Nasal Endoscopy

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This past weekend was the longest I’ve had off work since our Bohol vacation last year. But this wasn’t a vacation; yes I was away from my regular job, but I was working too where I went.  I need time to process my thoughts of the weekend.  I just hope I don’t completely forget to blog about it like so many other things I’ve left for later then never got around to.

I had a long Thursday night at work – 14 hours straight!  The closer shift had logged out at 2PM and I was just wrapping up at that time.  I had intended to go to the hospital for the Spirometry results and then head on over to help out with the camp preparations at Asia ACTs.  But I ended up with time for only one task – I had to choose the follow up check up.

At the Medicard clinic in St. Luke’s, I didn’t have to wait long to get the results or to be seen by a physician.  The test results didn’t show any blockage, and my lungs were normal. So what the heck is wrong?  The residen ENT was on duty and was just next door so my case was referred to her. I wonder why that wasn’t done earlier?

Anyway, Dr. Que was the ENT and she’s nice.  She went through my records and asked me a couple of questions.  Then she told me that she wanted to look inside my nose, using a nasal endoscopy.  Man, it was long! I asked if it was going to be painful and she said it usually isn’t.  I was relieved that she didn’t really probe too far in. Phew.  It took just probably 10 seconds to look into both nostrils.  She said that it was narrow up there, which is probably why I also have shortness of breath sometimes.  Then she said that she wanted to see if it’s the anatomy that’s causing the non-stop colds, instead of an infection.  If it was an infection, the antibiotics should have killed it, but it’s still around.  So she ordered a nasal xray to be done on me.  She further showed me illustrations of the nasal cavity, and what mine seems to look like at the moment.  She also advised me to stay away from coffee and chocolates as it encourages build up of phleghm. Ugh. That is so hard to do.

From the doc, I decided to go ahead and have my xray taken, rather than go back on another day.  If the three test I had were billed to me, I’d have spent over 5,000 Pesos already (more than a hundred US dollars), not including the medicine.  Good thing that I have coverage.  Anyway, the xray results were due for release the next day, but I’ll claim it next week when the doctor resumes work.  It’s Holy Week and most people are on holidays (except us).

From the X-ray room, I paid my aunt a vist. She was rushed to the hospital the night before for extreme pain in her tummy.  As it turns out, she has pancreatitis.  She was discharged on Monday,  but is continuing her medication so she can get even better.   I hope it doesn’t progress to anything more serious.

I stayed there for about two hours, with two of my cousins.  Ma called to say that she and Dad decided to eat out, so they picked me up from the hospital and we headed to Shakey’s.  The mojos looked smaller than usual!  I snapped a few photos, but I’m growing sleepy again. I’d leave the photos for another day.