The Raven Republic Forums

this is not meant o steal DT's thunder with his other topic, but I just feel the need for some catharsis...

anyway... most of you guys know I'm working as a doctor at one of the big hospitals at quezon city.

here's my story... I've lost a batchmate and friend, well at least temporarily, she filed a leave of absence from the hospital not knowing whether she'll return or not.

Anyways... I have this batchmate, although we work at the same hospital we worked at differnet departments. I'm in surgery and she's in radiology.I've always treated her like a little sister from the start. "think little skater girl in ranma" parang ganun... She lives alone in manila, her parets aree in the province. Eversince we started at the hospital. we'd cover for each other, eat together, rant and rave together. (she knows everything that's inside my laptop) to make the story short, we were tight...

for the past 3 months she'd be complaining of headache occuring every 2-3 times a week. she would usually take pain killers to ease the pain. One time, she injected herself direct IV push because of the pain. At that time, I attributed it to her being maarte and/or fragile, heck being awake for more than 24 hours at a time does give you migranes... It's part of our job, live with it. don't be such a girl.

Then last Sunday, I got a text message, she was asking me to get her pain medicine from the wards since she can't get up to get it herself. At that point in time, I was a little toxic and irritated that I have to take care of her, reluctantly I got her the meds.

when I arrived at our quarters, she was all alone, crying in her bed in a fetal position, crutching her head in pain. (think Iori in KOF "riot-of-blood" type of pain) the oral meds I gave her had no effect. I called my senior and she said we'd better have her brought to the ER

at the hospital, we did a CT scan on her, she, being an organic part of the hospital and being well loved by the nurses and other doctors, made it easy to do everything "under the table"
CT scan revealed she had an "air envelope over her mastaoid area." (sorry I don't understand most of this myself... am no neuro surgeon... well not yet anyway...) in effect this causes a very severe migranes like the one she is experiencing. When I asked the neurologist on how much pain does he think she is experiencing now. he told me, "think of your worst migrane... then times 50" Eventually we resorted to usin 10mg of nubaine on her to get her to sleep. (for the pharmacology literate, 50mg tramadol IV had no effect)

She had no family in manila, it was a sunday, so most of my other batchmates are off... except those who are in duty. (me). I had to watch over her during her first night in the hospital. I arranged everything from the meds to be given, to the room, to the so called "hospital admission" heck, I even brought my EOs into the action. I watched over her during the course of my duty.

After 24 hours, she started feeling better, started joking and started being herslf again. I felt so relieved that It resolved by itself, and felt quite happy for her that she feels all better. My Senior told me to clean everything up, and keep everything that happens under wraps. everything was going fine. until the head aches started again.... We had no choice but to keep her in the room.

In hte end, I got the heat for rooming in a "patient" outside protocol, using hospital meds and resources outside protocol. me and my senior got the hammer. ( not that serious, but still, it's still a hammer ) we had to admit her formally through hospital channels.

this post is getting quite long... am starting to post like fox, with mountains of text.. I think i'll write the rest after a nap...

today is still a hard and confusing time for me... I'll sign off for a while.

haaayyy... It's a difficult time for team ancient

AEA1 Wrote:haaayyy... It's a difficult time for team ancient

Looks like it. Sunod-sunod mga pagsubok niyo ah.

Well, good luck to you and your friend Doc. Hope she gets better soon.

Nevermind getting the hammer if it's for a good friend.

Yep I hope she gets better soon too.

AEA1 Wrote:
haaayyy... It's a difficult time for team ancient

Hope your friend comes along well. I'll say something stolen. Dude bilog ang mundo.

Wishing the best in your future endevors..

So basically, she has an air pocket somewhere in her head?
Ouch.
Kung kabag nga masakit, I gues I could imagine how much that hurts...

Someone who keeps a hospital alive and bubbly doesn't deserve to suffer like that.
Like nix, I hope she gets better soon.

And yes I agree, It is a difficult time for Team Ancient

Best of luck Doc. Even if the hospital, or everything is against you, every life you save will always make the difference for that person.

May things go for the better for you guys.

I think everyone here's having difficult times, or at least about to. I have one coming at me, and I know it.

Good luck to everyone else. I mean it. I only have hunches about stuff minsan, and most of the time tama ang hunch ko.

What're they gonna do about that air pocket? afaik, they ought to fix that quick, it's bound to get worse. Hope your close friend recovers fast and well, Doc.

Can migraines be cured?

I really hope your friend gets better.

Getting the hammer for a friend is fine, but if used public funding to treat her, I also hope it gets paid back.

I'm just thankful its not an aneurysm ( am I writing this correctly and am I correct in thinking this)

because that is something of a pressure problem and that can be dealt with by removing a piece of the skull right?
the thing is how did an air pocket get there in the first place?

edit: my sig isn't helping here isn't it ... sorry
edit2: how do you do spoiler tags again I think I need to place that on my sig XD

thanks for the support people....
for your questions...
she was admitted for 3 days. under the service of ENT with a working diagnosis of migraine headache secondary to mastoiditis(which means, we cannot interfere with their management). Her parents were notified about her condition and went to manila, they payed for the hospital bill.
The so called "air pocket" is present in all persons, it is essential for sound conduction. from what I understand, hers is caused by an infection in the middle and inner ear, which was left untreated. (good going genius, by telling her to ignore her headaches). The infection caused inflamation in the inner ear and it's surrounding structures (i.e brain). to make matters worse, her mastoid sapce is exceptionally small which leaves little or no room for expansion.
She was treated with IV antibiotics.

as for prognosis, once the infection is gone, she's cured, but the configuration of her temporal bone, makes her very prone to migraine headaches. So hers is more of an anatomical anomaly than a disease. She has to live with the fact that her migraines are going to be magnified in intensity.

@cz yeah, it could be worse, there are a lot of biiger and badder diseases out there. I believe you are referring to a burhole, yeah, we do that for space occupying lesions in the brain to relieve pressure.

@apple, yeah we did use public funds, but got caught, don't worry... It got paid back.
Migraines, by themselves, usually resolves spontaneously, unless it is caused by some serious underlying reason, like a tumor or an infection.

NOw, she's back home in Samar, resting, she's maintained on ketoprophen and some other drug the ENT people gave her. last contact I got was 2 days ago, when she called me to say her headaches began again. Her family is going to admit her to a hospital close to hmoe. To rule out brain involvement.

It might take a long time for her to get back in the game.... and chances are, she'd be practicing in a hospital closer to home, and not in manila anymore.

Anyway, as her forever loyal friend, I'd respect and support whatever she decides for herself.

This sucks...

I'd like to post pictues, but Rick's not here as of the moment. The wifi of the hospital sucks anyway, It's a miracle this post went through.

need to unwind... I'll put on a t-shirt and a baseball cap and beat up some hid in tekken 6

signing out for now

Show up this Thursday if you can. Relax a little.

Hope she feels better and she heals quick.. this sounds extremely serious. Keep us posted.

Best of luck and prayers be with her.

it's definite... she's not coming back to manila, she'll be working at some hospital in Cebu, which is closer to her home.
at least her headaches are starting to be more manageable. In that sense, I'm happy for her.

I thinks it's true that you'll only realize the value of someone/something when you lose it.
the hospital now seems to be a lonelier place.

I've served my sentence... I've been on perpetual duty since Wednesday. walang uwian...
balik na ako sa dati kong sched this week.

Times like these... to become a pilot is very inviting... hahaha

As you said, at least her headaches are more manageable now. Maybe she can get completely well. Maybe you could try to visit her in Cebu when you have some time?

I think the lesson here is that shit happens, so it would be best to tell people what you think of them ASAP.

Being a pilot really does seem to be a good job for a lot of us these days

If I have time.... I really wish I could... basically, the hospital just sucks the life force out of you... I go to work everyday, even on holidays. halfday on saturday and sunday. I go on duty every 3 days. (32 hours straight) "sabay kami papasok ng duty nurse.... natapos na shift nila, umuwi na sila, nakatulog, nakaligo, nakabalik na sa ospital the next day, nandun pa rin ako!" no vacation leaves until I gain higher up the ladder. I work half days on holidays (except on duty). such a noble profession indeed.

RANT RANT RANT t@ng-ina!. bwisit!, KUSO!, Bakit! leche!, Naze! Doushita! Damn!, anak ng... iho de puta!!! HAAAA!!!!! (ako naman ang may migraine) END of RANT

yeah there is an improvement in her condition, but there is still the occasional mind numbing headache, as she calls it. Am still hoping that she still improves.

hmm... "shit happens,so it would be best to tell people what you think of them ASAP" I think I blew my chance on this one... I feel as if a part of me was ripped out from under me. She is one of the people that help me keep my sanity in the midst of madness
"wala nang magagalit sa akin when I watch porn", "wala nang sisita sa akin kung wala akong "genuine care and concern sa pasyente", "wala nang mangungulit sa akin na sobra na siyang pagod o gutom" , "wala nang kakampi sa akin against other doctors", "wala nang magreremind sa akin na may GF na ako when I'm with nurses"

yeah... there is text, there is e-mail... but I still miss my little sis.