‘For many people, going to the hospital for tests can be an unnerving thing.’
FOUR years ago today, I was flat on my back in the emergency room of St Luke’s Medical Center-Global City. I was critical with COVID and confined to stall A-11, surrounded by a sheet of plastic and a second sheet like a shower curtain that hung on curtain rods. The first clear plastic layer allowed the nurses and doctors to monitor me (and everyone else similarly situated) as they went about their rounds in a highly sanitized environment. The second layer gave us privacy if we needed it; in my case since I had friends send over a commode (I didn’t want to “evacuate” while wearing diapers), then I needed the privacy.
I was in the ER, in that small stall wide enough just for a hospital bed and equipment such as my high flow oxygen machine, for three days before finally being moved to a private room on the 10th floor.
Today I’m back at SLMC-BGC, this time to be, well, “double penetrated.” I’m in for a gastroscopy — the procedure where a camera is inserted down your throat all the way to the stomach to check for ulcers and whatnot — followed by a colonoscopy which is the same thing albeit from the other end.
I’m having it done for a number of reasons: first, because I’m 62 and because my older brother survived a stage 1 colon cancer scare then I’m considered a “high risk” case; second, because my last colonoscopy was in February 2020 (I passed with flying colors – pink to be exact) it’s time to do a new one; and third because this has to be done especially to men from age 45 upwards to screen out colon cancer which is easy to detect and easy to treat if detected early.
The gastroscopy will provide my internist as complete a view as possible of the passage that food and beverage go through from, uhm, start to finish.
For many people, going to the hospital for tests can be an unnerving thing. I’ve had a number of friends comment on my regular posts about going to St Luke’s, saying they themselves have avoided getting a checkup because, they say “baka may makita pa.” But it’s precisely why you go to subject yourself to “torture” — you want to find out if there’s something that must be found out. Because, as I said earlier, it’s always better to find out early so corrective action or, better yet, preventive maintenance can be conducted.
I’m 100% sure that life will be better for ourselves and our loved ones if we have regular checkups. Yes they can be expensive if you are not covered by an HMO plan, but considering how expensive it is to get sick in this country, the expense of a checkup is an easier one to bear than the expense of confinement and treatment.
And so today I’m back at SLMC-BGC, hoping I’ll be found again to be in the “pink of health” but ready to accept whatever it is the doctor has to tell me once I’m awake.
For your own sake and peace of mind, get yourselves “penetrated” too!
