The Last Mon Standing

I’ve been reading the newly constructed Slovenian Big Brother English website and I went to the forum.

I noticed that one of the hottest issue in the forum was about if Bruce would have sex inside the Slovenian house… if you’ll read the posted entries (which was written by the way mostly by Filipinos) they contain mostly of how Big Brother Philippines is different from the Slovenian, how “modesty” is carried out inside the Philippines and how proud we Filipinos are in having such a sensitive house and a morally upright TV program.

However, is this really the case?

I mean, when ABS-CBN first launched Pinoy Big Brother, did they really plan it to be this… this… uhm… should we say reserved compare to other foreign Big Brother houses?

(Phot taken from www.grabeh.com/forum)

During the first season, the very first episodes of Pinoy Big Brother ran mostly on how the new housemates get undressed and dressed. Shower times were also aired. ABS CBN I should say followed the “liberated” trend of other houses around the globe that it even raved in the commercials about the controversial kissing scenes of Sam and Chx prior to its airing. They were in fact too excited to have the luau party (where the incident happened) aired. And I even remember that Big Brother even gave the housemates two bottles of red wine to get drunk and of course to start getting nasty. But after the suspension given by the MTRCB and the public cry for a cleaner primetime show, they started cleaning up their show and Big Brother became outright strict about what is appropriate and not, and they also started doing those charity tasks.

(Phot taken from http://www.chikadora.com)

This sudden image change was even seen in Pinoy Big Brother’s use of its logos, the Big Brother logo and the “Eye”.

Besides the famous blue, oblong logo with the phrase “Big Brother” (Gran Hermano in Spanish Speaking countries) each Big Brother program sports its distinct eye logo. The eye I guess represents the no-privacy nature of each house… in short it symbolizes VOYEURISM.

As Pinoy Big Brother tries to clean up its image, Kuya also thought that the logo has to go. They almost have it deleted during the Celebrity edition and was not even seen during the Teen edition. And yeah, I only saw it last Saturday night when Tina entered the house. She stepped on it on the stage when the co-hosts, Bianca and Mariel, ushered her to Toni. They removed it even on their website. You cannot even fiind by Yahoo!.

It is like clearing out the eye for a cleaner view.

I am now interning (my sked is from 2-10 PM) in this Private Hospital that cater mostly to pregnant (they do not allow interns in Delivery Room though) and children.

I’ve been there load of times and I have some significantly funny experiences there.

One time our Clinical Instructor told us that we may have our dinner. After I’ve put away my Nursing paraphernalia I thought of playing a prank on my female groupmates.

The guys are always the first ones to leave the hospital because we were not donned with caps and aprons that should only be worn inside the hospital. While the girls were busy fixing themselves, I hid on a corner of this corridor where they are coming from. I was vis-vis the Nursing station so the nurses there know that i was hiding to startle them. I cautiously pinned my self on the wall and waited for the girl’s shadows to show. I was a bit impatient but of course just like any prank, timing and patience are the perfect ingredients for success.

So I waited until i heard footstep coming. I watched closely the floor for their shadows and it was coming nearer. The nurses on the Nurse Station were observing me and were grinning. When I finally thought that the shadow was near enough I jumped in front of the person and yell to startle them. But to my horror, it was my Clinical instructor, and she was indeed startled. As she jumped backward, i immediately hugged her to my embarrrassasment and said i was so sorry. My classmates who were just exiting our area saw us and were laughng. The Nurses at the Nurse station was hysterical. And i was so ashamed. Thank goodness our CI is game and nice and just laughed at us and told me to have my dinner.

12:00AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I woke up to join my sister watching a late primetime show.

12:30AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I went too bed while a commercial was playing. Then the moment I heard the show resumed I hurriedly went back to my seat and I felt a generalized pain on my abdomen which easily subsided to a more localized one. The pain radiated from the left lower quadrant of my abdomen to my umbilicus and to my epigastric region. I thought i was experiencing gas so i told my sister. But the sensation increased until i thought of acute appendicitis.

12:45AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I read my notes and my Smeltzer and Bare textbook. I carefully assesed my self. The pain originates at the McBurney’s point, exactly what the book says. However, I was negative of rovsing’s sign. I thought that the pain might be something caused by a kidney problem but I disregarded the suspicion because the origin of pain is very discernible.

I was already crying. Knowing that I could die if this was Appendicitis really heightened my fears. I do not want to undergo any surgical procedure, especially to go naked in front of my professors while lying on the OR table.

I stirred my father and told him that I might be having appendicitis. He felt me and told me that i was sweating profiously, that time I felt terribly cold and nauseated. My father massaged my back as I explained to him the Pathophysiology of the disease and the sole management-APPENDECTOMY. It was amazing how alert I was that time. I wasn’t panicking and I was explaining things to my father though each time I moved the pain pierces my tummy and the fear of undergoing a surgery grew.

Then i felt like throwing up so i ran to the bathroom. I puked twice and I waited if the pain would subside. My father is already changing his clothes for the hospital.

I told my father to sleep that I would just observe my self and for further progress of the pain. Actually, i was still hoping that it was not Appendicitis. He asked me if i was sure, I said yes. I went back to bed.

1:00AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I was still awake and i started bargaining with God about how i would start going to church if… if… but i stopped the bargain and told him that I dont want to die nor do I want to have the surgery. I told him i was sorry for everything though i candidly admitted that I am not sure if I really mean every single word I said. I fell asleep. My sister was still watching the wretched Television.

03:30AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I woke up because my father was preparing the breakfast and fell asleep again.

06:00AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. My father went to my bedside and asked me what my decision. I told him that I was still observing and if ever I felt like going to the doctor, I would. He gave me some money and my ATM card. I told him that I would go for the surgery if it were necessary. He said yes.

09:00AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I listened to the radio. I told my sister that i was planning to go to the hospital and she should accompany me. I did not touch the breakfast in case of surgery; i had my elf in NPO (nothing per orem- nothing through the mouth).

10:30AM, April 13, 2007, Friday. My sister finally left her bed and had a breakfast. i went to the bathroom and took a bath.

12:00PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. We went to a private hospital near us. It wasn’t really big, and i was happy since our school do not send intern BSN students to that hospital. I was welcomed at the Out Patient department by three registered midwives. They thought my sister was the one who’s sick so they were surprised when I told them it was me. I told them that I went there because I felt pain on my abdomen. i tried not to say any medical terms and I didn’t tell them that I am a student nurse. Talking with them and acting like I do not know anything about the medical field really felt awkward. So I immediately told them that i suspected Appendicitis. They laughed and told me that if it was appendicitis I would not be able to walk. I felt ridiculous for the first time.

12:10PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. They told me that if I was really worried I could have a urinalysis. so I did.

12:45PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. The result came and i read the lab. i have a slight elevation of White Blood Cell and a very huge amount of pus clamps, signifying an infection.

They called the doctor to explain to me the result and of course for my check up. I told the doctor of the pain. He ordered me to lie on the bed and palpated me. He asked me if the pain increases during the moments he pushes my abdomen or during the time he let go. He even asked me about the rovsing’s sign.

12:50PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. He read my urine result and told me that i might have a UTI but he still suspected Appendicitis. So he asked for a Hematology. I went to the laboratory for my complete blood count. When the result came, he was surprised because my white blood cells have skyrocketed. “It might be an appendicitis.,” he said.

He asked me what school I go. so i told him my school. it turned out that the guy is a professor in our university. Now instead of me asking the questions, he started throwing questions about appendicitis. He corrected me many times. Then he told me that I should be confined for an observation and if ever it was appendicitis, I will undergo the operation. The cost of appendectomy in that hospital is over Php90,000.00, while it would only cost me Php5,000.00 in the general hospital that I am having my duties. However, of course I do not want to be tended by my schoolmate. Just imagine having a classmate shave you down there… NO NO

He asked me to choose A.) Should I go back home or B.) I will be confined. I chose the latter. He exclaimed, “WRONG ANSWER! C’mon, you know the pathophysiology of your disease. You can even assess yourself. Go back home and eat a lot. Return here at 5PM.”

01:40PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I ate a lot in a canteen nearby just as what the doctor advised. My sister went to her old school for some errands. I went back home.

02:20PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. My sister finally came back and I asked her to cook our lunch. she cooked Adobo and I ate a lot again.

02:50PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I slept.

03:00, April 13, 2007, Friday. My father came from work and asked how i was. We told him everything. I was feeling a lot ok but my tummy still ached but not as pronounced.

04:20PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. We went back to the hospital.

04:50PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. The doctor saw me and told me to lie again. He repeated the palpation earlier and asked me some question. He told me that if this was appendicitis the pain should have not subsided, but the blood result of astoundingly high White Blood Cell count still means that there is an infection. Therefore, he gave me a referral to the general hospital so I could go there in case this was Appendicitis.

05:25PM, April 13, 2007, Friday. I was relieved but my tummy still ached.

PSWhile typing this entry I still feel the same sensation in my left lower quadrant but not as painful as it was yesterday.

Karen and Kate, though twins are extremely different. Kate has always been regarded as the prettier. One morning while I was in Isabela last week, my three, turning-8 years old cousins (the fraternal twins, Karen and Kate, and Jessa) went with our Grandmother who visited, Rex, our other cousin, who had been in the hospital for three days because of peptic ulcer. When they returned, my grandmother told us that the three were weighed and Karen registered 25kg in the weighing scale against Kate’s 16kg. Some of our older cousins taunted Karen and told her she’s fat. With me smelling a diminishing self-esteem (Karen is the nicer but the quieter one) told her that her weight was just normal, adding that I weighed the same when I was in grade two.

That afternoon, the three went to me one afternoon while I was lying on my Grandmother’s bed they went at my bedside. Normally they are hostile to me, but that this time they were extremely nice.

It was Jessa who spoke first in Ilocano, “Manong Mon, mayat met dyay C-Lium para ubing, aya? (C-Lium is not forbidden to children, is it?)

I was utterly bewildered by the question because I thought that the word C-Lium was an Ilocano word, so I asked them to repeat it and have it explained. It turned out that C-Lium is a brand of anti-constipation-fiber supplement that Kate and Karen’s big sister drinks to reduce her weight. Unfortunately the real indication of the fiber supplement was obviously distorted by their big sister’s reason of taking the medicine, and now the children think that it is a weight reducing pill.

I was shocked of course when it dawned to me that the three were thinking of following the Diet regimen of a seventeen year old teenager. So I asked them if they were thinking of dieting. I told them that they are not fat on the contrary are very skinny. Karen answered back by squeezing her tummy and pulling the non-existent layers of blubbers, while Jessa defensively said,”Bakit, sinabi ba namin? Nagtatanong lang kami!” (Why, did we say? We were just asking!)

I have always known that the three has some sort of eating disorder since they were three years old. Back then Karen would never eat if her plate was, according to her, “ugly”. While Jessa would never eat any viand, no matter how appetizing and mouth-watering it is, except Milo. Kate was the worst, until now she would never eat anything except salted eggs. They always have a separate food cooked according to their instruction.

My… my…

Usually a person’s eating disorder starts at the age of 11 to 12. What causes eating disorders is really vague, but a combination of many factors are said to contribute to the disorder. According to a research 42% of Grade one-three students (I am not sure if the reasearch is worldwide and includes the Philippines) want to be thinner while 81% of ten-year old kids are scared of being fat.

So tell me, are they now included in the statistics?