Nanay's Kare-Kare

Nanay, my mother-in-law, is now here in the Philippines for good. I used to taste her good cooking once a year when she makes a visit. She used to work in HongKong. Now that she is a senior citizen she decided to retire. Yesterday we paid a visit to their place for lunch. She prepared beef kare-kare. I very often eat this delicacy since it is hard to cook and not an everyday food. Her cooking is really good and we even brought some of it home. I hope in the future I would learn how to do this and add it to my menu. 

Get Rid of Those Nasty Ants

Ever since we moved to our new house we always have this battle with thousands of soldiers. Those small little ants both black and red can be found almost anywhere in the house. They are so keen and quick that they gather right away as soon as a small crumb fall. We cannot just leave food on our dining table or else they will have a feast on it. My husband use to burn them. He would get a paper and put fire on them. It kills those nasty ants but they keep on coming back. Also I dont like the black stains that are left on the wall because of the wire. I've tried searching the web and find out that some find the Terro Ant Bait effective. Someone mention he got it from ATC and some from Ace hardware, I hope I can buy it from SM Molino. 

49 Days Drama (Pure Love)

I just finished watching 49 Days and it really give me goose bumps. To others it would lots of tears, yeah I cried in some episode but in the ending its goose bumps that I felt. Its a story of a lady (Shin Ji Hyun) who is about to marry but got into car accident. She was given 49 days to look for 3 tears of pure love outside her family to be able to go back to her body. To be able to do her quest she was allowed to borrow the body of Yi Kyung, a woman who wanted to die due to the death of her love one. During that 49 days of journey she would discover a lot, true love and betrayal will be revealed. 

Main Cast:

• Lee Yo Won as Song Yi Kyung
• Nam Gyu Ri as Shin Ji Hyun
• Kim Yoo Bin as young Ji Hyun
• Jo Hyun Jae as Han Kang ( I really love him!!!! hehehe)
• Bae Soo Bin as Kang Min Ho
• Jung Il Woo as Scheduler / Song Yi Soo
• Seo Ji Hye as Shin In Jung

Family Computer

Well, this is old school but we are able to buy one from SM Appliance store. It is not from Nintendo though. It comes with built-in games, 8800 in 1. When I checked on it, it looks like maybe 20-25 games repeating itself. I don't know what is the difference why it is repeated. It cost 800 php and also comes with a gun. I remember when I was a kid we used to play with our Nintendo Family Computer the whole day. I am not sure if this one  can do that. It shows on the manual to lengthen its life make sure to power off the unit after 1 hour of usage. Well  my 6 year old kid enjoys it and me too, hehe.

The Generics Pharmacy

Nowadays its hard to get sick, as what you can see in the commercial "Bawal Magkasakit." Medicine are too expensive. Good thing there is generic. I've heard of generic medicines before but I just ignored them. But now that I can feel the hardness of life, I need to save money as much as possible. Thanks to The Generics Pharmacy because  I can save up to 50%. 

Medical Center Imus (MCI) and Maxicare Experience

My 2 year old little girl was diagnosed with multiple stye. Until now I am still confused between stye and chalazion because on the internet it was mention that this two are different. Anyway when I check the doctor's recommendation for confinement it shows for externation (not sure if I read it right, you know doctors hand writing) of chalazion. She has 4 stye/chalazion that needs to be removed. She has both on her upper and lower eyelid on both her eyes.

August 3, 2010 (Wed)

I think its almost 7pm when we arrived at the hospital, Medical Center Imus. This will be our first time to have an admission here. We used to go to LPCM (Las Pinas City Medical Center) but since we moved I decided to try MCI since this would be more accessible. We went straight to the ER and presented the doctor's recommendation for confinement. I was asked to fill out patient's form and was told to go to HMO office. To my surprise I was told the coverage is "Subject for Approval". I am worried because we don't have money to cover the said operation. I even asked the lady in the admission why it is subject for approval. Maxicare based on the diagnosis should already be able to decide if its covered or not. I went back to ER and told my husband to talk to Maxicare again. He told them that he already talked to someone from Maxi and mention that this procedure is covered. He was told that its ok then. My daughter's coverage is semi-private but since there is no room available we agreed to upgrade to private. I was told the there will be incremental charges which I am familiar with. 

As an SOP we went up to our room on a wheel chair with a nurse accompanying us. I am not expecting that their private room would be that small. As soon as you open the door the bed is on the left just beside it. We actually need to move the dextrose stand since it is blocking the door. Maybe 5 or 6 feet to the right of the bed is a long bench for visitor and would be a sleeping area for the watcher. Below the bed is the bathroom and in front of its door is a small ref with a small TV on top of it. Anyway this is still more convenient than sharing a room with other patient.

12midnight the nurses visited our room to put dextrose to my little girl. Good thing she is too sleepy and was not able to notice what is happening and did not cry. The next day will be her scheduled eye operation.

August 4, 2011 (Thurs)
8am is my daughter's scheduled operation. The nurse asked my daughter to change her clothes to hospital gown. My daughter is only 2 years old and she gave me a big one (for adult) bec. they dont have gown available for small kids. We went down to the operating room quarter to 8am. Before we enter the OR the nurse said "I guess you dont have cutics baby." Hehehe, she does. She went outside and get a cotton with acetone. Before 8am we are already in the OR. I am observing the room and it looks old. I can see like lots of iodine stain on the floor, the OR bed have a little rust, the wall are tiles which looks old...they have modern equipment but maybe not the latest. It is the anesthesiologist who first arrived. He did not greet us or introduce himself to us. He sip his hot tea and ask for a newspaper. Past 9am the opta arrived but the procedure started around 9:40am. I don't feel the comfort while waiting and we waited for almost two hours thinking that this is a scheduled operation. Anyway this is not an emergency so I guess its ok to wait. I was asked to wait outside the OR when they are about to start. Around 10:20am I was ask to go back in. I saw my baby lying on the bed with both her eyes covered. She has an oxygen and is crying like she is very tired. I wonder what she is thinking since she cannot see anything. We stayed in the recovery room I think until 12:30pm, I really hungry then. I guess my baby too since she was told not to take anything starting from 12midnight.

The whole day is interesting for her. As I look at her she knows how to observe by using her sense of hearing. She would even react to TV commercial. But if I ask her about her eyes she would point somewhere trying to divert the attention. She doesnt want to talk about it. She would also cry if she hears a nurse coming in. Sometimes she would ask to go down and just stand on the floor.

This is also the day when the Maxicare coordinator called me. She told me that Maxicare will cover hospital bill but we need to pay for the incremental charges since we upgraded from semi-private to private. He mention that we might also need to pay for the the doctors fee. I am thinking of incremental when it comes to professional fee of the doctor. By the way before the operation the doctor reminded me again that his PF is around P10500 and if my healthcard did not cover everything then I need to pay for the excess. I just agreed thinking it would not be that big. Beside when I had my cyst removed on my bread years ago I did not pay for anything using my Medicard. I am really relax that the difference will not be that big.

August 5, 2011 (Fri)
Our last day in the hospital. Every time a nurse would come in I would ask her what the time the doctor would arrive but nobody was able to answer. Anyway after lunch around 1pm, he arrived. Rhaine was actually crying then. The doctor removed the cover on her eyes and she slow open it. It looks like nothing happened. She was very happy to see us. The doctor said we can go home and he would just give the nurse the medicines she need to take. There was a note on the door that it takes 2 hours upon discharge before you can get the bill. It was past 1pm then.

Around 4pm I asked Robin to check if our bill is ready. I was really shocked when he told me we still need to pay around 13k. Waaaa!!! I am only expecting maybe 2-3k for the incremental. I find out that its because of the professional fee. I went to billing department and the girl (who is not smiling and looks irritated at me) told me that Maxicare only covered P2100 for the opta fee so I need to pay for the excess and there is also an excess for the anesthesiologist. I asked her if we can call Maxicare and she told I can call her. Well at my own expense I talked to the Maxicare coordinator who visited us. I talked to her for 20mins. She says the procedure that the doctor did is for outpatient. Their coverage is only about 1k something but since they consider that its a two year and they give 2100. She offered to call the doctor and she was able to get a discount. So instead of paying around 14k we pay around 11k, 9k of this is for the PF. Waaaaa.... For so many years I've been using healthcard and this is the first time I experienced this. I am really disappointed with the hospital, the doctor and Maxicare. I consulted our head nurse and maxicare coordinator at work and they mention that it do happen that some doctor still follow their original PF. I wonder why the coverage is too small. Imagine the PF of my opta is around 10k and Maxicare paid around 2k.... why is it that the difference is too big. Anyway my little girl would still need to visit the opta to remove the stitch in her eyes. I dont have complain with the doctor's service but with the experience of paying too big even I have a healthcard is really a very big frustration. I told myself I would never again have an admission in that hospital if we any of us need to. I pray to God to keep us healthy and away from sickness. 

Chowking Chinese Style Fried Chicken

I can't remember the date, it might be last last week or maybe even before that. I tasted Chowking Chinese Style Fried Chicken at SM Molino. I ate with my mom and dad. The chicken is really crunchy and I would say yummy. Its pretty much better than what they have before. My son loves chicken joy from Jollibee but I think he would like this one too.