the perils of

I need advice.  Some months ago, I got "reassigned" to one of my city's vaccination posts, where I work as a vaccination doctor. My main job there is to handle all sorts of medical concerns related to vaccination, like when someone's blood pressure is too high before getting jabbed, or when someone has a medical condition that needs further assessment.  But in between all those things, I mainly help the screeners. Screeners are what we call the nurses who interview patients to find out if they're medically fit for vaccination. I'm not really required to do it, since there are other people hired to do that specific job. But I do it anyway because sometimes there are just too many patients coming in, and they need my help.  Screening is easy. You just ask the same questions over and over again. Is this your first time getting vaccinated? How are you feeling today? Do you have any allergies? Do you have any underlying medical conditions? Were you recently a close...

This post is sponsored by Anonymous Commenter #1. Thank you for checking in. I can summarize the past couple of months in one terrible haiku: I'm really sick of my job at the vaccination post. But before we go there, there are a few updates that need mentioning.  One, I've long recovered from Covid. Which means I can joke about it now. Two, I'm fully vaccinated. And three: I've adopted two cats !  The decision to do so was borne of a deep dark sense of mid-pandemic loneliness some months ago. With Delta cases on the rise, my mom didn't feel it was safe for me to come home on the weekends anymore, what with me working in a vaccination post with plenty of sick people. She was right. But I found myself with nothing to do, nothing to look forward to, nothing to strive for. Going home to my family was the thing I looked forward to each week. But with that off the table, every day I would come home from a bleak workday into an empty apartment and try to distract myself fr...

Well this is awkward. I started this "series" thinking I'd be updating this blog every day during my 14-day quarantine, since I had nothing much else to do. But here we are, on Day 11, and this is only my second (and probably final) post, since I ended up having a lot of more interesting things to do than update this blog. Whoopsie.  So as it turns out, I'm really enjoying my quarantine. Once I'd processed my grief and anguish, once I'd come to fully believe that  it's nobody's fault, once I'd seen all my close contacts were safely in their respective quarantine facilities and were being looked after, I started to feel a lot better, both physically and emotionally. My daily routine consists of the following: Wake up, make my bed. Make coffee. The tedious way, with a hand grinder and a french press. I have about two cups. Sweep the floors, clean the dishes, tend to my plants while listening to a podcast Play the ukelele Cook lunch Eat lunch Sweep th...

So I'm just gonna come right out and say it: I got Covid. It's been four days since my positive result, and I'm still in shock, trying to come to terms with the immense guilt and grief that comes with having to tell all my close contacts.  What's the best way to tell someone you've possibly infected them and they have to spend the next 14 days in isolation? By just doing it. As soon as humanly possible. What's the best way to process inner turmoil and not allow grief to consume you while in quarantine? I don't know. And I would love to hear your suggestions. So this is my way of coping, I guess. Writing. However vaguely.  And making quarantine arrangements for the people I've possibly infected.   And allowing anxious thoughts to grate against the inside of my brain, repeatedly, with much force, as if the constant friction could wipe my mind clean like rubber on graphite.  And trying to block out those thoughts by playing online chess. (If you're int...

To address the elephant in the room: I recently got transferred out of Gigaquit.  I'm sure you're thinking: what, why, what happened, omg so soon, huhu. But trust me, while the news is extremely heartbreaking, I believe this was the right choice for me.  During my brief time there I truly believed that I was the luckiest Doctor to the Barrio (DTTB). I had a great and dependable set of staff. A super supportive boss who eventually became my mentor (and grandfather to my newly adopted puppy). An LGU that was so easy to work with. I even found a second family there in the form of my landlady/foster mom.  Twice I'd run into problems on the road and needed to be rescued. Each time, random people offered their help, without me even asking. They even refused when I insisted on paying them. The people of Gigaquit are truly something else. I don't know if I'll ever be so lucky to be assigned somewhere with their same energy. They set the bar pretty high.  And I can't eve...

There's a few things about me that I want/ need the people in my community to understand: I have boundaries. I'm putting this item at the top of my list so we can get it over with quickly : Y'all need to stop asking for checkups  outside office hours.  (And while we're on the topic of boundaries: STOP COMMENTING ON MY WEIGHT!) o I enjoy spending time by myself . I am, quite obviously, an introvert. When I'm alone I get to do all sorts of fun things. I read books, write blogs, listen to music, water my plants, play the ukelele, exercise. There's so much going on inside my head at any given moment that I am hardly ever bored or lonely. So please stop feeling sorry for me LOL! This is just who I am. o I have friends. Yes, really. The other week, my friend Kith (a fellow Doctor to the Barrios) came to visit me in my health center. The midwife on duty that day, Ma'am Alice, told me later on, "Dok na happy ako dok na meron ka nang friends! Mag invi...

It's been a crazy 4 weeks here in Gigaquit, the first two of which I spent quarantined in my office here at the Rural Health Unit. I won't get into the details behind that  but suffice to say: I was gone for a while, and now I'm back. During my quarantine, I settled into such a comfortable routine that I am now considering permanently living here in my RHU. I mean, just look at it. Isn't it so cute? I love the sunshine and the pops of color!  Not bad for an office bedroom. Living in one's office can make one a little claustrophobic. So, as a way to sort of break up my day (or as Paulo put it: create a boundary between personal and work life), I've rekindled my love of biking. At the end of each office day I like to just go out and ride wherever my legs may take me. The newly-cemented Canlagsik Road. With my trusty rusty Shimano folding b ike that I got as a hand-me-down from my aunt. I never thought I could enjoy any physical activity as...