King of pain

When I returned from Kuala Lumpur last Thursday (Feb 28) noon, I returned to a quiet house. My housekeeper had just resigned the day before I left for KL, so the house was naturally empty. I unpacked and did some cleaning immediately thereafter. I had a late lunch of reheated stir-fried vegetables and meat at around 3PM. For dinner, I just fried 2 eggs and ate them with rice. The next day I had a burger and fries for lunch. My other gay friends and I organized a leap year party that night but before I went to the party I had some errands to run. I also dropped by another friend’s house for dinner. On the way there I felt my stomach acting up.

This has been normal for me because I’d been hyperacidic since I was 12 and whenever I am stressed or excited, the usual manifestation is a bit of hyperacidity. So when I arrived at HoJ I asked for some antacid. I took two doses of Maalox and waited for it to take effect. But more than 30 minutes had past and I couldn’t feel any relief. The pain was already shooting up to my chest that I had to sit bent over slightly to lessen the pain. I was given Ranitidine, a more powerful antacid. I felt a bit of relief after a while, enough to socialize and partake the dinner of kare-kare, grilled hito, and crispy pata.

When I was on my way to the leap year party my belly started to ache again so much that I had to go home instead of going to the party. At home I took some more antacids and laid on my bed. I had a fitful sleep that night. On Saturday afternoon I bought some rotisserie chicken for lunch. That night my stomach acted up again and it kept me up until the next morning. The pain was excruciating, with an unwelcome addition: there was a perceptible pain on my right side that was radiating to my back. This was more bothersome than my bloated stomach because this pain was constant, and no body position seemed to alleviate it.

On Sunday, because of my fear of the stomach ache, I didn’t dare eat anything. I drank water, a cereal drink, milk, and juice. The pain subsided from a cacophony to a nagging hum that permeated my every move. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t write, I couldn’t sit in one place too long. I couldn’t even sleep for more than an hour. That night my symptoms increased: I had fever. Derick prescribed some antibiotics to take along with the present medicines I was taking. Doc Marisa gave the same advice when I finally saw her. They both suspected that it was my gall bladder. 

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