JP goes home from Singapore and spent the eve of Christmas with me and my family at my lola's house. the fact that my parents are together is a miracle alone. being together at my lola's house is unprecedented as we have been spending Christmas at my parents ever since i can recall. really happy that JP was able to join us and was able to experience a family tradition: tablea. without sugar, he thought it was awful, hehe.
kuya couldn't be with us the night before Christmas as he had to be in the hospital with my uncle who was confined due to pneumonia, among other things. on Christmas day, i had to relieve my brother and had to spend Christmas attending to our patient. it was difficult to accept at first, but there was no other option, as everyone else had already spent their time at the hospital.
i decided to bring with me some cake, ham, grapes and some left-over food, thinking that my uncle and i will somehow be able to celebrate Christmas this way. i ended up eating most of what i brought, except maybe the grapes, hehe. so instead of feasting at the dinner table, i was eating some of my uncle's left-over from the food tray along with what i brought at the hospital bed.
after being in the hospital for two days, my uncle was regaining strength but it was still evident that he had difficulty breathing on his own. from time to time, a nurse would come in and wake him up to check-up on his blood pressure, hand him his medication, nebulize him or inject some steroids into the dextrose. it was a routine i had easily gotten accustomed to.
what was new to me was the fact that we had to record my uncle's water intake and output. we recorded when he drank water and how much as well as how much he took out. my uncle much preferred this over the catheter.
by the evening, JP would bring some coffee and some entertainment in the form of high-definition movies. he stayed overnight, sleeping in one of the hospital beds and would drive me home in the morning. he saw me fulfill some of my duties as nurse to my uncle and gladly helped when he could, such as when we had to change the cover for the hospital bed and the pillowcases. it was good to have him around.
it was such a blessing simply to be together with the people you care about and those who care for you.
these are photos from Kabisera at BHS, the 24th when JP came home. as expected, JP misses Filipino food a lot and bringing him here i thought would be a good idea. i think, and they agreed with me on this afterwards, that Kabisera has the best pinakbet in the country. their sinigang and lechon kawali we thought were really good also.
JP, his mom and sister and me at Kabisera in Boni High Street
this was definitely a different Christmas, but a good Christmas nonetheless.
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