Friday, March 26, 2004

In the morning, Paul Denise, Pearl, Arianne, and I were ready to donate blood! But, Pearl has to have her X-Ray at 8 in the morning as part of her college entrance pre-requirements. Later in the afternoon, she has a seminar at the university, which conflicts with our schedules but, I told her to follow if she has time...

Paul Denise and I arrived at PCH at 9:30 a.m. Immediately as we get off from the vehicle, I saw Junjun yelling at the guy in the Information Desk, they did not allowed my son to go upstairs! By then, I have noticed that there were so many people both inside and outside the hospital premises, mostly in uniforms. When I inquired what's going on, I was advised that all visitors and watchers were not allowed in the building unless it's the scheduled visiting hours, which is from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon and from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Surprised why they became strict on the third day of my visit, they said there was an on-going Fire Drill Exercise in the hospital and strictly no one is allowed to stay inside the rooms except patients. So we waited patiently near the Lab room.

At 10 a.m., we hurriedly signed in the log book, went upstairs and had little talk with the personnel at the Nurse Station. I tried to discuss about the endorsement or referral letter to PCSO to help my son pay half of the bills but I was told processing would take us about ten days, the least.

While thinking what to do, we then proceeded to PCH lab for blood donation, they normally close at 3 p.m., one hour early every Friday. As my turn came, I was given a sheet of paper, asked to go to ER window 10 but, ER was temporarily transferred at the other side of the building due to Fire Drill Exercise.

At ER, there were so many patients in queue but I talked with the nurse that we're not patients and she must get our BP and weight immediately so that we can go to the other hospital for blood screening and donation. I weighed about 68 kg. and had a BP of 100/80 while Paul Denise weight was only 60 kg. and had a BP of 110/80! After she noted our weight and BP, I went upstairs to tell them we're leaving but I met my son going downstairs in tears. Alarmed, I found out later that his wife might stay for another ten days because the hospital personnel will take time to issue Medical Abstract since the attending surgeon, Dr. Virata, was not around yet and there's no clinical abstract issuance every Saturday and Sunday! I smiled at him, patted his head, and assured him that I will do my best to get Tintin out the same day and he should keep calm and take everything easy.

At Las Piñas District Hospital, I paid P2,000 for blood screening and went to Blood Bank, located in the next building. Mohammed Khayer M. Safar, the one who screened us, asked series of questions. Disgusted, he disqualified me to donate my blood because I will soon have my monthly period while Paul Denise passed as a blood donor (blood type O)! Mohammed says women who have menstrual period 7 days before or after, are not qualified to donate blood. Just the same, I insisted that he screened my blood, dropped it in a blue solution, and it went straight at the bottom - I passed! But still, I'm not qualified to donate due to my forthcoming period!

Screening is done, it was about 11:45 in the morning. Mohammed told my son to eat first before blood letting and advised us to come back at 1 p.m., after lunch break. My daughter contacted me then but I told her to wait for us at home and no need to follow us, she is not qualified also to donate blood, her period is due next week.

Since I was disqualified to donate blood, we need another blood donor as my replacement. Knowing there is another blood donor with Junjun, Paul Denise contacted his big brother and told him to follow us at Las Piñas District Hospital with his donor. Few minutes later, Junjun and his donor arrived, I asked them to rest while we're in SM Sucat, had our lunch, changed some money and bought a loose dress for Tintin.

At SM Sucat, I had difficulty changing the money. I changed them in two places, at Hyper Supermarket and at Banco De Oro but, they rejected some bills. When they asked for my identification, I even forgot to bring my passport! Who in this world would remember to bring a passport if we want to discharge a patient from the hospital? Anyway, the guy at Banco De Oro offered his ID in order to change the dollars. What identifications I had with me were expired Driver's License and Tax Identification ID which they didn't honored.

Finally, as they finished blood letting and we received Blood Bank Certification, we went straight back to PCH in La Huerta. I submitted the certification at the Lab, they issued a Clearance which was signed by a Social Worker. It's what we need before a Statement of Account be released to us. When we're done paying all the surgical expense of Tintin, we went home relieved.

I feel good that my children are complete again...