@lawyerlenanguyen
Ain’t it the truth!
Category Archives: personal
This weekend is for my mom
My household and my mom’s checked in at I’m Hotel because we wanted her to have a shopping-and-spa day for her birthday weekend.
We went shopping first at SM Makati for her gold accessories and a long dress that she will wear for a gala night of one of her organizations. Bought some Christmas decor, just because.
Then we pigged out on some Cantonese food and went straight to the onsen and massage, which my mom enjoyed. We had an early night because the spa experience was good. Well, it was for me because I had a hard massage that helped me with my frozen shoulder.
Mom was so happy with the shopping that she wanted to go back to SM to buy more stuff today.
Parking, however, is gonna be an issue because it’s a weekend plus it’s a Christmas season weekend. 🤦🏻♀️
My cortisol level is through the roof
Tell me, why is that my ex-manager, YKK, and people from her country are insufferable? Ah yes, there are too many Tiktok videos about that. They call us jungle Asians. They look down on us.
She killed two of my stories that I nearly died for from the conference last week.
Imagine, YKK couldn’t understand what is in-house financing and why it charges interest up to 45% while bank loans are at low single digits?! Loans are loans, she said. But but but…Don’t they have in-house financing in their country? 🤦🏻♀️ I complained to my colleague and he found on the internet that yes they do have in-house financing in their country. So why doesn’t she know what in-house financing is and the reason why it carries more risks for the lender? That’s the whole point of the story!!! She doesn’t get it.
Then in the third story, which was written by my ditzy colleague, YKK accused me of pulling back what my source said. I pointed out to her that my source did not even confirm one vital info, my colleagues’ sources could not confirm, and yet this is the angle that this story is pursuing? This is the reason why I said we should shelve this because it is standing on stilts.
Why is it even my fault that the story is such a mess? It’s not even my story.
Then I asked my colleague, why is that when I have encounters with YKK, I feel like I’m stupid, worthless, and I don’t deserve to be here? My colleague said, she doesn’t like you.
Well, I have already established that. That’s the main reason why I quit being a manager of my team—she doesn’t like me and she crushed me everyday. The week before I flew to Kuala Lumpur, I wanted to jump off my balcony because I felt so trapped.
I don’t like her either. She makes me feel inferior and thinks I don’t have the brains for this job.
It’s a constant battle with her all the time.
Last Sunday we went out to have lunch in a restaurant several towns away from us to celebrate my nephew’s birthday.
I had too much sugar! I felt so sleepy after that I had a two-hour “nap” before going to church. That’s how sugar affects me these days.
Speaking of sugar, my endocrinologist said my HBA1C is fine, it even went down by 0.1 pt. He said our goal is to keep it within pre-diabetic level or even reverse it. But it’s not going to happen in three months so I don’t have to worry.
What worried me were my palpitations and I asked if those are the side effect of Dapagliflozin. He said no, and checked if I drink too much coffee. I said no, I’m not a coffee drinker because it keeps me awake all night. He then ordered me to have a 24-hr Holter monitor to check if and why I have arrhythmia.
I also asked should I be worried that my WBC is constantly high? He said I don’t have infections and other signs that could point to reasons why, so if I’m worried about lymphoma or other blood cancers (because an uncle is in palliative care for it now), I should check with a hematologist and get an endorsement from my gynecologist.
Good thing that my younger sister’s best friend (the one who connected us to PGH for Twin A’s medical problems two years ago) is a hematologist. She told me yes my WBC has been elevated for a year now but it’s not that high enough to point to lymphoma.
So it must be stress. As I wrote above, the editor from the land of bubblegum pop, is causing me so much distress.
I know I’m being a hypochondriac now but my grandfather and aunt died of cancers that are curable because they didn’t catch it early. It was too late by the time these were detected. I don’t want to subject my children to so much grief and strife just because I was negligent.
We’re going to pack clothes for donation to the victims of the Cebu earthquake. My kids have been culling clothes that don’t fit or they no longer want to wear and preparing for future donation opportunities because we know we have yearly disasters.
I always teach my children empathy and charity towards all living things.
I was chatting with my Cebu-based friend and asked how he and his family are faring. Good thing they’re ok but he said the northern part of Cebu island is struggling because they’re still having strong aftershocks. I told him it’s like deja vu, because I was talking to him in 2013 and asked him to be my eyes on the ground when I was still with my old TV network. I couldn’t fly ro Cebu and Bohol then because we used our local correspondents for that.
Some colleagues from foreign news agencies are now deployed to Bogo, Cebu. I’ve traveled and stayed in northen Cebu twice some years back so more or less I know how the terrain looks like.
My reporter’s itch is nagging me but I know I’m past that. I may no longer able to sleep in tents to cover disasters.
The sun is out
Finally, the sun is out! However, my endocrinologist cancelled appointments yesterday and I’m running low on my diabetes meds. I just have to convince the pharmacist to extend the Rx for additional tablets. 😬
The annoying thing is, my blood sugar stayed constant even with the meds. So I must do more cardio exercises to burn calories. I admit I haven’t had any meaningful exercise since I came back from my doctors in June because I was too tired after work or the weather sucked.
My other blood chem was unremarkable except for my elevated white blood cells (but my red blood cells are fine). The hypochondriac that I am thought I have lymphoma. But I calmed down for a bit because I don’t have fevers and I’m not losing weight.
I just started to get paranoid ever since my sister and I attended a family function on my father’s side a few weeks ago. I learned that my uncle who used to live in San Francisco went home this year to get palliative care. He didn’t tell the family he has lymphoma (the same disease that my grandfather had) cancer of the bone marrow and now he has dementia. Then my only living aunt (youngest sibling of my father) clarified with us that my other aunt (my father’s eldest sibling) died of breast cancer and not of lymphoma.
That changes things. A lot.
Because my latest mammogram showed I have a cyst but it seemed benign because I told the sonologist that we don’t have a history of breast cancer, only lymphoma.
I have to go back to my gynecologist. I think she will tell me to have another scan in December.
My older sister was also panicking because her last mammogram showed a mass but it seemed like it was benign. But now that we now know breast cancer runs in the family, we need to be more vigilant. She has to go back to her doctor.
Last night I cooked hot pot because I ran out of ideas. And it was stormy.
I’m also too lazy to cook tonight so we went out to eat. I didn’t want to go to a fastfood restaurant so we ended up here because there was parking.
I will take a 10-day leave on the week of my birthday so I can attend to my physical health (i.e. appointment with my gynecologist) and mental well-being.
Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory
The typhoon shifted southwards, making Metro Manila less of a direct hit while the center will miss my province. But of course the wind shear is still going to be there and the voluminous rainfall. Power will be gone probably for a few hours but it’s not going to be that destructive (keeping my fingers crossed).
Meanwhile, southern China is recovering from the most powerful typhoons on earth this year. Ragasa, (means “raging” or “sudden quickening of movement” in Tagalog) the name that the Philippines contributed to the international list of typhoons in Western North Pacific and South China Sea areas. Very apt name.
Considering the chances of landslides in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong province is lower compared to Taiwan and Philippines, I don’t think casualties would not be that high. However, damage to infrastructure could be worse.
I miss the full force news network of ABS-CBN because they had provincial bureaus that constantly keep news local and put the spotlight on disasters in the provinces. Only a handful of media outlets are reporting about northern Luzon, especially Batanes, which was in the eye of the typhoon, after Ragasa has passed. Northern Luzon is still without power and without the spotlight on them, the restoration will be slower. That’s how it is.
Because of the Manila-centric media landscape in the Philippines, news has been concentrating on Tropical Storm (less powerful than a typhoon) Opong, which will graze Metro Manila since it will cross Mindoro then on to northern Palawan. Very low reports on plea for relief and reconstruction in northern Luzon.
So why am I typing away at my keyboard this early? I need to work while there is power, plus I need to have my blood tests done after fasting for 9 hours. I will see my endocrinologist tomorrow.
Deceptive
Today’s weather is deceptively fair that’s why I risked driving back to Ortigas after spending the night at home.
But I’m so effin’ late!
My interview with one exec I chased was a dud. Good thing my ever-reliable government official gave me something to write about. So for the next couple of hours, I was just hunched over my laptop, trying to finish everything by 3 pm. I skipped the afternoon sessions because I no longer had the energy.
I jumped into the car so I can still catch the Pet Expo at the World Trade Center—because my cats are spoiled.
But it rained hard. The water along Edsa was already pooling so I was debating whether I should still go.
I ended up going because discounts are discounts.
And good thing I went. I met a representative from the Thai embassy and had a chat with him about what I was looking for—yes, this is for work. He then gave me a list of Thai pet food and supply companies. ❤️ He said the embassy will assist me in contacting them.
I had several buy one, get one offers for dry cat food and treats. I also was able to buy a cat carrier at a discount. Kimchi is so heavy that she broke that thing after arriving from the vet clinic.
Tomorrow I’ll just stay put because the typhoon will be whipping our asses off.