Four hours of his Mondays and Fridays are spent attached to a machine doing a job his remaining kidney could no longer perform.
Through hemodialysis the excess waste products and water is filtered out from his blood, a function his body can no longer do on its own for seven years now.
During the process two needles are inserted in his left arm where his fistula is located. A fistula is a plastic tube implanted in his arm to directly connect an artery and a vein.
From one needle his blood will pass through the tube to the dialysis machine to remove the waste products and once the wastes are extracted the blood goes back to his body through the other needle.
It may seem simple from the way I've explained it but in reality it is not.
The repeated process will eventually result to a distinct dark color of the skin and a disfigured arm due to the veins that swell due to constant use.
Seeing him cringed every time he is pricked with two needles is not something I can get used to.
The repeated process will eventually result to a distinct dark color of the skin and a disfigured arm due to the veins that swell due to constant use.
Seeing him cringed every time he is pricked with two needles is not something I can get used to.
And what goes on in his body once the needles are in place will always be a miracle and a mystery to me.
What I know is every time he is lying there tied to that machine to help extend his life a sudden shoot up or drastic drop in his blood pressure may cost him his life.
Many times I've heard him and my mother talk about how other patients died during dialysis.
This may be the reason why he wants to hold my hand, my mother's hand, my brother's hand or anybody who is with him or beside him during the process.
Holding our hands regardless if it's a daughter or a son is something that my father loves doing. It is one of his many sweet gestures that I look forward to when I go home.
But during his dialysis there is something heart wrenching with the way he grasps my hand.
But during his dialysis there is something heart wrenching with the way he grasps my hand.
There are times when he just wants us to squeeze his feet as hard as we can even if he is already asleep, it's like he deliberately wants us to wake him up or maybe he just wants to avoid cramps.
Other times he will just sleep through the entire session.
And while appetite is a major issue when he is home eating during dialysis was never a problem.
Once he tasted something and liked it, that will be his merienda or lunch for a year or more.
He started with Jollibee's TLC and Aloha, then he shifted to Brother's burger and currently pizza is his favorite merienda.
For his lunch, my brother Junjun has been regularly driving by an eatery in Timog for 4 to 5 years now just to have a fish fillet with tausi beans or ampalaya con carne cooked for him.
Just recently, Mang Inasal has become a new favorite which he would eat together with either fish fillet or ampalaya con carne.
His moods is no different from his appetite, it changes a great deal and can really be stressful to those around him (this is another story on its own).
His sickness coupled with old age makes him unpredictable most of the times and my mother, my brother and his wife Jen should be applauded for their patience.
They take care of him everyday from sun up to sun down something I can do only during weekends.
Other times he will just sleep through the entire session.
And while appetite is a major issue when he is home eating during dialysis was never a problem.
Once he tasted something and liked it, that will be his merienda or lunch for a year or more.
He started with Jollibee's TLC and Aloha, then he shifted to Brother's burger and currently pizza is his favorite merienda.
For his lunch, my brother Junjun has been regularly driving by an eatery in Timog for 4 to 5 years now just to have a fish fillet with tausi beans or ampalaya con carne cooked for him.
Just recently, Mang Inasal has become a new favorite which he would eat together with either fish fillet or ampalaya con carne.
His moods is no different from his appetite, it changes a great deal and can really be stressful to those around him (this is another story on its own).
His sickness coupled with old age makes him unpredictable most of the times and my mother, my brother and his wife Jen should be applauded for their patience.
They take care of him everyday from sun up to sun down something I can do only during weekends.
The number of hours and the frequency of the dialysis depends per patient and for my father who is suffering from a chronic kidney disease 4 hours twice a week is required.
In the seven years that he has been spending 32 hours a month in the renal center he has become known to all the new and old nurses just like his fellow patients.
And in the once a month that I accompany my father all these years I've seen how these nurses have become sensitive and attentive to his needs (again another story that needs to be told).
It is always touching when I hear them call my father and the other patients daddy or mommy.
They too deserve an applause for the tender loving care they extend to each and every one of them!
The heart breaking episodes I witness once in a while when I am there, like seeing a patient without any companion, is nothing compared to what they have to face every day as they care for patients from all walks of life, young and old people alike.
The brief moment I get to devote to my father in that place makes me forget my own pain and disappointments. The complaints I have about my life seems trivial when i am there.
A short visit to the sick can work wonders they say, indeed it is, both to them and to us.
In the seven years that he has been spending 32 hours a month in the renal center he has become known to all the new and old nurses just like his fellow patients.
And in the once a month that I accompany my father all these years I've seen how these nurses have become sensitive and attentive to his needs (again another story that needs to be told).
It is always touching when I hear them call my father and the other patients daddy or mommy.
They too deserve an applause for the tender loving care they extend to each and every one of them!
The heart breaking episodes I witness once in a while when I am there, like seeing a patient without any companion, is nothing compared to what they have to face every day as they care for patients from all walks of life, young and old people alike.
The brief moment I get to devote to my father in that place makes me forget my own pain and disappointments. The complaints I have about my life seems trivial when i am there.
A short visit to the sick can work wonders they say, indeed it is, both to them and to us.
