Buhay PT

Because I have my new domain. Si queenemzzz na ako. lols.

And for the reason that this is my blog, I will write something productive today, not. lol

Last night I dreamt about my past patients, it's one of those rare times where I can actually remember every tiny bit of it, unconsciously floating in some unknown location inside a super resting state. I guess I can say that I just probably miss working. :-(

I spent 10 whole months as a student rotating around different hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Iloilo. On some locations, I had to wake up really early, then my father would drive me everyday to the stop to catch the six am bus. And though we were strictly taught to keep a thin air of space and distance in between us and the patients, so as not to feel deep sympathy and care for them, it was hard, inevitable. You spend an hour of your day treating them, and you somehow get connected to them. I guess there's just something about Physical Therapists that make the patients open up to them. Most of them would tell me their life stories, their heartaches, joys and disappointments. I try to give them whatever advice my inexperienced life and learned words of wisdom could give. And that they would always tell me that I've helped them get through whatever conditions they were having not just because I give them relief of pain or make them functional again but because I was a great listener. So I would average like six patients a day, and that was thirty amazing conversations in a week. It was not just me, oftentimes my friends and I would get like a gift or tip for taking care of them. I know it's not ethical to accept such things but we were students and somehow we needed the money. lols. The paper works drove us insane but we considered it as a good training and charged it for the experience.

Then I took the board exams and eventually got my license to work professionally there.

I worked at Iloilo Mission Hospital as a volunteer for nearly six months and got home health care assignments five times a week to earn a bit of money. In those times where I felt like I was the queen of my own profession. I wasn't a student anymore waiting for a teacher's plea to clean or fix whatever things they asked me to. It was the time where I got to make my own set of management for the patients, made their short and long term goals at my own expense. I got to talk and explain to their families and gave them the diagnosis and prognosis of the patient. They listened to whatever I had to say, answered questions their questions respectively as far as my intellectual and academic scope could reach. I got to deal with hundreds of people everyday and it was always nice if they sent me gifts.

But nothing can ever compare to the feeling of seeing a certain patient in the ICU, helpless and weak. Then I would visit them everyday, recording every bit of progress they're making as I treated them. One functional goal at a time, one healing second at a time. Then after weeks or months of patience and perseverance, you get to see them stand up and eventually walk. And I'd see their smiles on their faces, somehow thanking me, just priceless.

I had one patient who was too tired and weak to travel for two hours just to get to the hospital three times a week for her rehabilitation session, so I agreed to see her twice a week. What I didn't expect was, transportation was very hard to get to her house. But I loved and cared for her so much that I went through the difficult process of seeing her in her house that it seemed to me was located somewhere in the deeper ends of the mountains. I first had to ride an hour jeepney ride, with broken roads and excessive amount of dust blowing right across your face, under the relentless heat of the sun. Then would walk a fair amount of distance to ride a tricycle. I had to wait for like an hour for the tricycle to be filled with at least ten people for it to eventually go. It was near a supermarket so I had to usually sit beside people smelling like fishes and pork. I didn't complain though because I really wanted to help her. Then finally a 30 minute very bumpy and uncomfortable ride, my head had to hit the metal roof just a few inches higher than my head. Her treatment only lasted for like an hour but I always ended up staying at her house for more than two hours because they would feed me made everything to keep me a bit longer. I think she made a lot of progress from the first time I saw her in the ICU, and hopefully she's now walking! For the months that I've worked with those patients, I got the chance to actually attend some of their important occasions, birthdays and anniversaries.

But I guess I can't do that here, can I?

I had lots of patients back home, some of them I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to when I left.

Some of them passed away and it was always hard to let go, especially when I remember their smiles at me.

Well, I hope they're all reading this and tell them that I've missed them.

pasensya na. Masaya lang mag-drama tuwing gabi ng linggo. LOL