My mom was diagnosed of pancreatitis resulting to mild heart attack last January 2. I've learned she became extremely exhausted selling pertinent stuffs for the holidays. Enthusiastically, she would wake up very early to manage her store but she would go home late at night, just to sleep. For the entire month of December 2008, she was so focused with her profitable activities so it wasn't really a surpise when she suddenly became sick after the New Year's Eve. Thank's God...I can't thank HIM enough for keeping her safe now.
Try to "google" pancreatitis and definitely you'll see it's detailed description . Generally, according to research this can be attributed to salty diets, alcoholism or stress; also there are two forms of pancreatitis--acute and chronic which are both potentially fatal.
Among Filipinos, we're quiet familiar with "acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis" which is popularly linked to "bangungot" or in local terms a sudden death while at sleep as caused by a nightmare. Surprisingly, almost all reported deaths are common among men. We've heard about Rico Yan and Marky Cielo-- both are young actors who died of "acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis". What have caused male Filipinos susceptible to this folklore disease remains unexplainable.
In the province, there was this household wherein almost all male siblings in their family died because of "bangungot" when each of them reached the age of 35-40. In fact,their father and uncles also died of the same condition when they were still young. We could only imagine a family of widow and their kids grew up without a father.
Some older folks advise that if a male victim is being attacked, you have to pull his genitalia to wake him up.I don't know how true is this but in the province my grandmother usually let other members of the family watch over my uncles who would go to sleep drunk.Somebody should wake them up when they start to moan. She believes that when a man eats too much and drowns himself to alcoholic beverage he becomes prone to bangungot. However, scientific explanation for "Acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis" never really mentions that the attack would really start to attack in a form of a nightmare.
In normal situation, it's weird that the person who is having a nightmare could be consciously aware he just had a bad dream. Apparently, he would try to shout for help but nothing really comes out of his mouth. There seems to be a vacuum-like force that tries to drown him so that he couldn't move his body. In order to break this, there's a need to exert an effort to move even just one finger or toe; rise and drink a glass of water; then lie to the opposite direction when going back to sleep; or else the same thing's gonna happen.
There are mysteries that do not have scientific explanations but whatever the truth is, the moral of the story to avoid "acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis" is effective stress management and a healthy lifestyle.
In every important occasion like this, I am always the host of the party. It's like a tradition for me- so I invite the closest friend, the first and second degree relatives to spend new year's eve with us.
According to my uncle, I am the only person in the family who can gather us together and at the same time they obey my request like it came from a queen. Actually, it's my command--"Punta kayong lahat sa bahay, dalhin nyo mga bata ah. Maghihintay ako. Sagot ko lahat." Naks, isn't that powerful request from the apple of their eyes? Hihi
In reality, I'd like to thank my thoughtful husband who voluntarily gave us funds for the celebration. He has a lot of surprises at home. Was he trying to impress me? Joke! My relatives didn't know I only managed the party but was never a financer. (Psssh good thing they couldn't read my blog). My husband gave an awesome treat to our kids and his brother. I can understand he misses his boys so much coz he goes home only once a week. For his thoughtfulness and effort to keep the family acquianted, I salute him for that. How about the mom of his boys? Hey...it's a secret! (naughty smile)
I prepared all stuff and let my aunt and my sister-in-law continue cooking all day. At dawn, my guests were early for eating and singing fantasy. As family of singers, it's cool to hear them sing together while I did my best to get some sleep upstairs. It's an hour before I leave for work.
"Ano?!? Magtatrabaho ka pa. ano ka ba naman Kristeta. New Year ngayon.", Uncle exclaimed. Although somewhat disappointed, the party went on. Ironically, they were so excited to be with my husband as they haven't seen him for months. While at work, I was in tears that my father from the province didn't forget to text me -- "Nheng, happy new year. Kumita ako dun sa paninda kong mga paputok. Nsa work ka, baket?." Hahaha! I received a lot of text messages from friends and of course from my avid fan-husband. He is always thoughtful and romantic nowadays, I got so carried away. Long hair!
Anyway, our guests happily went home at around 2AM after the deafening explosion of firecrackers. Of course, they couldn't leave without those take home orders. LOL. Even if I wasn't around, I was so happy of a thought that my kids and my guests really had a good time.
This 2009, I just wish I would be brave enough to manage the unexpected changes and challenges in life. But if you'd like to ask why I prefer to work on New Year's Eve, that's another personal story.
(a wink and a naughty smile)
Every one is at home with their family but my husband and I are both away from home and from each other. We're both at work but it doesn't really make me sad because I am still looking forward for New Year's Eve. Even if we say Family first when it's the job that requires us to report to work, it's really hard to decide. It's risky to be absent.
In the province, usually our clan gathers together to celebrate the Yuletide Season with festivities. Laid on the table are native delicacies and crunchy lechon or fried chicken. At the dining area, men usually have their own celebration which knocks them all after midnight. I just miss being a kid again. I used to hang big big sack (for rice storage) instead of mistletoes on the window coz I thought Santa would also give me more gifts. My mom and dad get drunk after Noche Buena so I got nothing. Hehehe
Tonight, my kids are on their own with their Aunt and Uncle. Tomorrow I'll make up for it and I'll take them to their favorite hang-out so we could spend time together. Poor kids, their dad isn't home too. Better yet, I'll buy them their favorite toys so they won't ask me when their dad is going home.
There are skinny women who have the same dilemma. Most of the time, this is caused by stress, lack of exercise and excessive intake of carbohydrates. This is a known fact that the effective way to lose weight or trim chubby parts is to speed up the metabolism. This is where the problem lies- how do we speed up metabolism without going on a diet or regular exercises? It's really hard to maintain a sexy curve after giving birth. Let me continue doing basic crunches and see what happens after 3 months.
I went malling yesterday with my husband to subscribe to a Broadband connection. I've been with Customer Service for almost 9 years but yesterday I was a customer.
To my dismay, many Sales Representatives here in the Philippines were not properly trained to handle a customer- foreigner or local. This is happening in Broadband Provider-A. I was a potential customer but I decided not to deal business with them after waiting in for over 30 minutes while you can see some of their representatives chatting with their favorite customers.
My husband and I finally decided to subscribe to Broadband Provider-B because of the fact that we were entertained and given opportunity to ask questions. That's very simple matter but it means business with us.There are a lot of establishments with problems on Customer Service. It's really important that the owner or management should invest on trainings to improve their Sales Representatives because it would determine the growth and success of the business.
If I have to put up my own business, strengthening the front line would be my biggest agenda.
