There is freedom in homeownership but there is also immense responsibility. All repairs and maintenance are solely mine. If I miss a beat or go cheap, I will pay the full price later on.

My shower heater finally gave up its ghost after 6 faithful years of service. I brought it from our apartment in QC and it was able to service us for a whole year in my new house before giving up. I had my contractor replace it and have him do other minor repairs and updates around the house (e.g. dry wall my kids destroyed).

I don’t go cheap with appliances and materials because I don’t want headaches later on.

We’re now in PGH FMAB for Twin A’s check up. We’re surrounded by babies and toddlers coughing like dogs. Experience taught me this kind of environment is a petri dish of various highly contagious diseases.

There was a time when my twin babies and I were waiting for our turn at our pediatrician’s clinic, we were surrounded by children sick with pneumonia. Masks then were not mandatory. After 2 days, my kids were struck down by pneumonia as well because the waiting area was ventillated by a huge industrial fan that probably spread the airborne droplets. I had it bad, being the last one in our household who contracted it. 😷

This is the reason why I hate waiting for doctors. I spend hours at the waiting area and get exposed to pathogens then get sicker than I originally was.

I don’t know what we’re facing now. I have a strong feeling that we will have to do the biopsy. Twin A’s uric acid is above normal even though she has been off her TB meds now for 10 days. It’s 6.6 when normal range is 2.0-6.0. 😩

Being a parent, a mother specifically, is not for the selfish/self-centered. It’s not for the weak. I just scrounge around for energy to plod on but most of the time I am running on empty, physically and emotionally. I’m tired but I just push on. If it’s more than TB that we’re still facing, then bring it on. God, I’m so tired.

Thank God I am wrong.

Our IDS said clinical presentation shows our patient is OK and that she has recovered from TB. As long as there is no omental caking and no thickening of any lining, that’s good. The lymph nodes are small to be of any major concern; these are residual nodules from the infection. If we have to be granular, it would be too invasive to do biopsy because the nodules are at her back. No more MRI scans because Twin A already has too many scans at this point. An MRI would be done if there are symptoms again. Her medication has already been protracted and it’s not good for her kidneys to be bombarded by powerful antibiotics for more than a year.

She said GI TB has too many complications and is really difficult to treat. We are blessed that Twin A didn’t have stricture or obstruction of GI organs, especially the intestines. She told us that one of her patients who was admitted the same time as Twin A last year had to undergo surgery because his intestine got twisted (obstruction) and had to be cut. This is a complication of GI TB. Thankfully, the kid is already ok now.

Since MRI is clear, save for the small nodules, and clinical evidence shows that Twin A has already recovered, we only have to go back to our IDS after 6 months. ❤️

I am so relieved.