"Dang"

I told y'all this is gonna be a great day! Via LRT, I arrived at UST at around 8:30am for my final duty in the hospital as a second year student. One week na lang 3rd year na ko! Awooooooo! Actually, this was a make-up duty (make-up as in to "make up" for a deficiency, hindi make-up na blush-on and lipstick ha, hehehe, corny!), haaaay tayo talaga gumagawa ng mga problema natin. But anyways, I was assigned to the Out Patient Department, Pediatrics Division (puro kidz), wherein the nurse's job is to get the health history and vital signs of the patient and then hand it over to the doctor afterwards. So I did a couple of interviews with a couple of parents, grandparents, etc, etc, bla bla bla, chu, chu, chu, eklaber, chubaekek.

And then I found this girl sleeping with her head on her mother's lap. The child was skinny. I approached the mother and found out that the child's name is Maria Crizzalynne Regacho, nicknamed "Dang" (anong konek?hehe). She has a Koch's infection (this is a bacterial infection, TB, parang ganun). I checked her vital signs (heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature). They were all within normal range. Tapos tinimbang ko siya and MAN! 19.6 kg! BTW, she's 9 years old and that is NOT the normal weight of a 9-year old girl. Ako nga nung 9 ako, 40 kilos na ko eh, heheh. She's definitely malnourished. Eh kaya naman pala, eh ang hirap daw pakainin sabi ng nanay. So I talked to the kid, at first, she was unresponsive and seemed a little bit shy. Pero later on di ko narealize, nakikipagkwentuhan na pala ko sa kanya, in a very casual manner! I laughed, she laughed, smiled, giggled, etc. Nalimutan kong 18 na ko, heheh. I then found out that she's studying in a Christian school, third grade. I'm from a Christian school myself (nursery-kinder) so I asked her some questions on Bible characters and Bible verses which btw, she was not able to answer. Eh kaya naman pala, wala daw silang Bible sa bahay, so I promised to give her a Children's Christian Book tomorrow, and she was so excited, her face evidently brightened up when I told her that :-). Then I also found out that she loves to surf the net and was very fong of youtube and friendster.com. SUSMARYOSEP na bata 'to! 9 years old , daig pa ko sa kompyuter, hmmp! heheh. "Aba'y ala eh, mga bata nga naman talaga sa kapanuhan ngayon" ehem, hahah. So we exchanged e-mail addresses. "Add mo ko ha" - I told her.

As her nurse, I was shocked when I found out that she HATES vegetables. "Ayoko ng gulay!" sabi niya. I asked: "Bakit?" "kasi nung kumain ako ng gulay, nagkasakit ako eh :-(" she responded. So I told her: "Nagkataon lang yun, 'pag kumain ka ng gulay, lalo ka pang gaganda kasi pampaganda ng skin at hair yun. Tsaka pano ka magiging nurse nian diba?" Tapos tumawad pa: "Carrots lang. . ." tsk! batang ire! hehehe.

Her tuberculin test was NEGATIVE, thank GOD! Then it's finally time to say "goodbye". Hmmmp, I hate "goodbyes", I really do! When I first saw her, she was sleepy/drowsy and a little gloomy but as she leaves, she was walking gracefully as she was singing. "Thank you kuya" she said. I waved at her and headed to the library to blog about what happened.

Well I realized that God has given children: infants, toddlers, preschoolers and schoolers alike, something they haven't asked for and what most people (I think) desire the most - THE GIFT OF INNOCENCE. :-)