What a Pain!

I should have knocked on wood a little harder. After nearly 7 years without a problem, it was bound to happen again.

On Monday when I woke up, I felt that familiar pain. From the right side of my back down to my groin...I thought to myself that this couldn't be another kidney stone! For the first two hours of the day, I was hoping the pain would just go away. I eventually told Glyn that I was worried it could be a kidney stone, and if it was, the pain would just get worse and I would eventually have to go to the hospital to manage the pain.

Glyn told me that a friend of hers and her husband (who is from Australia) were on their way over to the condo. I had mixed feelings about it. Of course I wanted to meet her friend and her husband, but I was worried that the pain would get very bad while they were here.

It was good meeting them, but my fears came to fruition. While I was listening to her friend's husband, the pain got really bad. I tried my best to be a good sport and host to our guest. However, I finally pulled Glyn aside and told her that the pain was getting intolerable. So her friends left, and we grabbed a taxi to Cebu Doctors Hospital, which is close by.

Glyn is not experienced as far as hospitals are concerned. In fact, she has never been admitted to one in her life. (Not even at childbirth....she and her siblings were all born at home.) After asking some questions from people around the hospital, she lead me to a doctor's office. There were several people waiting to see the doctor, but my crying and rocking while waiting got me in to see the doctor next. I thought it was weird that we went to the doctor's office instead of the emergency room, but I figured maybe that is how things are done here.

When I got in to see the doctor, I told her that I was certain it was a kidney stone because I had several before. She told me that I should be in the emergency room. So, they got me a wheelchair and moved me to the emergency room. Even though this was not the proper procedure, it might have been the quickest in getting medical attention at the emergency room since the doctor came to the emergency room with me. She told me that they would have waited for her to do anything anyway.

They hooked me up to an IV and told me that they were going to give me an injectable pain reliever. "Yes!", I thought, "The pain will stop soon." However, unlike times in the past when I have gotten injectable pain relief, it didn't work! They were reluctant to give me more medicine until they got my lab results back, so I laid there in immense pain. Whenever I have a stone that is causing me pain, I reflect on what I have heard so many times about the pain of a kidney stone being comparable to the pain of childbirth. I always conclude that the pain of childbirth, even if it is the same pain, has to be better. At the end of childbirth, you end up with a living, breathing human being.

(A few years ago, I was in the hospital with kidney stones, and the nurse sympathized with me, telling me that she too had had kidney stones. Seizing a potential opportunity, I asked her if she has children. I told her that I had always heard the two pains being compared and I wanted to know from someone else--since I would never know personally--whether it was true that the pains were the same. She told me that there was no comparison....the pain of kidney stones was much worse. Three month after having one of her children, she had a kidney stone. She said nothing compares to being down on the floor and throwing up because of the pain.)

Eventually, they gave me another shot and the pain was less, but still not gone. They then moved me into a room at the hospital. In my pain, I had chosen to go to a private room, not really thinking about it. However, compared to home, the price of private room is very cheap (about $35), and I guess worth it.

In some ways, I was glad to get the opportunity to be in a hospital here in the Philippines. I got the opportunity to compare my experiences in the United States to the Philippines. Now, from what I understand, I stayed at one of the best hospitals in Cebu, so it might not be the same at other places here.

Here are some of my observations;

• Food. When food is brought in, they just put the tray inside the room next to the door. At home, I have always experienced them bringing the food right to your bed. Also, I thought it was funny that on the food card, next to Diet Specifications, they had "Foreigner." I took this to mean that they gave me potatoes instead of rice. Don't they realize that all foreigner eat cheeseburgers! :)
• Medicine. They actually gave me the option of purchasing the medicines directly from the pharmacy instead of them providing them for me. That included all pain relievers. The difference is that they would charge me 30% more if they provided it themselves. Thank God that Glyn was with me! She went down to the pharmacy each time more medicine was needed.
• Gowns. At home, they always give you one of those goofy gowns to wear in the hospital. Not only does this make it easier for the doctor to make inspections, it makes it less likely someone will just bolt out the hospital. :) At Cebu Doctors Hospital, I was given no gown. I just wore my own clothes the whole time.
• Payment. I actually had to give a deposit before I was admitted, and I had to pay in full when I left. I know at home, I could get treatment even if I had no money or insurance.
• Nurses. There were lots of nurses on staff. The hospital has a corresponding university, so they had nurses there who were students. The nurses were both men and women. In fact, from what I read, a lot of men take the nursing route instead of becoming a doctor, because the United States actively recruits nurses from abroad.
• Visiting. There were no visiting hours. In fact, Glyn slept on the couch in the room both nights I was in the hospital.
• Cell phones. They are taboo in the United States with signs everywhere telling you that you can't have them on. Here, it was no big deal to carry them around. Even the doctors had them and were using them in the room.

OK, back to the kidney stone. The pain eventually went away. I was given medicine to help the stone move. However, at this writing, I still have not passed the stone. They did an ultrasound and saw that I have one stone in my right kidney and one stone in my left kidney, and one stone in my right ureter. It is the stone in my ureter that was causing me all the pain. Fortunately the stone is on the smaller side and should pass through on its own. I know from experience that the stones that are in my kidneys might remain there indefinitely and might pass through eventually with little fanfare. But then again, they might have a big parade.

I was scheduled to leave the Philippines this Friday, but I am going to try to extend my stay for a few more days. I would hate to board the plane knowing that I could have a recurrence. I would be the passenger from hell if that were to happen. Plus, I really don't mind staying here a few more days. :)

By the way, when I was laying in the hospital in my drug induced state, I kept on thinking on what I should title my post. Bear with me as I give you what could have been (I am still under the influence):

• Pebbles and Bam-Bam
• Oops, I Did It Again
• Rocky III
• I'm So Stoned
• Not Kidney Around
• As the Stones Through My Kidneys, So Are the Days of Our Lives

Sinulog Dance Competition

This weekend, we went to the Sinulog Dance competition that they had at the Cebu Sports Center. It is a competition among the children in elementary and high school. On Saturday, the competition was from groups around the province of Cebu. It rained so much all day, so the crowd was not so big. The dancers danced on anyway!

On Sunday, the groups were from around Cebu City. The weather was so much better! Each dance had "marching band"-like music and was similar to each other. Each dance, which told a story, also had an appearance by Santo Nino. The only thing I can compare it to is a college marching band at a halftime show.

I was very impressed with the dancing of the children. I have been to school pageants before (and have been in some myself) and these blow anything that I have seen before away!

Here are the pictures from the competition.

Viva Pit Señor!

Yesterday was the start of the Sinulog Festival. It cumulates every year in Cebu on the third Sunday in January. (This year on January 21.) It is kind of like Mardi Gras that they have in New Orleans (minus the debauchery). The festival is both pagan and religious in origin. The Sinulog is a dance that the locals danced to honor local idols. After Christianity was introduced to Cebu, the dance was changed to honor the image of Santo Niño (the baby Jesus). These pictures are from the Mass that starts the festival and the parade that kicks off the event too.

What is up with the title of this post? That is what Cebuanos yell out in honor of Santo Niño.

Today we are heading to the Cebu Sports Center to watch some of the Sinulog dance competition.

Pictures from My Birthday

I went to Alcoy with Glyn to celebrate my birthday. Alcoy is about 2 hours south of Cebu City by bus. We stayed at Bodo's Bamboo Bar (Triple B) Resort and went to Tingko Beach nearby. Two days before my actual birthday, we went to the Tinder Box to start the birthday celebration early with a nice dinner, wine, and a cigar (smoked by me of course :) ). Despite the rainy weather, we had a good time overall. Here are the pictures from Shutterfly.

The Pride of Baltimore

One of my birthday presents was hearing that Cal Ripken was elected into the Hall of Fame. They made the announcement on January 9 that he and Tony Gwynn (who played his whole career with the San Diego Padres) will be enshrined at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, this summer.

Of course it was not a surprise birthday present. It was a foregone conclusion that Cal would be in the Hall of Fame even when we was still playing. He is only one of 8 players to have at least 400 home runs and 3000 hits. He still holds the record for the most home runs hit by a shortstop. Of course, he holds the record for playing in the most consecutive games (2632), shattering the record previous held by Lou Gehrig at 2130. He also won two MVP awards.

He was a joy to watch during his playing career. The Orioles did not have too much team success while he was playing. During his second full season, the Orioles won the World Series. They did not return to the playoffs until 1996 and 1997, and haven't been back since. He gave me a reason to go to the games during these lean years. You always knew you could count on Cal.

Cal got the 3rd highest percentage for being voted into the Hall of Fame. Amazingly, 8 voters did not think Cal was worthy of being elected.

Many credit Cal for "saving baseball". His pursuit of Gehrig's record captivated the imagination of every fan. However, those who loved him most were the Baltimore faithful. After the Baltimore Colts left town in 1984, he was all Baltimore had left to call its own. He was a hometown boy (from nearby Aberdeen) and his father was involved with the organization many years before he put on the orange and black.

His induction comes the same week that the Colts return to town. The INDIANAPOLIS Colts are being hosted by the Baltimore Ravens this weekend. It isn't the first time the Colts have returned to Baltimore, but it will be the first time the Colts have played their successors, the Ravens, in the playoffs. Many in Baltimore will have mixed feelings about this. The Colts were the pride of Baltimore when they were there. I remember visiting relatives as a kid, and many of them had pictures of the great Johnny Unitas, the quarterback of team, on their wall.

In 1984, the Colts were stolen from Baltimore by Robert Irsay, who was the owner at the time. In the middle of night, Irsay packed up the team in Mayflower moving trucks and headed to Indianapolis. In 1996, Baltimore got football back in the form of the Ravens. The irony is that they got a team in a similar way the Colts left. Another greedy owner, Art Modell, owned the Cleveland Browns and took them from Cleveland and moved them to Baltimore. Fortunately for Cleveland, the name Browns, the team colors, and the history stayed in Cleveland. Today the Browns are again in Cleveland thanks to the expansion of the NFL in 1999.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, their beloved Colts are no longer their own. They are somebody else's. This weekend, fans will be searching their hearts on who to root for.

Thanks to God that they still have Cal.

Birthday in Alcoy

Well, my birthday is over. I tried to milk it as long as I could. Because the Philippines is 13 hours ahead, I started to officially celebrate earlier than I usually do. Even when the clock struck midnight here, I still tried to convince myself that my birthday was still going on the the United States. So at 1:00 here in the afternoon, my birthday as over in the east coast of the US. But....there was still the west coast! So at 4:00, my birthday ended there too. I guess it is still my birthday in Hawaii. :)

For my birthday, I wanted to go to the beach. Believe it or not, I have not really been to the beach during the whole time I have been in the Philippines. There are some private beaches nearby, but I really don't like having to pay money to sit on a beach. Of course, the more money you pay, the better the private beach. Back in November, Glyn and I took a hired taxi tour of Mactan Island which is part of Cebu. There are a lot of beaches there, but nothing that was really worth the money in my opinion.

I had heard about a public beach in Alcoy, which is about 2 hours from here. The beach is called Tingko beach and has a nice stretch of sand. We went down on Monday and stayed at a place called Bodo's Bamboo Bar (or Triple B) Resort. Bodo is a German who is married to a Filipina here. The resort was nice and very reasonably priced. We opted for a balcony room with no aircon (how they say air conditioning here). We had a nice view of the ocean (technically Cebu Strait). Air conditioning was not really needed as there is a nice breeze that comes in from the water.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us. It rained all day on Monday, and on Tuesday it rained on and off. We didn't let the less-than-perfect weather stop us from having a good time as we headed off to the beach anyway. At the beach, there are cottages to rent for the day, so we were able to keep dry during the rain. Heck, we even got in the water when it was raining pretty hard. I guess you can't get more wet than you already are!

My birthday dinner was great. I had some champagne, a nice steak, and a banana crepe Amaretto flame. (Yes, my dessert was in flames!) It is nice to eat at Bodo's because they have outdoor seating where you can get the ocean breeze.

We made our way down to Alcoy by bus. It is a fairly cheap way to travel around the island. It cost the two of us 200 pesos ($4 US) for the trip down. Actually it cost us a little more than that because after checking in to Bodo's we were told that they did not take credit cards. I knew I was a little low on cash, so I asked them where the nearest ATM was. They said it was an hour back north in Carcar. The woman told me that businesses in that area do not usually take credit cards and there are not usually ATMs. I had been so used to being in Cebu City that I did not even consider it. So with little choice, we headed back up to Carcar by bus to go to an ATM. The trip was not all lost because we stopped by a little store in Carcar to get some bottled water for the stay in Alcoy. However, the great treat is that we picked up some banana chips while we were there. We ate them on the bus ride back to Alcoy and vowed to stop back by on our way back up to Cebu to get some more (which we did). They are soooooooooo yummy.


I actually started my birthday celebration on Sunday night. We went to a restaurant called the Tinder Box. It is one of the finer non-Filipino restaurants around. The best part about the place is that you can smoke cigars there. Also, the service is really great. Compared to US standards, the prices are very reasonable. (However, by Filipino standards, it is fairly expensive.) I picked up some cigars when I was there and brought them down to Alcoy to enjoy while I was there.


I will try to post more pictures soon. Shutterfly was doing maintenance when I started this post.

Happy New Year...What Happened to the Internet?

Back from Bohol...It was a great experience being there. I took so many pictures that I would like to share. However, I cannot upload the pictures right now. A couple days after Christmas, there was an earthquake in Taiwan. Luckily, only a couple of people died. Yet, what happened that had a greater impact is that telecommunication and Internet cables were damaged in the quake.

For a little while, a lot of Asia was not able to connect to the Internet...especially those in China. Since then, there has been some work to re-route the Internet traffic. However, what has been exposed is that there really is not adequate Internet backup in the Pacific region. Some web sites that I try to access from the Philippines go slower than dial-up. It is funny to see how vastly different some web sites respond now.

Going to google.com (and its sister site blogger.com) is just like normal. However, accessing my e-mail from Yahoo or trying to upload pictures to shutterfly.com is an exercise in patience. Doing some things on the Internet take me hours (I kid you not) instead of minutes now.

It really makes me realize how delicate the Internet really is. I will keep blogging here and I will try to find a way to upload pictures soon.