Taking Care of Yourself Comes First When You Are Sick

in blurt365 •  3 years ago 

Hi, people of Blurt!

It's 4 am where I am at and I have not slept. My body is aching all over. This is just one of the things I have to deal with as a chronic kidney failure patient. The pain is always there and sometimes your mind can live with it, some other times you just can't and it's unbearable. All night, I've been trying to make myself comfortable and at the same time productive, so I just cleaned the rice and sew some stuff. I turned my big blanket into a tube or a MALONG, for some reason, I love what we Filipinos call a MALONG. Malong is a tube blanket, imagine it being like a giant pillow case. I love using malong especially now that we are in our rainy season until February. I have malongs but they are kinda small and my feet would be out when I get in it, that's why I turned my big blanket into one giant malong. It's like being in a cocoon when I sleep. When it is raining hard like the past few days, I use a blanket and curl up inside a malong to keep me warm and comfy.

I'm alone in my room so there is no one to call when the pain gets worse or things get uncomfortable, but I've gotten used to it by now. It's been almost 5 years since I got diagnosed. When you are sick, you really have to manage yourself and take care of yourself. It is normal for people to get weak and be sick so you have to learn how to deal with it with less support from others as much as possible. People have their own problems, and nowadays, everyone is just so busy with their stuff so you should be, too. Making a malong tonight was an accomplishment for me and it makes me happy somehow. When I get to fall asleep later, it will be more comfy when I use this one as a blanket.

When you are sick, your priority would be your comfort and surviving. You have to have the will to make it each day. You should be your own cheerleader. Your own doer and just everything for yourself first and foremost. Unlike healthy people, there's just many things you need to do to take care of yourself. There's taking your medicines. Eating on time and eating right. Avoiding all the foods and things you need to avoid because it flares your illness. You have to save to afford things that you need. You have to earn enough to be able to afford healthcare. In the Philippines, healthcare services are not free, actually none is free. You have to pay for everything. You have to consider all your needs to sustain yourself given your situation that you have medical needs.

Some days are gonna be good and some days are gonna be bad, just like everybody else but yours would be tougher. Sometimes you won't have the energy to even be out there. Sometimes you would not manage yourself to have a bath or prepare your food. It would be great if there would be somebody by your side to help you with it but sometimes you will be on your own. When you are alone, try to be fine with it, wait when you feel better and try doing the things that you can. Be grateful when you can do something for yourself, if you have that energy, just be grateful and just enjoy what you can do with it.

Like now, I am sleepless but I can move around fine despite the pain. I struggle with walking because my ankles hurt when I step. Thank heavens I have really soft house slides on and it makes walking a few step bearable. I got hungry earlier and went to the kitchen. We had all sorts of leftovers, some rice, chicken and veggies. Chewing would be a chore, I thought. So, I thought of preparing a soft diet. In the Philippines, when you are sick and cold, your family will prepare you rice porridge or LUGAW. Well, no one is awake but me, so I just did for me.


lugaw.jpg
It is still dark and I don't want to open the lights.

Lugaw is easy to make. If you have leftover rice, you can turn it into two yummy dishes, one is fried rice and another is rice porridge or lugaw. What you have to do to make lugaw put the leftover rice in a pot and add a lot of water, if you have a cup of leftover rice, then add 6 cups of water to it and that's it basically. Put it on the stove on medium fire and wait for it to boil, the pot must be covered. Once it boils, take the lid off and continuously stir the rice water mixture until it has a really good consistency that's too soggy and the water must be white and really starchy. Then have it cook for about 20 minutes of continued stirring. This is the staple food of the Filipino patients. That's how obsessed we are with rice.

You can add sugar, milk or chocolate powder to your lugaw or you can have a slice of hardboiled eggs and garnish it with just anything you can find. This moment, I just want it plain, rice in itself is already a bit sweet to my taste because it's all carbohydrates. I don't want to add diabetes to my illnesses. This is how I took care of my hunger this early morning. It's raining hard outside and it's really cold in here, in fact I am all covered. My hot bowl of lugaw is really helpful in making me feel so warm right now.

I just have to play my music and play Plants Vs Zombies for awhile in the computer and finish my bowl of rice porridge. Soon, people in the house will be awake and noisy and I would not want that so I would lie down on my bed and wait for myself to dose off and dream in my sleep. I thank heavens I am able to still take care of myself. I'm so lucky to still be able to do all that and I am grateful. Some people are on their ICU bed and or minutes away from their last breath because of coronavirus or just any illness and here I am able to make my rice porridge and sew my blanket. I am more than lucky and I am grateful for that.

I thought this was a rant. Maybe it is. Thanks for dropping by, I'll see you around Blurt.

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Good that you´re able to satisfy your hunger with the Lugaw... I haven´t cooked that for a long time. You gave me an idea to cook it again, I would want to eat it with Daeng or Tuyo and with plenty of fried crushed garlic.

I wish you more comfort in your day to day activities! Blurt on!