Life-changing

With all the health articles that's been going around lately, I got inspired to write this post to share what I went though 2 years ago. It was the first time I was hospitalized and to undergo a major surgery at that! This is gonna be a long, but very meaningful and personal post. Remember, I warned you! :D

I guess it all started with me taking advantage of freebies. As an employee in a multinational company, I had HMO benefit via Medicard, meaning maraming FREEBIES!!! Free annual check-up, doctor consultations, dental stuff, etc. I noticed the symptoms when I was in college, but everyone, even my mom, said it's nothing and that it's normal. I sometimes had bleeding in-between periods (TMI, I know but for the purposes of sharing my experiences to help other people, go lang ng go). At dahil may free check-up, I told myself, why not? Wala naman mawawala and it's FREE! I underwent ultrasound and lo and behold, I have something in BOTH my ovaries. My left ovary was polycystic and my right ovary had a big dermoid cyst (around 6-7cm). (According to Wikipedia, a dermoid cyst is a systic teratoma that contains developmentally mature skin complete with hair follicles and sweat glands, sometimes clumps of long hair, and often pockets of sebum, blood, fat, yada-yada... you get the picture.)

The doctor told me that I had to undergo surgery instead of waiting for it to grow bigger and twist on its own. As it was, the cyst already took up a chunk of my ovary, stealing space from my normal ovarian cells. :( It was December 2011 and I was just 23 years old. I was alone when I had the check-up kasi akala ko normal lang, weeeelll... JOKE'S ON ME! But seriously, I was really, really scared. I went back to my office in tears. Looking back, medyo nakakahiya pinagtitinginan ako ng mga tao but I was just plain SCARED. I didn't know how to tell my parents and boyfriend. Syempre as we grow older, we have less chances of giving birth, so ako mas lalong less chance. I wasn't ready to be a mom yet, but the thought of not having a baby really scared me...

I visited other doctors but they all said the same thing... I was scared, my parents were scared (I was the eldest), my boyfriend was scared... We were all scared. Nakakaawa pa ko lalo because I'm super thin!

I scheduled the operation last June 2012 and I was a nervous wreck a month before the operation. Talagaing naiisip ko siya before I sleep, when I work, taking a bath... umaga hanggang gabi. But, being my normal self, I made light of the situation by looking at the bright side. Like when I "checked in" with my mom, I posted the photo below in Facebook. Cool, right? St. Luke's gave away "baller IDs and loot bags"! HAHAHA!

But a few hours away from the operation, di na talaga keri ng sunny self ko, aaminin kong kabado na talaga ako, and since it was my first time to get hospitalized, everything was new. I didn't know what to expect. Ang masasabi ko lang, ang hirap magsuot ng hospital gown (why is it even called that???) at ang sakit ng dextrose and skin test! :'( Good thing all my St. Luke's nurses were very gentle and nice.

Just to forget about the operation, I logged on to social networking sites (thank you to free wi-fi) and looked at my phone's photo album. I had this habit of saving inspirational messages kasi. When I saw this particluar message, it really stopped me. As in talagang napatigil ako at napa-isip and somehow, it wiped ALL my nervousness and worry away. Talagang wala. Zero. Nada. Zilch. WALA. At that point, I realized there's no use worrying and that I just had to leave everything up to God.

Photo: --- (Got it from a random site waaay back. Let me know if this photo is yours so I can credit accordingly)

I really had a lot to be thankful to God for:

1.Great job with great benefits - I'm not the type to have myself checked up regularly. Honestly, if not for the free check-ups, I wouldn't even have bothered with an OB visit. Plus, they shouldered all the costs. I only paid like 3,000 out of the almost 100,000 hospital fees. That's a big help, especially to my parents.

2. Early detection - Kinda related to the 1st one, buti nalang talaga because detecting it at a later point in my life might have a more lasting consequece (ie. no kids). Imagine if I just chalked it up to "weird but normal girl thing" lang...

3. Great doctors - my OB, Marietta Sapaula. was one of the best in St. Luke's. She's the OB of most of my officemates. See, talagang meant to be diba?! It's like God placed me in that company, at that specific time just so I can reap these benefits. (insert here: God loves me talaga!) It helped that she was a Christian like me. We even prayed together before the operation. My anesthesiologist was also great, very friendly and machika to the point na pag kausap mo siya, parang wala lang yung surgery pero pag uwi mo, you'll realize "Ay shucks, nakakatakot pala!".

4. Minimal scars - my OB did laparoscopy on me (3 small "holes": one on the left side, one on the right, then they inserted the camera in my bellybutton). Faster recovery, more affordable option and I can still proudly wear my bikini teehee! By the way, it's not true that you can go back to your regular activities in 2 weeks. Kuba pa ko up to 3 1/2 weeks 'coz it was still a bit painful. Best to take at least 1 month leave from work.

5. Successful operation and recovery = another life :) - I won't lie, it was a hard and painful process. But support form my friends and family really helped. Nakakainis lang kasi ang hirap tumawa, parang nag-sit ups ng 100x!!! Haha! I had a hard time laughing, coughing and sneezing. Plus, I lost the few precious pounds I gained from weight training :( But oh well.

I actually have a LOT more to be thankful for but yan ung pinaka-tumatak talaga. Now, in situations that are less than desirable (painful, stressful, etc), I always think, "Sus, na-operahan na ko! Na-skin test na ko noh! Chicken lang to, keribels! God's behind me all the way, highway! (pagbigyan na) Ha, take that!" hahahaha!

Told ya this was a pretty long post but if I was able to help ease the pain for at least 1 person out there, then good job to me! :)

Few recommendations:

✓  Know your employee benefits beforehand and research! Some examples: HMO, PhilHealth, leave types your company offers - note that we now have a Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710). Aside from the usual maternity leave, this law also gives us a leave of up to 60 days for gynecological reasons.

✓  Always get second and third opinions in both results and recommended surgical procedures.

✓  Don't be shy to ask. This is your health (and money!) we're talking about. Wala ng hiya hiya!

✓  Wag mag-feeling na marunong magsuot ng hospital gown. If you don't know how to put it on, ask help to prevent mishaps and boo-boos! Went though a lot of check ups and even stayed in the hospital for 3 days, yet I still don't know how to put on that damn gown.

✓  Pray :) If God is for you, who can be against you? :)

Feel free to hit me up for additional queries :)