💪 S U R V I V O R' s TALE 🙏

Seven years and counting!

Since May is a very remarkable month for me, I would like to share this very intimate journey of mine; not in the traveling world, but in the world of sickness. 🙏😇 

Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with abdominal tuberculosis, abscess pelvic. Sounds unfamiliar? It took so long for the doctors to determine my sickness. In fact, I even underwent an overlap surgery, but it was just useless. 

Here's the story for you to be aware of this tormenting illness:

Location: Thailand 🇹🇭 

At first, I just felt some pain on my back- a piercing kind of pain. My colleague told me that perhaps I just needed to drink more water. Does it make sense?😒 I thought it didn't, but I just did it though. Hahaha But then, few weeks had passed, it still didn't cease until I had observed that my tummy became a bit bloated. I kept on putting some efficascent oil for a week that my skin became so red and quite painful already. So, I stopped doing that and decided to see a doctor. 

The doctor gave me some medicine for indigestion. "Waley" ...as in "no effect." So, I went to another doctor. I had an ultrasound, he gave some medicine which was good for a week, and advised me to go back to his clinic after the medication.

The second time I had my ultrasound, he already saw some questionable liquid inside my stomach and advised me to go to a hospital. I got a bit scared already. So, I immediately went to a hospital, and the doctor who consulted me didn't talk much or asked questions a lot, but just gave me a long list of laboratory tests for me to go through including a CT-Scan which cost 18,000.00 Baht that time. But what made me also very hesitant was the idea of waiting for the lab tests result for a week. I couldn't wait for another week! 

What I did was, I met another doctor who was very known and popular to the Filipino community in that town. His clinic was a bit big with a laboratory of its own, and it even had rooms for patients. 

I had my blood tested, etc.  As usual, he gave some medicine and advised me to go back to his clinic after a week of observation to check if my white blood cells that declined poorly would improve. 

I had seen changes in my physical appearance of course; abrupt weight loss, bloated tummy (getting bigger as time went by), backpains (still manageable though), and poor waste discharge, but I was still in denial.🙄

Without seeing an improvement of my white blood cells after a week, I was advised for an immediate admission since he also insisted that I had to have IV fluids as well. 

💭Gee! I was speechless for minutes. The rest of the things told by the doctor were already beyond my grasp. I was totally flustered!😳

I was not sickly, no vices, food intake wasn't perfect since I also love sweets and carbs, but not that bad, not overweight nor underweight, and I exercise a bit during weekdays. It felt so surreal! 

I booked a flight back to the Philippines right after I got home. The earliest-but-not-too exepensive flight I  could get was via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I still had to stay overnight at KL. Upon arrival at KL Airport I felt so tired even though it wasn't a long flight, and while walking through the tube going to the hotel across the airport, I already felt a bit dizzy. 

To be continued....