"Tonsil" Town

We arrived at the hospital at around 5:40 am
 as  the schedule written
on the admission slip was at 6am only to
find out that the surgery will be
at 9am. It's hospital policy that a patient has
to be there 3 hours prior.

Changing time; my son smiling not knowing
 really what lies ahead

frown he did when he was asked to smile :)

Playing with his daddy's phone to while away the time

first hospital meal for the day arrived...but not for my little one.
we were advised not to give him anything prior to his surgery

too busy to notice that food has arrived (though not for him)

preparation has started; here he was orally given a

 mild sedative 

my baby as he is wheeled into the O.R. now I feel a

 lump in my throat...

After the surgery, nurse said the first time he opened his eyes

 he cried a lot because he was looking for me :(

the culprit...

Parang lasing lang :) My "drunken" son
(how he was when he was given the mild sedative)

Putting on a Brave Front

We've been to the doctor this morning and were told that the procedure has been scheduled tomorrow, 28 June 2011 at 6:00 in the morning. I don't really mind if I have to wake up a lot earlier than usual even though I know I would lack from sleep again tonight. I am aware that the surgery is a routine one and have been assured, but it's those simple procedures where things might go wrong. I remember when I was still employed at HSBC, we were constantly reminded by our manager that we have to be vigilant and have to focus on our Lost and Stolen calls. Why? Because these are the calls where we don't need to think much; our opening and closing spiels are almost like a chant as we say them on each and every call. These kind of calls are such that we can do them even with our eyes closed. Our manager added that it is in the simplest things that major errors can happen. And it's true, one time I had a Lost and Stolen call where I totally "lost" it! Instead of cancelling the lost card of the customer I cancelled the one that was with him. So you can just imagine how he reacted when I told him about it. Hence, my anxiety...

Thus, I call on everyone to join me in prayer as I say....

Heavenly Father Author of Life, Healer of Wounds, Source of Abundance, Unconditional Love and Mercy, please hold Ranel Allen Francis C. Viana Jr., in the palm of your hand and look at his adenoids and tonsils more closely, examine it, heal it, strengthen the weak parts, reconnect the areas that are loose, mend it and make him new again. Please direct, guide and bless the hands, minds, eyes, and instruments of the team of professionals, the ENT surgeon/specialist,  the anaesthesiologists, specialized nurses, medical attendants assigned to do the surgery tomorrow / today and every person that touches him. Invite them to focus their minds to the tasks at hand and make each one of them perform their assigned tasks O Lord perfectly and precisely attuned to your command as the Great Conductor, Divine Healer and Comforter.O Holy Spirit and Comforter breathe love and peace to the family and love ones, that they may continue to feel your warmth and love on this day of the surgery. Assure them that Ranel Allen Francis C Viana, Jr. will be healed fast and soon as he will continue to serve you in the ministry you called him to do for the proclamation of Christs' goodness, grace and mercy. We call on the intercession of our Blessed Virgin Mary, all the angels and saints in heaven, especially St. Monica today. We lift up our prayers in the Name of God the Father, God the Son, in union with God the Holy Spirit who lives forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer from: Touching the Soul 

This morning while the kids were waiting for their carpool, I heard my older son say to Allen "Allen ooperahan ka may tatanggalin sa ilong mo, masakit yun. Gagamitan nila ng pambunot ng buhok ipapasok diyan sa ilong mo tapos bubunutin yung adenoids." (Allen, you will be operated on, the doctors will remove something from your nose and that would be very painful. They will use a tweezer which they will insert through your nose to remove your adenoids).  See??? how comforting his kuya (elder brother) sounded? I was tempted to pull him by his ears away from my youngest son but I just stood still. I wanted to know how my youngest would react. And to my surprise, he laughed and saw the funny side of it. My son is brave indeed even more than I think I am.  Putting on a brave front since this morning is such a herculean task where my youngest son is involved. Sigh.

Anyway, I have been briefed that my son should not eat or drink anything after 12 midnight. That we must tell them immediately should my son have cough or colds so that they can postpone the surgery. I told my son everything, and he asked me if it would be painful. I explained to him that he will be given a medicine that will make him sleep so that he won't feel the pain. I just told him about his grandmother's text message this morning. That she underwent the same procedure when she was his age. His reaction "E di sige po Mommy tutulog na lang ako agad para hindi ako masaktan" (Ok fine mommy, I will just sleep so that I won't feel any pain.) Or....

He'll probably do this again :)

Jollibirthday!

My youngest son celebrated his 6th birthday at the new flat that we are to transfer to in the next couple of days. My son has been requesting for a Jollibee birthday party since last year but we never got to doing it because our budget that time was for the sole purpose of joining my husband here in Saudi Arabia. We finally were able to this year, but since the Jollibee branch here is small our only option is to have it delivered to school or to our new flat. Hubby decided to have it done in the new flat so that we can invite our friends too. I baked or rather steamed my 2nd cake (i do wish i already have an oven! sigh!). Overall the kids can't complain, though there were not enough chairs for our guests everything went fine. We had cheeseburgers, spaghetti and ice cream delivered from Jollibee and we added Fawaz broasted chicken as part of our son's birthday menu. 

We had so much untouched food left hence, we distributed them to friends, neighbors, and then some :) The next day, which was his actual birthday I baked/steamed another cake, prepared pasta and since there was still untouched broasted chicken left, I "made over" the left-overs". The broasted chicken I sauteed in olive oil, lots of tomatoes and garlic, which turned out well. :)

To my youngest son, this post may be a tad delayed but I just want you to know that you bring so much sunshine to my life. My mornings are brighter everytime you greet and hug me at the same time, you are my levelheaded child, the one always with a smile, a joke, and a story and if there is one movie line that I can borrow...it would be from Jerry Maguire ... "You complete me :)"  There is not a single day that I thank our Lord for giving me this responsibility of taking care of you and rearing you up. I love you very very much son! Keep smiling...keep shining...(knowing you can always count on me)

What's cooking?

I made an experiment yesterday which I'd like to share with you it's just that I love Zucchini so much that I can think about a lot of good stuff where I can include this delicious vegetable. The other night I sauteed it with Ampalaya (Bitter gourd) and to complete this vegetable dish i topped it with "Itlog na maalat" (salted egg). The kids loved it so much! Too bad again I was not able to take a picture. Then last night I made another Zucchini dish. I just sauteed it with lots of garlic and 1/4 sliced onions, and two big tomatoes. Once done I squeezed half a lemon and mixed it with the vegetable. And it turned out to be such a refreshing veggie dish. We paired this with Pan barbecued chicken and for dessert we had watermelon.Yum!

Sauteed Zucchini 

Pan barbecued chicken leg

And for dessert we had humongous watermelon

I bought this mango from the baqala (store / mini-mart) I wanted to taste the mango that they sell here and sad to say it was not as succulent nor as sweet as our own mangoes back home. The mango here tasted more like  overriped Indian mango, my kids didn't like it one bit.

Forgetful dad

If I could only put a voice activated device on my husband's comb I will and it would say "I'm here, I'm here!" hahaha :)  Every morning after taking his bath he would ask me where his comb is and every morning when he asks I would say the same thing "you should wrap your perennially missing comb with a string to your neck or tape it under your chin" hehehe I think I should put a small box by the door where he can easily find it. I guess we are all like that we put things down without thinking about it and then just forget. Generally, we don't make a conscious effort to remember where we put our things especially after a long day at work that when we get home the first thing that comes to mind is to eat freshly cooked dinner with our family and take a relaxing bath after. 

Mixed nuts

I've let 2 months pass my blog by hence, was not able to share bits and pieces of important events in the month of May. So in a nutshell i would like to share how we spent my husband's birthday which was co-celebrated with Mother's Day. That particular day I tried my hand on my first steamed chocolate cake which worked well. And that my husband and children would truly attest to, as we only had the cake for several hours from the time I baked...well steamed it. I prepared Pancit canton (Chinese stir fried noodles), Chili garlic shrimps, mini sandwiches, gelatin and of course, the birthday cake.

I bought my husband a watch which he chose himself while he gave me an AB Roller which I requested. It was even nicer that my husband and kids helped assemble it.

Happy Father's day to my husband

"Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a Dad" I read this from somewhere and I definitely agree! For this year's Father's day I made dinner a bit special. My husband and I did not plan on anything special for this year's Father's day besides we have been going out quite a lot these past few days and with the "oven toaster" kind of weather we made a "mental promissory note" to just stay home after Saturday :)  I cooked chopsuey with Zucchini and Szechuan chicken. Too bad I was not able to take pictures though! Plus we had left over homemade cake from my son's 6th birthday yesterday!

Happy Father's day hubby! I hope you like the cards that our children prepared for you! We love you!

Papa... the wind beneath my wings...

From across the miles Papa i send you my warmest regards... I hope you are reading this....

I would have wanted to share with you a long letter that my father wrote to me and my sisters ages ago, however, I seem to have left it in the Philippines. Before coming to Saudi Arabia, I've managed to go over all my stuff and that was when I came across Papa's letter. It brought back a lot of memories from my rebellious past but I keep thinking that I am thankful for that letter. It was everything he wanted to say but can't. I still wish my father was as talkative as I am. I know for a fact that my sisters and I got our funny bones from him but I got to keep most of the stuff that was meant for a son :-p haha yep my bemuscled legs, my forever tan, my pudgy toes huhuhu  and there's even more not worth sharing hahaha. I remember that amongst my sisters, I would be the one who would climb up the roof and help him fix our antenna. The one who would lend him a helping hand for domestic repairs. And when he is not around I would be the one my mom would call to kill a rat or a small snake. Now when I get to think about it, I can only shake my head and wonder how I've managed. But i know those skills would come in handy and am glad Papa was the one who taught me. I got my "boy skills" from my dad and my "girl skills" from my mom...the best of both worlds :) who can beat that?! 

Papa, thank you for keeping me - thank you for putting wheels on my bag so that I can stroll it around in school. Though my classmates get the expensive ones that they bought with "ready wheels", I get to keep a bag that my own father improvised for me. Thank you for putting me in school and making sure I graduated :) Thank you for teaching me how to appreciate crossword puzzles and teaching me how to drive... For siding with me at times for telling me I can start having a boyfriend at 18 and when I did, spanked me with your inverted slippers (it did not hurt a bit hahaha) and for everything else...Maraming Salamat! I love you Papa I hope you know that your little girl still exist in the mother that I am now. I am ever so grateful to have you as my Papa! Happy Father's day!

"Did you ever know that you're my hero?

You're everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you you're my hero?
You're everything, everything I wish I could be.
Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings."

Confessions of a Worrywart

Tomorrow my son will be undergoing Adenotonsillectomy and this is keeping me wide awake. I know that the doctor has assured me of it being a routine procedure and all still I can't help but feel worried. His doctor has advised me of what to expect after the operation. If I remember them right, I was to expect the following:

1. My son would feel pain most especially during the first couple of days but it should subside after a week or so.

2. To expect a little bleeding from time to time.

3. Foul odor coming from his mouth.

4. Because of the discomfort, I should expect my son to be irritable.

I was also advised to give him only soft food while he is healing -- jello, mashed potatoes, soup (but not too hot), anything as long as it does not have edges would be fine. Tonight I am preparing myself emotionally as this is my youngest son who will be placed on that operating table, he just turned 6 last Saturday, June 18th. Hence, I pray...

Lord, please guide the hands of  Dr. Hani and the other doctors as they perform the procedure on my son, Allen. May his hands be light and his fingers deft. Stay with my son Lord and have his Guardian Angel protect him too. I ask you this through your son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Judgment Day

Am not talking about  Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie, terminator 2: Judgment Day, nor am I talking about the recent newsworthy "doomsday" prediction of Harold Camping. The former being a movie I never tire of watching while the latter, news that I don't give any of my two cents' worth. It's almost 4am and again am still wide awake, perhaps the thought of going back to the hospital tomorrow is keeping me on my toes. It is bringing me unnecessary anxieties. I just hope everything goes well tomorrow and the days to come... It's not really going to be judgment day for any of us but the fact that in the next few days my son will go under the knife is not really doing good for the skin on my forehead. But at least I know that his breathing will be normal, he won't have to snore all the time, he won't be losing oxygen which is much needed by his brain. I know it is but a routine procedure but you can't blame a mother for being such a worry wart. Ask me to spell the word "worry" and I would have to spell it with my name. 

Tomorrow I will hold my son's little hands but who's gonna hold mine? 

Little Helping hands

These picture is not of a little boy being forced to do manual labor...let's be clear on that! :) This is actually my son, who, from the goodness of his heart, volunteered to clean our room. How can a wannabe multi-tasking mother like me refuse? I need an additional pair of hands, size does not matter. I was just so glad that my son took the liberty and just vacuumed away. Today's generation are actually luckier because now we have vacuum cleaners, and motorized domestic tools that aide us in cleaning our homes. Back then we only had the broom, coconut husk, floor wax, and a piece of rag. Imagine that?! And my sisters and I would usually finish our chores after an hour or so which is translated as an hour or so taken from our "play time." Now these machines help us finish the job in a matter of minutes. 

But this is not really about how such cleaning aides are making our life easier, am sharing this because my son has offered his little hands to help me get the job done. Now this is another feather to my cap! Perhaps, I am doing something right afterall. :)