The once homeless and recovering alcoholic Ted Williams on a second chance in life

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God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me. ~Author Unknown

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(Before (as homeless alcoholic) and after
Photo credit: NY daily news)

I am so touched with Ted Williams’ story. Williams’ story is “the epitome of how dreams can come true in the internet age”. And yes, practically overnight. What makes it even more touching is he left a life of alcoholism and drugs two and a half years ago.

I am such a sucker for stories that deal with the theme of “second chances”. Two days ago, the web got introduced to Ted Williams, a 53 year old homeless recovering alcoholic. The Ohio area man held up a sign that read he had the “God-given gift of a great voice” and he was willing to share it with anyone who could donate some change. In exchange for a few coins, his patrons get a treat to sound bites of his bottomless, buttery, baritone voice.

I’ve seen homeless men on the side of the road in my recent US visit and it often piqued my curiosity on the words they scribbled down on that piece of paper. It must have been Ted’s lucky day because a kind patron encountered Williams on the highway , uploaded a video of Williams using his golden voice. The video turned out to be viral hit on YouTube with 9,871,461 hits as of January 5,2010. As a result of the video’s success and the former homeless man’s perfect voice, the Cleveland Cavaliers offered him a job as a full-time announcer for the Cavaliers and even offered him a house.

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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.

The spirit of Santa Claus

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Tired from aimlessly walking around the Eastwood mall, I sat by the door with my daughter while waiting for Butch to pick me up. Who would drop by in front of me but this friendly Santa Claus who then chirped “Hello” with a gleaming smile. I smiled back at him and asked for a photo. Snap…

santa claus and my wishlist

Santa Claus is so much a part of my childhood memories. Feeling like a kid, I wanted so much to have a photo shoot with Santa Claus again. My overweight dad was often chosen to wear Santa Claus costume during children’s parties. I was five years old when I first caught daddy playing Santa Claus in parties. He was dressed all in red and white fur, from his head to his foot. A bundle of toys flung on his back, and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. As he handed me a gift, I saw his wedding ring and my eyes beamed “Daddy is Santa Claus”. He pretended not to hear me but I knew. For some reason, I still believed in Santa Claus.

I stopped believing Santa Claus was real by the age of seven. It was my sister Lorna who told me that she caught dad placing gifts by the bed. For some reason, I was not disappointed. In my child’s mind, daddy is the real Santa Claus.

It’s always good for us to pause
And think awhile of Santa Claus–
That jolly symbol we revere
When we approach the changing year.
Behind his beard so long and white,
In which our children take delight,
There beats a heart from color free
Which bids all children “come to me.”
MARSHALL M. MORGAN, “The Spirit of Santa Claus

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Finding the right school for your child

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“No one school is right for every child. When searching for a school for your child, the question is not whether a particular school is good or bad, but whether it’s the right school for your child. You might ask the school, ‘What is your definition of a successful child at this school?’ or ‘What kind of child would find success here?'” David Harris

school-dayIt must have been two years ago that I told my daughter to write a guest post in my blog on bullying. She didn’t hesitate to share her experience to my readers because doing so will raise awareness to parents that their kids should never ever be bullied at school.

One thing I do know is that a lot of the insecurities I have about myself is rooted in the fact that I got bullied a lot during my early elementary school years….they pass it off as play, or maybe an early life lesson: the world can be a terrible place filled with people who will treat you with undeserved cruelty. I do understand that kids have to grow up and learn that hard lesson someday, but I think anyone under the age of ten is too young to deal with that much reality. At that age, it’s important for children to learn to accept or at least respect people for exactly who they are instead of making fun of their differences. What kind of lesson will be passed on to them if their elders shrug off bullying as something totally normal?

Her reflection of her bullying experience just tore me apart. I felt so helpless because during those days, children just had to deal with bullies. I considered moving schools but all the schools in the nineties were just Montessori-imitations or the usual large traditional schools. Parents are fortunate these days because they face a wide range of options aside from traditional Catholic schools that I attended to. Take for example, homeschooling that my friends, Jen and Julie are doing to their young kids. Then there are the non-traditional schools , the alternative to traditional schools.

As a mom blogger, I get a chance to visit non-traditional schools and check out their curriculum and programs. This is an opportunity to share these information to my readers and for them to discern if this is the right school for their child.
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Meralco lights up Christmas for kids from 1 to 92

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Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.– Ruth Carter Stapleton

Christmas lights always gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that glows inside for the entire season. It brings me so much joy. Childhood memories of twinkling lights and Christmas carols are enough to lift my spirits during the holiday season. Through the years that I lived in Pasig, the lights in the Meralco compound never fails to mesmerize me as the car passes by.

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It never occurred to me that Meralco has been opening its gates to the public for a long time now, giving delight to kids from ages 1 to 92. Yes, not just young kids but kids at heart like me. I didn’t have to think twice being invited together with other bloggers to witness the Christmas lighting tonight.

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CEO Manny Pangilinan together with other very important guests marked the lighting event. For Meralco, lighting up their Ortigas compound symbolizes the light of Jesus Christ whose coming to the world brings joy and hope to the young and old.
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Gratitude is the memory of the heart

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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

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I am right now in Cebu. I am beginning to love this place. There is still something missing about Cebu that makes me sad. Perhaps because I often travel to Cebu just to bury a family member. Just when I made peace with the deaths of family members, another chaos ensued after a class reunion, then a death of a classmate. Making sense out of a chaotic situation is futile especially if the door is shut in front of you.

A conversation from a dear friend tonight jolted me out of chaos when she said that “there are more important relationships that need responding to just like what you have just done; gving comfort to parents who lost a child.”
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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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