions are so emotional, especially the first one. I declined to attend the 25th High School class of 1974 reunion because I was not ready to face that dreaded high school experience once again. Coupled with five deaths of family members in Cebu, I felt Cebu was just bad news for me and going home was not an option at that point.
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