DOCTOR POTATO

Thursday, August 11, 2005

DOGGY DIMENSIONS

   Okay, let's get off the boring subject of humans for a while. Let's talk about...dogs!  Yup, man's best friend. I just learned something very interesting about them. For the longest time, I thought that a dog aged 7 dog-years per man-year. Thus, a 7-year old dog is 49 years old. However, according to my cousin, (who cites a doggie digest):

   A dog's life increments by 12.5 dog-years for the first two human-years, then increments by 4 dog-years per human-year thereafter. For example: a four year-old dog is actually 33 dog-years old.

   I'm vastly relieved. In an earlier post, I mentioned that we had our 1 1/2 year-ol dog mated, and that she cried and whimpered all over the place. If you calculate her age the usual way, that would make her way too young, right? (I guess a lot of you are snickering right now. I don't know much about dogs!) But using the new formula, that would make her about 18, which is obviously more acceptable. Whew.

   Lastly, check out this page by Herb, concerning pets. It's soooo funny.

renzguerra liberated at 08:12 am
Prescriptions (4) The bill

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

GOOD NEWS FOR THE HORIZONTALLY CHALLENGED

    Another myth busted.

   According to Jeffrey Kluger of Time Magazine, it is actually possible to be fat and fit at the same time.

   Apparently, being overweight may not be as dangerous as being inactive, according to Holter, Miranda, and Park of Time. We all know that inactivity leads to obesity, and obesity leads to a slew of other health problems, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, sleep apnea, joint problems, and even cancer.

   "It's not the number on the scale or the size of your khakis that will kill you, after all; it's the elevated blood pressure and cholesterol...that come with moving to the relaxed fit rack." (Time)

Being fit and fat isn't quite as good as being fit and lean, of course. The fat itself, especially the 'visceral fat' around our middles which encapsulates our internal organs, releases inflammatory substances that contribute to diabetes and hypertension. Logically, the more fat we have, the more predisposed we are to cardiovascular problems and related diseases. The good thing is, exercise helps combat some of the negative effects of this fat, making it possible to attain normal blood pressures, normal cholesterol and sugar profiles, and even normal aerobic capacity.

In layman's terms, that means that some active plus-size people out there might actually be healthier than slender and sedentary model-types.

For someone who is active but has yet to lose a lot of weight (like me!!) that's really good news.

Exercise Tips for the Oversized (From Time)

1. Short and Frequent
   Aim to exercise often, even two or three times a day, but keep the sessions short and sweet (10 to 15 minutes is plenty). If it hurts, stop, and if you dread your workout, change it. The pursuit of fitness should be a pleasure, not a punishment. 2. Take care of your skin.
   One of the most troublesome problems large exercisers face is chafing, especially of the thighs. Minimize the problem by wearing form-fitting clothes, preferably a synthetic fabric that whisks away sweat. When it's time to hit the showers, use antibacterial soap and dry all body folds well.
3. Be kind to your joints.
   Exercise can qualify as cardiovascular without giving your joints a pounding. Take a gym spin on the recumbent bike, pump and elliptical trainer or enrol in a water-aerobics class. Concentrate on strengthening upper-leg muscles, especially the quadriceps (the muscles on the front of the thigh). That will, in turn, ease the strain on knees.
4. Stretch Carefully.
   Limbering up is important for everyone, but overweight exercisers should staw away from stretches that strain the lower back, including that classic from gym class, the toe-touching drill.
5. Mind your footwear.
   Sturdy running shoes usually offer the best support, even if you don't plan to run. Be sure your shoes are roomy, an dkeep your toenails cut short. Increased pressure on feet stuffed into sneakers that are too snug can lead to nagging problems with both nails and toes.

SAUNTER OVER TO DOC EMER'S FOR THE 46TH MEDBLOGGERS' GRAND ROUNDS, AND SOME 40+ OF THE BEST HEALTH-RELATED POSTS AROUND. ENJOY!!

renzguerra liberated at 07:57 am
Prescription (1) The bill

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

PSYCHIC POWERS AND STEM CELLS

   There are many superstiitons about the Caul, which is actually just the transparent placental membrane which sometimes covers the head of a baby when it is born. In the Philippines, this is the prevailing belief:

   Babies born with a caul will manifest supernatural abilities and an open third eye (the ability to see ghosts).

   Many other cultures have attributed strange powers to this membrane since time immemorial. As the link shows, some seers practiced a form of divination with it, called Amniomancy. It was said that a caul could prevent anyone from dying by drowning, so they were prized by sailors all over the world. That cauls are considered lucky even among some superstition-scorning Christians is explained by the legend that even Jesus was born with one.

   Now, according to Medpundit, the Caul might very well turn out to have some miraculous properties after all; not by preventing drownings or bestowing magical abilities, but being the source of infinitely flexible stem cells that can turn into entire organs or tissues, thus sidestepping the issue of rejection which complicates transplants. Countless lives could be saved or improved in the future. This is certainly a viable option to all of us who strenuously object against the use of stem cells harvested from aborted fetuses.

   In a way, perhaps those seers and sailors knew what they were talking about after all.

renzguerra liberated at 11:31 am
Prescriptions (4) The bill

Monday, August 08, 2005

THE LADY WHO WASN'T THERE

Now for something goose-pimple-inducing that doesn't involve Medicine...

Fond of ghost stories and scary movies?
Addicted to horror trains and mazes that disappoint you every time?
Like to drive by dark alleys with towering balete trees and reputed haunted houses during unholy hours, in the hopes that you'll see a white lady?
Do you actually want to open your third eye?

If you answered yes to all of the above questions, you must have serious thrill issues. Most of the people I know who can say "I see...dead people" deplore their gift. But I know one person who would love to have a close encounter of the third kind with anything paranormal. That's unusual; I love ghost stories too, but put me face-to-face with a real apparition and I'd probably faint. On the other hand, Ian (not my Tomato) would probably thrust a hand out to the befuddled ghost and introduce himself.

   Unfortunately for his strange preoccupation, he seems to be esper-blind, which is a term I read somewhere that seems to mean that your third eye is glued shut. He has never experienced anything paranormal in his life, to his consternation.    I haven't been able to feed his avid curiosity with true ghost stories (mostly from my other friends, thank goodness) lately, so this is a treat dedicated to him. Hoy Ian! This is for you.

   He was used to driving home very late in the evening. He lived a fair distance away from his girlfriend's house, and used a route that consisted mostly of dark winding streets. To keep himself awake and preoccupied, he listened to the news or sang along to the songs belting out from his radio.
   One night, he got home late as usual. The gate was open, but the front door was locked. He parked his car in the garage and knocked on the door. His mother opened the door for him, froze for a few seconds, then hustled him wordlessly inside.

It was only on the following night, while he was driving home, that his mother texted him the explanation for her weird behavior. Upon opening the door for him the previous night, she had seen a lady with an open umbrella standing by his car. The lady was quite distinct, from her face to her dress. Then, she had disappeared. His mother was quite convinced that he had brought the ghost home with him. In his car.
Needless to say, no amount of singing or listening to the news could prevent him from nervously checking his mirror every few seconds that night. (As told by my Tomato himself)

renzguerra liberated at 09:29 am
Prescription (1) The bill

Sunday, August 07, 2005

JUST DUE

   A doctor, like any other human being who works for a living, deserves just compensation for his services. However, how much he should actually receive has always been a matter of controversy. There is no set standard which dictates how much a doctor should charge, so professional fees are pretty much arbitrary. The doctor can set them himself, factoring in his education, expertise and experience. Or, he can go by the standards of his colleagues, so that there is a semblance of fair play in the neverending competition for patients.

   But what exactly does "just compensation" mean? What else is someone supposed to factor in when computing the professional fee? How about improvement in the quality of life? How about the increase in the patient's lifespan? Are those ineffables considered too?

   The factor that definitely shouldn't be considered is the doctor's current financial status. The fact that he is building his house or dead set on buying a BMW shouldn't reflect on the patient's bill, right? Of course.  But there are some supposedly professionals out there (who took the Hippocratic Oath along with the rest of us) who must think otherwise, judging by their actions.

   I know of a cardiovascular surgeon who had a patient referred to him by a general surgeon. For simplicity's sake, let's call the TCVS Dr. Lopez, and the GS Dr. Del Monte. The two doctors had been classmates back when they were still in Medical school, and were ostensibly friends. The patient, a retired seaman who had been experiencing intensifying chest pains, turned out to have advanced Coronary Artery Disease.   He had savings from his lucrative former job, but the brunt of the expenses would be shouldered by his company. Dr. Lopez gave him the less expensive package at the hospital anyway, seeing that the patient was elderly and had no close family. The operation was a success. The patient was soon feeling perfectly healthy and pain-free. Grateful and delighted at the impeccable service, he asked for the bill so he could settle it and give the receipt to his company for reimbursement.   Oddly, Dr. Del Monte asked his friend how much the package was, saying that he wanted to collect the money himself. Dr. Lopez gave a figure of 200,000 pesos, which was a fair price considering that this already covered the hospital fees for ten days' confinement and the fees of three other prominent consultants. A few days later, Dr. Del Monte approached Dr. Lopez again and gave him the 200,000 pesos in cash. He then asked for a receipt in return. For 350,000 pesos.

   Dr. Lopez was nonplussed. Why was he going to sign out a receipt for 350,000 when he had only received 200,000? That was not part of the deal. He asked for an explanation, which Dr. Lopez initially refused to give, saying that it was irrelevant. Finally, at Dr. Lopez's insistence, the whole story came out.

   Del Monte had charged the patient 350,000. Upon receiving the full amount in cash, he had then given the 200,000 to his friend and pocketed the rest as his 'professional fee'.

   Lopez was stunned. His 'friend' had not done anything to earn that extravagant sum. Del Monte was a general surgeon, and had not assisted in the patient's management in any way. He didn't even visit while the patient was in the hospital convalescing. Further questioning disclosed what Lopez feared. Del Monte was in the process of buying an expensive car which he didn't quite have the funds for. Perhaps he wanted the money for down payment. Of course, he wouldn't admit to such a thing, but he wouldn't explain why would charge so exorbitantly, either.

   Lopez maintained his stand. He would not issue a receipt for 350K when he had not received any such money, even for the sake of friendship; not because he was afraid of being caught, but because it was the wrong thing to do. He would not help perpetuate such an unethical practice.

   The comical thing was, this reasoning never occurred to Del Monte until Lopez spelled it out for him. Del Monte thought that his friend was refusing him out of either cowardice or spite. When he learned that it was out of integrity, he sputtered and completely lost wind. Evidently, he thought that most of his friends subscribed to or tolerated this form of self-enrichment, instead of doing honest work. He was wrong.

   To shorten a long story, Lopez never acquiesced to Del Monte's demands. He wrote a receipt for 200,000 pesos only. The GS eventually had to sign out his own receipt for the 150,000 pesos that he had pocketed, making his greed perfectly clear.   As expected, the company did not reimburse this additional expense. The patient returned to the TCVS, fuming at his attending physician's treachery and hinting darkly of reprisal. Lopez never heard anything more about it after the last check-up. He hasn't heard from Del Monte since, either, after the latter suddenly and mysteriously left the country.

   So, on whose side would you be on? Would you have two different answers depending on whether anyone could hear you or not? It's easy to side with justice on the abstract. But if you were in the same situation, and you had to consider such factors as friendship, loyalty to the profession and your colleagues, maintaining appearances, and the possibility of a suit...it's nowhere near as cut-and-dried. That Dr. Lopez chose the right path anyway is a testament to his values, and a lesson to all of us who are striving to uphold the respect which comes with being called "Doctor".

renzguerra liberated at 01:56 pm
Prescriptions (3) The bill

FEAR FACTOR FOOD PART DEUX

Hi again! Find out exactly why those weird-sounding Filipino street foods merit a warning of 'eat at your own risk':

Staphylococcus aureus (Call me Staph for short)
Hi. You can find me on your airways, skin, and superficial wounds. If food is left at room temperature for several hours, I quickly multiply and produce a toxin. Cooking kills me but not my toxin (LOL), which is capable of producing explosive loose watery diarrhea and vomiting after 2-6 hours. Hear about those children's parties where most of the children got sick that very night? A lot of those incidents were my work, thank you very much. Good personal hygiene while preparing food and refrigeration of foods: these two practices are the bane of existence, as I won't be able to proliferate.But, there's always someone out there who's just careless enough...
Salmonella (Hi. I like my name as it is. It's so pretty, don't you think? Why don't you name your daughter after me?)
There are lots of us in the intestines of birds, reptiles, and mammals. You hear that? Intestines (Just think about that isaw or IUD that you had for merienda today. Maybe I'm swimming around in your gut right now!). I can also be found in raw eggs, and in water tainted with feces. I can cause an acute form of gastroentritis (vomiting and loose watery diarrhea again, my two inseparable friends). However, I am more famous for causing the dreaded typhoid fever which manifests with prolonged fever, diarrhea/constipation, and abdominal pain, which can keep you in the hospital for weeks. Thank you, thank you, no applause is needed.
Escherichia coli (Call me E. coli for short. That's pronounced Ee-Kolay)
Even though I'm found in your intestines too, I can also be found in the intestines of other animals such as cattle. Thus, I'm often transmitted by water tainted with feces. I cause a severe, bloody, sometimes mucoid (you know that disgusting fluid that drips from your nose when you have a cold) diarrhea with painful abdominal cramps which can rapidly become much worse, so if you get these symptoms, you better get yourself to a hospital quick!
Vibrio cholera (Does my second name ring a bell to you? I'm very popular in Africa.)
I can be borne on anything you put inside your mouth--food or water, again if it it tainted with feces. I've caused so many outbreaks since ancient times that I've killed more people than some wars. The symptoms of extremely profuse watery diarrhea can start within one hour and can kill within three hours if not treated, especially little children, as my toxin can literally drain all the fluids from their bodies.
Shigella (I'm another one with an adorable name)
I'm most commonly found on improperly handled salads (potato, chicken, seafood), raw vegetables, milk and other dairy products, and meat products especially poulty. However, I can also be borne through feces-tainted water. The diarrhea I produce is usually blood-tinged, or termed dysenteric.
Bacillus cereus (I love Filipinos and Chinese!)
I can survive cooking as a heat-resistant spore and then proliferate when the storage temperature is incorrect. I love starchy food such as rice, macaroni, and potato dishes (especially fried rice! Yum!). Thus, if you don't want any brush with me, make sure you serve or reheat your foods to a very high temperature!

renzguerra liberated at 12:48 pm
Prescription (1) The bill

Saturday, August 06, 2005

FEAR FACTOR FOOD PART UNE

Think you can eat anything?

Think you've tried the most exotic food, from lamb brains to grasshopper legs?

Why don't you try the ultimate food trip...

Filipino Street Food

Tukneneng - boiled quail egg covered with orange-dyed batter and deep-fried. (Actually, I eat this. It's rather good, if simple. But you shouldn't eat too many, because that small yolk is still stuffed with cholesterol.)
Kwek Kwek - same as tukneneng, but this time it's duck egg dipped in spiced vinegar.
Day Old - deep-fried one-day old chick. (I think the sight of all those tiny deep-fried bodies is pathetic. I used to buy chicks for pets, at least before my dogs started eating them. Gross.)
Chicharong Balat - crispy-fried chicken skin (Just imagine the cholesterol and caloric content of this snack, knowing that skin is 100% fat. But hey...when I'm at KFC, I can't help eating every last crumb either.)
Chicharon - dried cow or carabao hide, boiled and deep-fried to a crisp (This is a sadly popular snack. My parents love this, so I snatch it away from them after they've eaten 1-2 pieces because they shouldn't be eating such unhealthy things at their age and cholesterol level. They're both from the health profession, mind you.)
Balut - boiled unhatched duck's embryo, sprinkled with a little salt/vinegar and eaten whole. Including the chick. (I think this was actually included in a Fear Factor Episode. I don't know what the fuss is all about. But my boyfriend doesn't eat the chick either, so I eat his for him. Weird. Baliktad na ang mundo.)
Penoy - unfertilized duck's egg, boiled (Tame.)
Goto - congee or rice porridge mixed with boiled tripe (The porridge, I like. The tripe, I detest. What is tripe anyway? Wait...I don't think I want to know.)
Isaw - marinated and grilled chicken intestines (I don't get this. Imagine, those intestines once contained that chicken's feces. I mean, how can you properly wash such teeny-tiny tubes? Who knows what residual bacteria might still be lurking in there! Hmm...refer to the part deux of this entry tomorrow!)
Adidas - chicken feet (Okay, not too hard to understand. Adidas is also included in Chinese dimsum, but that doesn't mean I eat them.)
Walkman - pig's ears (Okay. The street name at least is cute.)
IUD - chicken intestines (Yuck. How did this thing get that name? I really hope there's no connection whatsoever. I'd be glad if anyone could enlighten me about this.)
Betamax - cubed curdled pig's blood (You can eat this if you're feeling particularly vampiric. You can also eat Dinuguan, another favorite here, which is known otherwise as blood stew. I love Dinuguan. Yum.)
Baticolon - chicken gizzard
Atay - chicken liver (Tame. Found everywhere, especially in pancit (noodles).)

PASS BY AGAIN TOMORROW FOR PART DEUX!! BUT IT WON'T BE AS FUNNY AS YOU THINK...

By the way, if you want to brighten your day, visit my site Forward Fantasies. I'm sure my latest post has been emailed to you before, but it's so cute you won't mind reading it again ;)

renzguerra liberated at 08:25 am
Prescriptions (3) The bill

Friday, August 05, 2005

CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER

Okay. If you're not planning to read the admittedly LONG entry below, then I'll encapsulate it for you. It's about:

My nightmare
The fact that my brother, who is is a 3rd-year medical student in a prestigious university, is the tenth in his batch of 300 with a current grade satisfying the requirement for Magna Cum Laude
My request that you congratulate him so that he'll stop feeling so disappointed! Hehe, I'm doing everything to cheer him up.

Thanks! That's all. ;)

   I had a nightmare just before I woke up this morning. It felt so real that I woke myself up trying to take action.

   I was half-asleep and the door was locked. Somehow, I could hear my brother anyway. He was standing outside my room, asking plaintively for a pair of scissors. That sounds funny now, but it didn't then. I don't know what he wanted the scissors for, but he sounded terrified and pitiful, as if his life depended on it. The horrible thing was, I couldn't move. Have you ever fallen asleep and had a dream in which you had fallen asleep and was dreaming?
   Anyway, I couldn't move, but I panicked so much that I eventually wrenched myself awake all at once, with the intention of running to the door. I was halfway to my feet by the time I realized--to my great relief--that I was dreaming after all. I was so glad when I realized that my brother was perfectly ok.

   All this must make you think that my bro is just a cherub-cheeked little boy. He's not. He's 23 years old, and a third-year medical student at one of the most prestigious medical schools in the country. But he's one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest, most religious, most intelligent, most talented, most everything people I've ever known.

   I'm not biased because I'm his adoring and protective older sister. I both pity and envy the girl who finally hooks him. Pity, because Mom examines all his prospectives with a magnifying glass, and uses his attributes to judge them, which immediately neutralizes about 90% of the female population. Envy, because there aren't many other guys out there like him.

   I was thinking about what brought on that nightmare, and I realized what it was. Yesterday, he texted my mom that he was just tenth in his batch of 300. His grades are above that required for Magna cum laude. He was so disappointed, and he was afraid that my parents would be disappointed too.

   Weird, you say. Disappointed? Well, it's like this. Our late paternal grandfather was sixth in the Medical boards, and was one of the most successful GP's in the Visayan region. I mean, he stored money in boxes, or at least until he entered politics with that rock-hard integrity of his and lost most of his fortune to the opportunist masses. My dad was eleventh in the boards, second in the General Surgery boards, and first in the TCVS (heart surgery) boards. I was fifth in my graduating batch and fifth at the boards (Don't ask about what came after; I'm still testing the troubled waters of residency and trying not to get dragged down by lack of self-esteem).

   Hence, my bro must feel that he should get at least the fifth position in his batch too. He's not even done yet! He has half a year to go. He feels like he has the world on his shoulders, trying to live up to everyone's expectations. Believe me, I know exactly how that feels like.   I've been through that. I'm still going through that. It's not good. It can be downright depressing.

   There comes a certain point in which the exact ranking doesn't give a true picture anymore. Then, it depends on whether the professor who taught your class was good at lecturing, whether he gave good grades, and whether he gave fair tests. Of course the composition of the class matters, too. It won't help you if you studied yourself to death for a difficult exam while everyone else around you just cheated. It's not fair, but it happens (You know what my brother does? He doesn't give in. He just prays to St. Jude 6 times a day for help, and asks us to donate eggs to the St. Claire church for petitions. He's such an angel). It matters too whether you had access to the best references, the most patok sample exams, and the most dedicated transcribers of notes.

   There are just so many factors to consider. You can't standardize everything. As far as I'm concerned, my brother's doing better than anyone else before him in the family has ever done. I might have folded under all that pressure. But he's still soldiering on.

Thankfully, my parents and relatives, even our family friends, know this too. They've been sending my bro the warmest congratulations, hoping to cheer him up. I texted him last night, but he hasn't answered yet. I hope he realizes that I mean it. I'm so proud of him. He's my idol.

Hey, why don't you congratulate him too? You can comment/tag, and I'll pass the message along. If you want to tell him yourself, email him through here. I think it would mean a lot to him if he realized that people understand what he's going through, and that he has every right to be proud of himself. He's worked so hard for this, even to the detriment of his health. He barely eats or sleeps anymore, and we worry about him to death. It's only right that he should feel good, not disappointed.

renzguerra liberated at 10:04 am
Prescriptions (3) The bill

Thursday, August 04, 2005

DIRTY DOES IT

     I've recently learned something very interesting.

   It's not good to overprotect little children from dirt.

   Why, you ask? Because it might actually predispose them to getting asthma.

   If you want to read the technical version, click the link which leads to a page by the Cleveland Clinic,    Basically, what that gobbledygook says is that early in life, all people have white blood cells that have the capacity to differentiate either into infection-related white cells (TH1) or allergy-related white cells (TH2). When a child is exposed early in life to allergens--or in practical terms, allowed to get muddy in the backyard--his body tends to produce more TH1 cells than TH2, thus decreasing the chances that he'll become allergic to anything later on. Asthma is a form of allergy, so children who are brought up in excessively clean households are more prone to develop them. There are actually new studies that show this.

   Case in point: moi. I am the firstborn daughter to a doctor and a nurse who wanted several children, so they were understandably overenthusiastic when I arrived. That they overdid the hygiene thing is an understatement. They would only handle me after washing first with Lysol. Every surface I touched was first similarly treated.  They rushed me to the hospital at the slightest little cough.  My pediatrician must have thought they were nuts. The result? I have asthma until now, and am allergic to NSAIDs and related drugs. So though the "hygiene theory" is still just that--a theory, I'm already convinced.

   When I have kids of my own, I'm going to let them sleep with puppies. Well, okay, maybe not that far.

renzguerra liberated at 10:19 am
Prescriptions (2) The bill

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

THAT'S AB-SOLUTE BULL

Good day, people! Here are a few very relevant and helpful mythbusters for the figure-conscious which I got from the magazine Cosmopolitan. I thought of this post last night, because Tomato and I went to Fitness First gym for possibly the last time. We'll be transferring to the Pinnacle Gym by next week. Why? Well, first of all, Fitness First is rather expensive. And secondly, we had a big fight with the management! Want to know more about that? Well, read the following first, and see if you don't learn something new!

BULL: You can spot-reduce your stomach.
THE REAL DEAL: Ab exercises will strengthen and tone your muscles, but you need to incorporate cardio into your routine and change your diet if you want your steel tummy to show.

BULL: The greater the reps, the greater the rewards.
THE REAL DEAL: After 15-20 sit-ups, you begin pulling on the back of your head, whcih can cause neck strain, and using momentum instead of your abs. Focus on form over number of repetitions.

BULL: You need to workyour abs every day.
THE REAL DEAL: Like any muscle, abs need alternate days off to regenerate. Plus, you'll be less likely to burn out if you take a break.

   Didn't I tell you that you'd learn something new?

  Anway, I'd first like to greet everyone a good day. I'm so happy to see that quite a few of my friends--plus some honored guests--have dropped by. Hello to Shin-Shin who's in Canada, and Julia who's somewhere in the Philippines!  Doc Emer also tagged me. You should go see his top-ranked blog, Parallel Universes, if you want more serious insights into the world of Medicine in the Philippines.

  As you can see, I'm dressed quite casually, and am just spending the whole morning bloghopping and writing entries on my gazillion blogs. That cute poodle is the closest approximation that Yahoo avatars has of Zooty, our mixed mutt, whom we mated for the first time with a Japanese Spitz yesterday. The poor thing was whimpering and crying all day. I hope she gets better soon. And I hope she gets pregnant, too!

   I promised to tell you about what happened at Fitness First. Well, to put it simply, they charged us twice for the same two months. One thing I can say about that gym--they do everything in their power to make sure that they don't get stiffed. Well, in this case, it backfired on them. When I was terminating my contract, a lady at the counter--Carrie--told me that my mom's credit card had bounced, so we consequently owed them two month's gym fee. She even called my mom to tell her so, coz I wouldn't believe it. Mom philosophically wrote a check for almost 5k, a not insignificant sum.  Mistake number one.

   Imagine mom's surprise when her bill arrived and showed that the fee for those two months had been debited after all! She got so mad.  We brought up the matter with Carrie at once, who didn't seem sorry at all when she apologized for the oversight. She promised us that she'd attend to the matter before i left the gym, which at the time was only three weeks away.

   Well, two weeks passed, but nothing happened. Every time we followed up with Carrie, she only gave us a commiserating smile, and said that it was out of her hands. Mistake number two.

    Anyone who knows me personally also knows my mother. Losing all patience, she called Carrie up personally and bawled her out over my cellphone. Not content with that, she asked for the number of the main office at Makati. Poor Carrie, who understandably did not want any trouble, tried to talk mom out of getting the number, saying that she'd take care of the matter herself, but mom wouldn't give in. Finally, Mom did get a number, but it was a faxtone. Mistake number three. Strike out. Mom wrote a very irate and explosive letter and faxed it to the main office. The next day, she somehow got the real number and called Makati. By then, everyone there knew her or of her. The manager assured her that Carrie had been reprimanded, and that our complaint would finally be duly processed.

   Well, that finally ended things, except that we're still waiting for our refund. What happened to Carrie? Well, we don't see her around anymore. She may have been transferred, suspended, or even laid off altogether. One thing I know for sure: she's not going to forget me or my mom for a very long time.

renzguerra liberated at 11:35 am
Prescribe! The bill