Miss Wilhelmina

Well, half a day, rather. Cebu Doctor’s Hospital is actually the busiest hospital I’ve gone to so far, even busier than Chong Hua Hospital. According to my opinion anyways. The day before yesterday, on a super sunny Monday afternoon after shift, I may have lost consciousness for the first time in my life. What happened, you may ask. I’m actually one of the millions of people who probably like to crouch and then get up suddenly and get an occasional dizzy spell. Usually, what I would do is when I’d feel dizzy, I’d just grab onto something solid, close my eyes for a few seconds until it passes, then I’m fine.

But this time it was different.

The heat may have been part of the blame, since it was just scorching that day. As soon as I got home, I petted my April, hand-fed her, since she didn’t even bother moving her dish. Sometimes she just needed a little persuasion and she’ll finish up eating. As I stood up, I began to feel the dizzy spell coming. Knowing where I was heading to, I grabbed the machine in front of me, and said. “Nalipong man ko..” (I’m dizzy..). I started to close my eyes, and..

I was dreaming.. It was like a thirty-minute nap, I felt so refreshed… Then it was all black. The next thing I saw was my boyfriend’s mother was staring at me with wide eyes saying, “Day! Day! Ok ra ka day?!” (Day! Day! Are you ok, day?!)

I was on the floor, and I realized that I’ve finally experienced losing consciousness unintentionally. My shirt got ripped because it might have snagged on the piece of plywood on the wall, and my left side hurt. She said that she couldn’t tell that I lost consciousness, since I had my eyes wide open and that I had my hands balled into fists and shaking. It never really bothered me, but when Clark found out about what happened,  immediately after shift the day after, we were in Cebu Doctor’s Hospital.

After the doctor heard my story, he asked that I have a CBC done. Then Clark told the doctor what his mom told about how she saw me while I was out. I was out for only about a minute, and the doctor requested that I have a CT Scan and an EEG done with the CBC.

The secretary had to call the health insurance company to get my diagnostic tests approved, and the health insurance company had to interview me for some history. In the end, I only got the CT Scan and CBC done.

The CT Scan and the EEG must cost a lot for the health insurance company to come up with an excuse not to cover the EEG.

Maybe I should summarize what I went through this way.

Step 1. I went to the Medicard Coordinator’s office who also happened to be the President and the hospital’s Chairman of the Board and my current doctor to get checked out. Waiting took about 15 minutes and the check up took only about less than 10 minutes.

Step 2. The doctor gave me some slips to give to his secretary for the diagnostic tests. The secretary had to call the Medicard office to get all tests approved. Only two were approved. The EEG did not get approved because Medicard does not cover Seizure disorder, in case I did have it. Took about 15-20 minutes, Medicard required my medical history and a little argument between the Medicard lady and secretary was heard.

Step 3. I went to the PIN Section for the billing transaction to be processed. Took about 10 minutes because I wasn’t waiting in the right line.

Step 4. I went to the Out-Patient Department to get the CBC test billing assessed, and then to get the test done. Took about 10 minutes to get 3 vials of blood from my right arm. The blood was super red and thick, but at least the MedTech didn’t have a difficult time getting the blood out.

Step 5. Waited for about 2 hours until the CBC test result was out before the CT Scan test can be done. During that time, I went to the street at the back of the hospital to get something to chow and browsed a DVD store’s DVDs and bought a Stephen Chow movie collection. Redundant statement much?

Step 6. I finally got the CT Scan done. I got asked whether or not I was pregnant, and had my earrings removed. I was asked to lay down and not move, my head was stuck between two thick foam supports, and the RadTech inserted what looked like a 3-inch needle in my arm. I was never afraid of needles, in fact, I always stared as the needle got inserted into my pulsing vein. I wanted to be in the medical field when I was in grade school. But at the time, I didn’t know that the 3-inch needle had a big tube attached to it.

The test took less than 5 minutes, it was the attaching and removing of the needle that took time. I felt something being injected when the test started. I was informed that it was two vials of some sort of dye so that they’d be able to clearly see my brain. After the scan, the RadTech removed the needle, but didn’t let me move just yet. Then I saw the same super red blood on his fingers. Apparently, some of my blood squirted all over my arm, where the tube was open towards, and the platform where my arm rested on. Somebody came in to assist him in taking the tube and needle out, and that’s when I saw the tube.

It was the biggest tube I saw personally in my entire life. It had thick blood stuck in the tube, and the assistant was careful not to get the blood anywhere, especially not on me since I was wearing white. The RadTech that attended to me carefully cleaned any mess visible while they got rid of the needle and the tapes. When I got up, it was as if no needle has been there.

Still immaculate as what a hospital room should be.

I was then asked to come back the next day for the results and the follow up with the doctor.