Opening of Classes: A Bad Time to Get Sick

Here I go again. Despite maintaining amoxicillin and clavulanic acid indefinitely to keep me from urinary tract infection upon the advice of my nephrologist (since he believes my bacteria are already resistant to quinolones), I have fever. Time for my laboratory examinations.

Speaking of lab exams, good thing my father's prostate specific antigen (PSA) is already normal, although his cholesterol levels still need to be trimmed down. Of course, he is not taking diet pills. He is not overdoing it so it is good. He is not having a dramatic weight loss. That is less worry and stress for me. (Actually he may be healthier than me.) I want my dad to enjoy his retirement days unlike his brother who unfortunately is affected by Alzheimer's disease, a condition that needs a lot of patience from family members. So friends, remember. Have your father checked for PSA to help detect prostate cancer which is common in the older age group especially those beyond 50s and 60s.


The past week was a stressful one in Cebu Institute of Medicine. School is just weeks old and many things considered new for the incoming students and even newbie teachers have just started. Even if I was already sick last Friday, I cannot afford to be absent because there are just enough facilitators to handle the small group discussions (SGDs) for our Problem-based Learning classes (PBL) which just began. It's because the number of students compared to last year significantly increased. And I still had a class a day after for the medical technology interns of Velez College.

It was also ironic that the topic in our SGDs was about fever. It's also the rainy season and many diseases which cause fevers are common these days. With the classes just starting, coinciding with the rainy season, indeed now is not the right time to be sick.

 
Good that my blood pressure is controlled as I monitor my bp using an Omron digital product and I do not feel any pain which is unusual for me each time I have a fever. I am hoping it is not a recurrent urinary tract infection which is common for some PKD patients. And I am hoping tests will come out negative. I do not feel weak though. Just a little tired. But not tired enough to write this blog entry. My reliable laptop is my Paracetamol. I forget that I am sick every time I use this laptop to compose my blog posts.

In case you don't know, my ASUS EEEPC 1000HA netbook is one of the cheap laptops around but I think it was a good buy. It is already one year old but it has done many good things for me.

For example, now that I am sick, it helps me to be productive. But I must not forget though that I still need enough sleep. So after I finish this post, I will be turning this laptop off.

I need to be energized for next week for my students.

As one famous local TV ad would mention, "Sa panahon ngayon, bawal magkasakit." (During these times, you are forbidden to be ill.)