♡ Aɴᴅ I Cᴏᴜʟᴅ Nᴏᴛ Asᴋ Fᴏʀ Mᴏʀᴇ ♡

I've never felt this blessed and happy.  Since I was a little girl I've always dreamed of meeting my knight in shining armor, my prince, my one true love like those in fairy tales.  I grew up and realized that it's not that simple.  You fall asleep more than one day and your parents won't wait for a prince to arrive, kiss you and wake you up, instead they'd take you to the emergency room to seek medical assistance and besides a stranger is not supposed to kiss you anyway (for me, i don't know for the rest coz it's a matter of "values" anyway).  Anyhow, the more I mature the more I found out that finding the right man is not as easy as I thought it was.  I've had some life-changing experiences when it comes to this love hunting until one fine day a miracle happened and  love found me in the most unexpected way.  

Like most (if not all) women, I've always dreamt of being treated like a princess, being loved, respected and valued. I've always wished to have a man who will make me feel like I'm the most beautiful woman on earth even if I just got off of bed and that's exactly what my husband is doing since he found me.  He is my miracle. He came to my life like a dream and he never fails to amaze me with his loving words, his loving thoughts and care even if at the moment we don't get the chance to be always together as much as we want.  

Everyday my heart is filled with gratefulness for having found my one true love.  The man who have crossed thousands of miles just to be with me many times and not even a volcano stopped him, for real!!  The man who never gets tired of telling me that he loves me.  The man who makes me his world, his everything and definitely his top priority.  The man who have chosen to love me in spite of our many differences.  The man who have chosen to be with me for the rest of our lives and who have chosen me to be the mother if his child.  The man who makes me happy every second of my life and who never fails to understand me no matter how complicated I sometimes can be.  He's more than just a husband to me, he's my best friend, my soul mate, my better-half, my world, my life...in a word, my everything!!!

"Baby, I can't thank you enough for loving me the way you do..it's immeasurable!  Everyday I spend with you is a Valentine's day.  I am looking forward to holding your hands again.  Je t'aime et je t'aimerai pour l'eternité mon amour, tu es le meilleur!!!"

Mme. S. Cadic

FʀɪᴇɴᴅsʜɪᴘS

In almost three decades I've had friends that had came and gone along with time.  It's not very easy to maintain a good friendship for years.  All these years I've got a few who stayed and there are some who are still reachable, I know where they are, they know where I am but there's not much of an effort to "meet-up" and catch the lost times.  

In the past, when cell phones and computers/social networking sites weren't present it was twice harder to keep a good relationship due to the communication restraint.  Everyone had to rely on land line phone calls or letters.  One of my sister's closest friend from high school lives in Mactan, the closest island to Cebu but I remember them writing each other in the past and sending post cards on special occasions.  In high school I studied three years in the city leaving some friends at the countryside whom I also exchanged with letters via my mother.  It was sweet.  There was a great effort.  Nowadays, almost everyone are just an sms away and yet not everybody are communicating effectively, as they say "if there's a will there's a way".  No matter how easy it is to communicate if there's no will to really meet each other to catch up the lost times then nothing will happen.  Like any relationships, somehow the friendship will also fade away with time.  In just a year a lot of things could happen, a lot of changes in each others' lives may occur and we may be able to constantly communicate about these changes but it's different if "friends" share these important changes, if "friends" share their ups and downs because that's what friendship is....to have someone with you through thick and thin.

Luckily, I have a few good friends all through these years.  These are the people who are like sisters to me.  We are three very different people who stayed with each other through it all.  We've shared a lot of battles together.  They've been with me as I was with them.  Words are not enough to describe how deep the friendship is.  There were some misunderstandings along the way of course but we surpassed it.  It is such a comfort knowing that at the end of the day you are sure that no matter what happens you always got someone  to count on aside from your family, that you always got someone who will laugh and cry with you.

We've all had our piece of cake with life, we've all had our share.  One almost got married but lost her beloved in an accident, the other shared a life with a man and they got a child and another one but the second one's life was eternally taken a few hours after birth and the last one almost got married but the supposed union was cancelled due to irreconcilable differences.  These experiences have taught the three of us a lot.  We've learned from our experiences and from the experiences of each other.  We've all had a rough ride but we always got the shoulder to lean on.  

Now, our lives have changed a lot...so far gone away from those tough times.  The memories, the nightmares are still there but we've all moved on.  Time have helped us a lot, maybe not all of us are healed but we're too far from our shattered selves.  We're all very happy with our loved ones.  One of us gets her strength from her lovely little boy, the other one have chosen to just be single and take her chances again (with her loving son in mind too since the child is staying with his father) and the last one recently married the man of her dreams.  

Life has a lot of surprises and not all are good surprises, some can be really puzzling and challenging and some are just awesomely great!  No matter what the future brings, if we got true friends by our sides burdens are lessen and joys are doubled☺ 

Mme. S. Cadic

Mʏ Tᴏɴsɪʟʟᴇᴄᴛᴏᴍʏ Exᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ

Back in 2010 I was confined at the hospital for three days due to chronic tonsillitis and by then I was already advised by my doctor to have my tonsils removed since it often swells and it might create a more serious problem but i just didn't really take that advise seriously since after that "confinement" incident it kind'a rested as well but in 2011 I had the same problem while travelling in Manila with my husband and I've gone through the same hell of a pain.  My husband urged me to have the operation asap and I told him i'll do it in Cebu.  I got busy with work and started doing my language studies so I forgot about it until the "illness" itself reminded me of its existence.  Like what my doctor said it'll keep on coming back until they're removed so I wasn't surprised but it made me decide to really do the operation.

On the 25th of January I admitted myself at the Cebu Doctor's University Hospital as advised by my doctor for the tonsillectomy scheduled early morning the next day.  The operation was done at 07:00 and it lasted about an hour.  I stayed at the recovery room for two hours without any grave pain but first thing I did when I gained consciousness was "coughing" and it alarmed the nurses at the recovery room coz I might bleed.  Coughing is a common after-effect of the operation since while on the process the throat created a lot of mucus.  I was able to stop my coughing quickly when the nurses warned me about the bleeding.  I got back in my room at about 10:30 and I felt so hungry so I asked Mama to get me some ice cream.  I tried to eat but it made me want to throw-up so I stopped, stayed calm and just tried to relax.  My throat felt so dry, Mama couldn't find any "cold" water so i tried to drink a bottled water with normal temp and God if felt like hundreds of needles were scratching my wounds!  

On the first day I couldn't talk, I was afraid to but the pain wasn't really very important yet since the anesthetics were still in effect but the next day when I woke up I started to feel miserable.  I couldn't eat anything other than ice cream, yogurt and jelly and this lasted for about three to four days.  Everything I take-in must be really cold otherwise it'll be very painful.  In other countries after a tonsillectomy procedure the patient goes home right away but here in the Philippines the patient stays in the hospital for about three to four days but in my case I stayed for six f****ng days coz I had to wait for some papers from my job as required by "Intellicare" my HMO, otherwise I'm gonna have to pay some ₱10,000+ which of course I'm not willing to pay since I got full coverage of my insurance, so I just waited though I felt like I was in prison.

Oh thank God for family and good friends!!  I'm an attention seeker when I'm sick, I've always been like that since I was little.  I want to be pampered, to be taken-care-of and to be looked-after when i'm not feeling well.  If we're close and I don't get your attention when I'm not feeling well then I'd be upset, some would say it's immature but it's just really me...i'm just really like that.  All my loved ones know that and they've never failed to support me.  On my recovery days I was often short of patience, so irritable coz i couldn't explain the pain and thankfully everyone had been so understanding.  

I've never spent a penny for the operation but I've spent a lot for my food.  There must be ice cream everyday.  Here are the foods that helped me get through it:  Vanilla flavored ice cream, Yogurt, Jelly, Food supplement (Ensure - vanilla flavored too), Porridge and Choco Frappe.  Then when I was already able take some a bit harder food I started it with pasta: spaghetti, macaroni, pancit-canton and lomi.  My brother also bought me some fruits, I was able to take mango and water melon, both refrigerated.  

Everyday of the healing process had been a challenge.  At one moment I got so afraid to eat, I wasn't able to eat enough food to support my medication and I ended up vomiting which caused me to bleed.  My coughing was also a constant issue, on the 11th day of my recovery I wasn't able to hold my cough and I bled even more than the first bleeding incident which got me a bit scared.  The next day I went to see my doctor and he asked me to take my pain relievers again and another medicine to help me soften the scar so the healing will be smoother as well.  If eating is a struggle so is sleeping, the pain really wakes me up in the middle of the night up to the 12th or 13th day of the recovery period.  On the first week after the operation the smell of my breath was not nice, it smelt like medicines and my taste was just awful.  I was eating ice cream everyday but it didn't really taste like ice cream at all.  Another thing is that a few days after the operation there were some sore gums near the wounds and on each side of my tongue which made it even harder for me to eat.

Apparently my recovery isn't as fast as expected according to my doctor so I'm not able to get back to work immediately.  Since I bled on the 11th day of my recovery, he had to extend my medical leave for a couple more days.  Thankfully I'm already at the end part of my recovery.  Today is my 14th day and I still have a little pain, still couldn't talk "straight" because I feel like something is holding my tongue and there's still a few left of the sore gums.

If it wasn't necessary I really wouldn't have done it.  It's like a torture everyday but it'll be worth it.  At least I won't have to worry about having tonsillitis ever again and I'm able to avoid buying and taking the strong antibiotics which might even damage my kidneys and liver.  

A day after the operation.