After working in public health for most of my professional life - first as a Doctor to the Barrio, then in the DOH Central Office, then as a researcher - I've decided it's time to enter residency. Scrubs these days are expensive AF. Did not buy. For the uninitiated, residency is that special time in every specialist doctor's life where you work and train in a hospital for 3 to 5 years to become a specialist in something - in my case, Psychiatry. For the initiated, this is 3 to 5 years of being an overworked, underpaid zombie. My friends and family know I've agonized about this decision for a long time now. I already applied to a Psychiatry program last year, but decided not to push through to stay in the DOH. Last December I decided to quit DOH anyway and take what eventually became a "slow year." I was lucky enough to be offered a few research and consulting gigs, and to some extent, I was able to do things on my own terms. For the first time ever I was 100...
We went to the doctor today for a follow-up. (Yes, doctors need doctors too.) His name is Dr. Jaffy, and this was only our second visit to him. I was supposed to see him five months ago, but I stubbornly put it off until things got worse. (Doctors also make the worst patients.) "Worse" is what my hands look like today. As soon as I sat down in the clinic chair, Doc Jaffy took my knobby, red hands and gently tapped on the joints as he counted. "Looks like all your PIPs are inflamed." Proximal Inter-Phalangeal joint. PIP. Such a cute word but whenever my doctors bring it up, the context is never cute. "Where else?" he asked. I said, my knuckles, elbows, knees, and toes, and then felt kinda stupid for reciting them to him in this order like a kid. He put his finger to his masked chin and thought for a while. " Mag- biologics na nga tayo ," he said. Biologics are a class of drugs meant to suppress my immune system and keep it from attacking my own ...
Like I mentioned in my last post, I got married!!! However, because of this stupid capitalist system that prioritizes worker productivity over well-being, we didn't have enough leaves saved up to go on a long enough vacation. So, we did something kinda crazy... And quit both our jobs at the same time. I know, I know, it's such a stupid decision to both quit at the same time. But really, if we hadn't done it, when would we ever have had the time to just go travel and enjoy our lives?! I had already consumed all my vacation leaves by going on my wedding and then our hometown reception, and Rap's work as an infirmary doctor did not allow him to take more than a couple days off at a time. So, we quit. And, using some of the money we got as gifts from our wedding, we were able to spend 12 amazing days in Japan. Here's what we did. Day 0 Flight to Tokyo Check-in at Shibuya Do side quests Dinner with Tita Baby and Tito Mak Our Tokyo trip was off to a bumpy takeoff whe...
you're welcome aims =)
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