Bidding Goodbye to CI Friends in Tears

 

              (Thanks to Ma'am Lourdes Pastoriza for the effort to compile the images to speak what we have been through for the past days.)


It has been heavy for me to see the people from workplace to leave all of a sudden. The entry of new management and the sudden downfall of nursing enrollees have affected much the college that it had to resort to cost-cutting measures. We have seen this coming but sudden change of events made an organized planning result to something more than chaotic. The gloom was not because of the measure, it was because of the manner of implementation and the untimely order.


To go back to the story, will hurt me again. I have been bestfriends with some of the CI's leaving, and even considered them family. I will miss the company of Ktine Pedreso, Ate Malu Serrano and Ken Sabido badly. I will always be grateful for being there at times that I seem grasping to breathe.  I will miss a dear friend, Jim Ofonda, who has helped much the College of Nursing in giving the best ceremonies which the nursing students deserve. I  will miss the times that we poured our hearts out in ceremonies over a beer and ..o well, beer.


I will miss the rest of the CIs who, in one way or the other,  have helped me respect my discipline. I may have had clashes with the others, but I believe that the best of what I am now is also because of them.


I will always be thankful for them who allowed me to comfortable with them, share laughter with them, even allowed me bullying them for clean fun. I will aways be grateful for them, who I shared strengths with in our quest of giving the best to our students.  I will always treasure the friendship we shared amidst the difference in maturity, opinions and lifestyle.


Then, I will miss the old lair.. the Nursing faculty room, where all of us meet and breathe from a tiring hospital duty or classroom lecture. It will now house other educators. I will miss what we had dearly.. it will never be home again.

"How can we get through this effectively?"...taking the words of Louie Dagangon ..THAT will be a thought for us to ponder as the new sem begins.

We bid goodbye and good luck.... to our Dean Linell Malimbag, Assistant Dean Danilyn Isidor, RLE Supervisors Rose Barza, Jim Ofonda, Rachel Cornites, Galacio Luciano and Paolo Santos, Clinical Coordinator Mam Leah Arrangues..and to the Clinical Instructors who went out last April 20 and availing the early retirement offer. (these are the CIs seen on the late part of the video)

And lastly to the12 CIs who recently had been categorized as redundant...the DDC College of Nursing will not be the same again.

          Balmores           Suello  
          Estalani              Castillo    
          Serrano              Sabido  
          Estrada               Gacusana  
         Arrangues             Alfaras
          Cabradilla           Branzuela

     I wish these colleagues the best of life. We all have our own reasons for leaving and for staying. We may not be close with all of those who are leaving but we cannot deny the fact that each of them is a part of what we are today.. that our disciplines are crafted because we worked as a team.

      The respect and friendship among us is something they will never be able to take away from us , no matter how much others project that they share the same with us and no matter how great others think of themselves. 

       God bless colleagues.. see you around.

Out Patient Chemotherapy

      For 4 days, I will be on hospital duty orientation. Together with other clinical instructors Don Bansuan, Lloyd Lepiten, Chona Barrun and PJ Arrangues, we will be acquainting ourselves with the  Out-Patient Chemotherapy Infusion Room of  Davao Doctors Hospital, the FIRST and the ONLY one in Mindanao.

     It has followed the regulations being set by PhilHealth, allowing more safety area for the nurses in preparation and administration of this drugs. Chemotherapeutic drugs are toxic in nature and  the preparation should not be anymore be done in clinics or bedside of the patient.

Chemotherapy cycles, depending on drugs and the case, or  hours of infusion varies and may range as little as 3 hours which means that there is no need for the patient to be admitted in the hospital.

Patients are also kept comfortable with Lazyboy couches which can be reclined when they want to lie while the treatment is going on. The room is also air-conditioned  with one TV to give the place a homey feel. For the meantime, both adult and pediatric cancer patients are treated in the same infusion room but a separation of the two will materialize soon.

I observed the facility more today and the process much more than the patients. We weren't allowed to deal with the patients much . I wanted to watch the insertion of a Porta-cath today, one of the central lines inserted in the upper chest and  just below the clavicle or the collar bone.

Earlier, we got more familiar with the common used chemotherapy drugs and those that values as high as P 300,000 per vial. Yes, there are people who can buy that given at the rate twice a week.

      The unit is one very hepflul area for many cancer patients. I believe, that this again will boost the level of medical competence of the hospital also. More than that, a place of hope for patients who is fighting for one disease feared by many because of its unpredictability.

   I have 2 cancer stories to share making me appreciate the treatment. It has taught me to appreciate science and its quest to augmenting one cancer patient's life to a lot more year. It has taught me of the value of the facility being able to understand the care of the cancer patients.

    I still have 3 days to more to this area which I learned does not allow students inside due to probably of the small space. However, they can be called to observe  minor procedures such as Bone Marrow Aspiration.

    Tomorrow is another day. Earlier, we dealt with Liver Ca, Breast Ca, Multiple Myeloma.  Tomorrow will be another round of nursing care for patients with cancer again..another round of learning..and another round of appreciating life.

The Nurse is on Camotes Island Vacation

 As i browse pictures, I never fail to stare much at the recent summer I had with college friends in Camotes Island.

Cebu Arrival:
I arrived at Cebu around 9:45am with Chime and Doods but we had to wait for a friend who'll be arriving in an hour from Davao also. The others were already in SM Cebu waiting for us.. Anne, Ching and Tong.  They came in earlier flights and decided that we eat at SM Cebu at a dimsum place where you have to make ur fingers sound to call a waiter. Tong and I was so hungry that we would take whatever is ready to be eaten.

Going to Camotes

Thanks to Tata's frend, Paul John, who bought tickets for us to Camotes Island. We had to buy even before coming to Cebu knowing that Holy Week might mean a lot of people also buying a lot of tickets. PJ was also kind enough to go with us to the port in Cebu. Pier 1 is located in the City to transport us to Camotes island by water in almost 3 hours. There's a scheduled trip every day at 6am and 4pm for P300 (one way). Like any ports, the porters will swarm around you to carry your luggages for P10.00 .

We arrived there around 8pm and very hungry. We rode for 30 minutes. in a multicab going to the resort we reserved. The place was so dark since there were no electric posts along the roads. We just trusted the driver and laughed a lot to mask the fear a little.

 We stayed at Keshe Resort which has beautifully crafted native cottages for its guests. They were kind enough to prepare a delicious dinner for us. The food was so great considering we were so starved. The huts were so huge we could fit  in one hut or cottage. We were the only tenants, so we had the resort all to ourselves. The air was cold and we were approximately 50 steps away from the shoreline. If only we weren't that tired, we could have dipped in the waters right after dinner.

From the moment we came until we ate, we were laughing at the funny things that went with our travel. We exchanged things we knew about the island . The rest of the night, we spent talking and of course, drinking. The island didn't have corkage fees, so we bought a number of drinks for our 4 days stay at the island. For the first night, we drank Tequila Rose which was according to my friends, tasted like Calpol (a cough syrup for kids) and Arbor Mist (blackberry). The latter tasted like "tuba", a local wine from coconut.

Touring Camotes

Breakfast was great since we had it with the view of the peaceful beach. The water was so tempting, yet we had to stop ourselves since we have to be on tour first. Like all bakasyunista, we wanted to see the whole of the island first and what it's know for. PJ hired a multicab to tour the island with Kuya Edward as our driver. We knew that we will be touring in beaches also, so we wore already our swimsuits.

Kuya Edward decided what places to take us to.We went to the Tumubo Cave which proved to be very scary and exciting at the same time and paid P10 for entrance fee. There are cemented steps to prevent tourists from slipping while going in and out of the cave. At the end of our trail, we found ourselves in a clear body of water. We couldn't resist dipping in. We were already in our swimsuits by the way.

We went to explore the rest of the island like Danao Lake and the other resorts. We had our lunch at Mangodlong Beach Resort. It's one of the sought after beach in Camotes. Then, we also toured the rest of the beaches like Santiago White Beach and others.

The rest of the island proved to be so peaceful and very clean, even saw their garbage bins being color coded. And even the houses are labeled "Balay ni Rosa" which made me think, the place was so little that all that is there could actually be labeled. We even stayed awhile in their sentro which was as relaxing as the beach. We had also the chance to watch a local "rugby" tournament, a game i did not know much.

KESHE RESORT

We spent the rest of the days at this resort, well actually the rest of the vacation.  We had the whole resort for ourselves which was the best part of the vacation though we shared the beach with all of those who were on vacation.  The rate was affordable for an accommodation that seemed so luxurious.The staff are so friendly that they will always attend to your needs, anytime you need them. They will even offer buko or saging when you know you wanted to have it so bad.

We slept and woke up when we wanted to and we plunged in the water each time it invited us in. We enjoyed the day in the sun and the darkness of the night. We unloaded burdens and re-crafted our dreams. We went back to the old days when we enjoyed even the mere sight of liquor.

There were still much of what the island offers but we had only 4 days there. We had to be picked up by Kuya Edward early 4'oclock in the morning. Yes, we woke up early with even an hour of sleep.We rode Ocean jet again back to Cebu mainland (but this time, the travel was disappointing due to disorganized ticketing and seating scheme of Ocean jet Liner).

It was the best get-away for me. For long , i haven't been in trips with them, a pledge we made back at school. I knew i needed this. It was running away from all the pressures at work or even with personal matters. It didn't solve problems but it did give me time to breathe and gather myself again.  The good thing about it is that i spent those days with the friends i knew i could breathe well with.

 A nurse needs a break from being the strength of every patient she encounters. A clinical instructor needs a room to breathe from being the source of knowledge of the aspiring angels in the sickroom. I had my best summer break in Camotes island, now I am ready to a new whole challenge at work or elsewhere again.