Progress.

I finally hooked up with Dr. Erlyn Cabanag, St. Luke's famous cardiologist at 7:30 this morning. Via the phone!! I am truly in the ranks of the privileged, for having a sis/kababata for a cardiologist-consultant from that leading hospital. I mean, people fly to Manila to line up for a month to get an appointment with the specialists there, and here I am able to consult with one from the comfort of my own bedroom?? Truly I am blessed.
And somehow, after weeks of wondering, worry and confusion over Dr.One & Dr.2's conflicting diagnoses, somehow, Dr.Erlyn's simple analysis was comforting. She said: I am truly hypertensive (for real, and not just 'stress hypertensive' as the other 2 docs called it), and as such, require some meds to bring my bp down. The bad news is, i have to lay off my favorite Frito Lays potato chips, the bbq-flavored nuts, sawsawang patis, suka and toyo-and anything else with SALT! At the end of 5 days, if I were to be a good, obedient girl, my BP would go down, and all my problems would be solved. Well, maybe. Doc E still wants to view my heart scan video---which I have to grab from the hands of Doc#2---so she can confirm if my heart does have so much love to give it's bursting. But hey--i'll worry about that later. I gotta worry first about what to eat if I am to live without the salt of the earth???It's like telling me not to breathe!!!

Anyhow, after the phone-consult, i had to run off to meet with my Breakfast Club, who was very strict about what I ate in front of them. I was allowed one teeny bite of the crispy dilis, though. Had fun but had to run after an hour and a half to join the kumares---who, lo and behold, had all the sinful food spread out: dinuguan, 3 kinds of cake, ube halaya, leche flan...and wouldn't hear of my not eating any despite my making kwento about Dr. Erlyn's lay-off-the-salt warnings. Hmm. Maybe they want me to die early? Dr. Vivs was there (my neighbor who's an endocrinologist), and started planning to get me a CT-scan, a salter something monitor, etc,etc...whoa! Methinks she and the other docs hereabouts had their chance to heal me, and now that I was getting happy with Dr. Erlyn, she's suddenly planning all these other tests and telling me not to listen to my sis? I'm starting to get stressed here.

Fortunately, I am able to run out again, this time to drive down the hill, as another group of friends await me (the 'Old Neighborhood' friends)---and with a table laden with pasta, roast chicken, kinilaw, lumpia, pancit, suman and mangoes! And it's not even 12 noon yet, ha. Shoosh.
This group is more sympathetic (like the first group), and allow me to eat just the kinilaw, suman, white chicken meat and ripe mangoes. The rest was off-limits. Then later, they drive me to the drugstore to buy the meds Dr. Erlyn prescribed. But only after an hour on the videoke.

I am finally home by 4pm, in time to see my boys coming home from school! After sharing some merienda with them, i hie off to bed for a nap. Three eating events in one day can be pretty tiring. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz