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Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

COVID-19: End Of The Line?

The COVID-19 pandemic had been a long, strange and exhausting journey so far. I heard of SARS and MERS before, but this was the first time I saw a pandemic of this scale. Even H1N1, the last full-blown pandemic that happened worldwide back in 2009, didn't seem to last this long. To be frank, I barely had any recollection of how life was during H1N1. 

But COVID-19 was surely a life-changing experience and a rather scary one, if I might add. From just something I heard happening in Wuhan, it came to Singapore in early 2020. I could sense how tense and uncertain the situation was. Then, before long, it changed life as we knew it. We suddenly wore mask, worked from home and met online. I wryly joked sometimes that a new generation was born not knowing that there were times when we actually didn't wear mask.

Right before Delta: the quiet and eerie atmosphere at Shenton House during lunch time.
Photo by Keenan.

When the pandemic first happened and all the preventive measures including lockdown were introduced, it felt rather strange. Raffles Place, a bustling business district, became a ghost town. At the center of this peculiar time was COVID-19 itself. Alpha variant, as we called it then, was so mysterious that when somebody contracted it, we knew it was bad, but we couldn't tell how bad it was because we knew only so little about it.

Then came the time when vaccinations started, but COVID-19 also returned with a vengeance. The Delta strain appeared and it was the deadliest so far. The death toll hit the roof and it felt like COVID-19 was closing in, because we always heard about someone we knew infected by it almost on daily basis. 

Having lunch at Potong Pasir.

I had to say that I had been so sick of living like this. It was sickening to be confined in fear and uncertainty. As I had this meal on 5 October 2021 (I knew the exact date because that was when I got my Titan Pocket and the picture taken here was sync-ed seamlessly to the cloud), I remember thinking how on earth we were going to survive this. COVID-19 didn't seem like going away, so I became convinced that the only way out of this was to be immune to it. 

What I didn't foresee, of course, was the appearance of Omicron about one month later. This one was more contagious, but less deadly than Delta. Even though the number of cases increased exponentially, it didn't seem to matter that much anymore. I was wondering why Delta seemed like disappearing overnight, as if it was replaced by Omicron. Then I saw this explanation in Time magazine:

"Textbook teach that viruses, being a relatively simple entities they are, have limited resources to devote to their one goal: survival. Every time they make copies of themselves, viruses can mutate to become more or less infectious, or more or less harmful to their hosts. Because a virus can't reproduce on its own, and need to borrow the reproductive machinery of cells from those it infects, it's all about balance: finding the mutations that allow it to spread more effectively, while not causing its hosts to die."

Three days and counting...

The explanation made sense. It was also in-line with what I had in mind. We had gone a long way, so long that it was no longer the question of how to avoid it, but when I would have it. When I was tested positive, I was relieved. It was like, "finally, it's my turn." It was ironic how this actually felt right. But like I said earlier, it had been a long, strange and exhausting journey, and hopefully it ended here.

Now, how bad was COVID-19 today? What I felt was slight body ache (on the day before I was tested positive) and a feverish feeling that came together with nose and throat discomfort, as if there were mucus and phlegm. Not much worse than normal, full-fledged flu. The scarier part was probably the psychological factor. After seeing how damaging COVID-19 was throughout the pandemic, there was this thought that it shouldn't be taken lightly...



COVID-19: Akhir Dari Sebuah Pandemi?

COVID-19 sungguh merupakan sebuah perjalanan yang panjang, aneh dan juga melelahkan. Saya pernah dengar tentang SARS dan MERS sebelumnya, tapi baru kali ini saya melewati pandemi dengan skala seperti ini. Bahkan H1N1, pandemi yang terjadi secara global di tahun 2009, tidak terasa berlarut-larut seperti ini. Jujur saya katakan bahwa saya tidak memiliki kenangan seperti apa hidup kita ketika H1N1 melanda.

Tidak diragukan lagi bahwa COVID-19 adalah suatu pengalaman yang bukan saja mengubah hidup, tapi juga cukup mengerikan. Bermula dari berita sayup-sayup tentang kejadian di Wuhan, COVID-19 tiba di Singapura pada awal 2020. Saya ingat betul suasana mencekam yang terasa saat hal ini diumumkan. Tak lama setelah itu, hidup berubah total. Kita mendadak mengenakan masker, bekerja dari rumah dan bertemu lewat Zoom. Terkadang saya bergumam dengan kecut bahwa telah lahir generasi yang percaya bahwa kita selalu memakai masker setiap hari. 

Sebulan sebelum Delta: suasana yang sepi di Shenton House pas jam makan siang.
Foto oleh Keenan.

Ketika pandemi dimulai dan segala macam proses kesehatan termasuk lockdown diterapkan, rasanya aneh sekali. Raffles Place, kawasan bisnis yang biasanya sibuk, menjadi sepi seperti kota mati. Di tengah suasana yang galau ini COVID-19 pun merebak. Varian Alfa, nama yang kita kenal pada saat itu, begitu misterius dan bagaikan aib. Ketika ada yang terjangkit, kita tahu ini kabar buruk, tapi tidak tahu seberapa buruk karena informasi saat itu masih simpang-siur.

Saat mulai masanya vaksinasi, COVID-19 juga berubah menjadi lebih dahsyat lagi dari sebelumnya. Muncul yang namanya varian Delta dan lebih mematikan pula dampaknya. Angka kematian melambung tinggi dan COVID-19 seperti datang menghimpit, sebab setiap hari selalu terdengar kabar si ini terjangkit dan si itu meninggal. 

Makan siang di Potong Pasir.

Ada kala di mana saya merasa betapa menyedihkan hidup seperti ini. Tidak sepatutnya kita menjalani hidup yang dirundung ketakutan dan ketidakpastian. Pada tanggal 5 Oktober 2021 (saya tahu persis tanggalnya karena saat itu saya baru ganti ke Titan Pocket dan foto yang diambil ini pun tersimpan di cloud secara otomatis), ketika saya menikmati makanan ini, saya jadi kepikiran tentang bagaimana pandemi ini akan berakhir. COVID-19 tampaknya tidak akan hilang begitu saja dan saya pun jadi yakin bahwa satu-satunya kunci untuk selamat dari semua ini adalah imunitas. 

Apa yang tidak pernah saya duga adalah kemunculan Omicron di bulan berikutnya. Yang satu ini lebih gila lagi penyebarannya, tapi tidak sebengis Delta yang membunuh banyak orang. Meski kasus COVID-19 bertambah lebih cepat dari sebelumnya, tiba-tiba angka yang naik drastis itu tidak lagi terasa seperti masalah. Saya sempat heran, kenapa Delta sepertinya hilang dan tergantikan begitu saja oleh Omicron. Lalu saya temukan penjelasan berikut ini di majalah Time:

"Buku pelajaran mengajarkan bahwa sebagai sebuah entitas yang relatif sederhana, virus hanya memiliki sedikit sumber daya untuk mencapai satu tujuan mereka: bertahan hidup. Setiap kali menggandakan diri, virus juga bisa berubah menjadi lebih menular atau kurang menular dan juga menjadi lebih berbahaya atau kurang berbahaya bagi tuan rumah yang ditumpanginya. Karena virus tidak bisa bereproduksi sendiri dan butuh sel reproduktif dari tuan rumah yang dijangkiti olehnya, maka pada akhirnya yang penting adalah keseimbangan: bermutasi menjadi versi yang lebih efektif dalam penularan dan juga tidak membunuh orang yang tertular."

Menghitung hari...
 
Penjelasan ini masuk akal dan juga sejalan dengan apa yang saya pikirkan. Kita sudah melewati pandemi sampai sejauh ini, sebegitu jauhnya sampai-sampai pertanyaannya bukan lagi bagaimana cara mengelak dari COVID-19, tapi kapan kiranya saya kena. Dan ketika hasil tes saya positif, yang muncul justru perasaan lega. Rasanya seperti, "akhirnya giliran saya." Fakta bahwa ini terasa benar sesungguhnya sangat ironis. Namun seperti yang saya katakan sebelumnya, perjalanan melalui pandemi itu sungguh panjang, aneh dan melelahkan. Semoga saja berakhir sampai di sini. 

Nah, bagaimana rasanya terjangkit COVID-19 di masa sekarang? Ada sedikit rasa pegal-pegal di badan sehari sebelum hasil tes saya positif. Ada pula sedikit demam yang disertai rasa tidak nyaman di hidung dan tenggorokan, seolah-olah ada banyak lendir dan dahak. Selain dampak yang disebutkan barusan, saya masih memiliki konsentrasi cukup untuk bekerja sepanjang hari. Sisi yang agak menakutkan mungkin berasal dari faktor psikologis. Setelah mendengar begitu banyak korban dari cerita teman dan kerabat, terus-terang ada rasa was-was di benak bahwa sebaiknya ini tidak dianggap enteng...

Sunday, February 20, 2022

The Check-Up

Today's story had a prelude that happened back in 2008. We attended our ex-housemate's wedding in Jakarta and, as luck would have it, our flight back to Singapore was canceled. As we took the shuttle bus to Hotel Mulia, I happened to sit next to a doctor and we talked. That's when I heard the casual remark that I'd remember for life: "people are strange. They check their cars regularly, but they don't do the same for their own body."

The wedding we attended in 2008.

I heeded the advice, probably after I had kids, and I had been doing annual check-up since then. The result had been good until last October, when something called ALT was off the chart. I partly suspected it was due to vitamin C and fish oil that I consumed on daily basis. For the fact that I never fell sick in the past two years, something gotta give.

Thus began the other side of check-up that I never experienced before. Prior to this, things were fine and that was it. But now, there were actions to be done. Doctor advised me to stop taking fish oil and to start exercise regularly. Since I just finished the sessions with my personal trainer and continued with Strava time, this was covered. The doctor also wrote a referral letter for me to undergo ultrasound, to be done one month later.

I never did any medical procedure before, so I was feeling both curious and nervous at the same time. Apparently ultrasound was similar to what my wife went through when she was pregnant. The nurse applied some gels before she started scanning the tummy area. God knows what she was searching for, because the screen looked like a black-and-white TV with a very bad reception.

Few days after this was done, I went back to see the doctor. He said it was all right, but the ultrasound discovered some dodgy white nodes, so it was better to confirm if they were malicious. Again he wrote a referral letter, this time for CT scan. It took two visits to do this. First was for blood test, the second time was for the CT scan itself.

The catheter. Scary stuff!

Unlike ultrasound, CT scan looked more serious. For the first time ever in my life, I actually had a catheter inserted under my skin and into my vein. I wasn't quite sure how to react with that, so I tried not to move my arm as much as I could, haha. Then I entered a room with a donut-shaped machine made by Siemens. I lay down on a mechanical bed that moved back and forth into the donut hole. When the nurse injected something called contrast, there was this warm feeling flowing through the body. Creepy!

I heard about contrast a few years ago, when my Dad went for PET scan. It was something that would light up and was used as a marker for cancerous cells. With that in mind, I couldn't help thinking, what if the nodes were cancer? I told my wife that after four decades of eating and drinking as I wished, there were of course chances we'd find something that wasn't to our liking.

Never wore a gown before. Just had to immortalize this moment.

Since the worst case scenario was cancer, I did some soul-searching. I looked back only to realize again that I had tried my best and lived to the fullest. I definitely wouldn't like it at all if the result was bad. I might even struggle to accept it. But I wasn't that scared and I didn't have much regrets. In short, I had no problems sleeping. 

Then came the day I reviewed the result with the doctor. The mysterious white nodes were fat. Nothing was alarmingly bad, but it certainly could be better. There was no medicine for fatty liver, except a healthier diet and exercise. I told him I could live with that, thanked him and walked out from his room. 

Now that I think of it, annual check-up was a strange thing indeed. Sometimes it felt like we paid the price just to hear the doctor saying that everything was good for you to continue living happily until the next check-up. You got worried when that wasn't the case and the next thing you knew, you went through one medical procedure after another to figure out what wasn't right.

I discussed this with my friends whom were roughly the same age as me. Some said they were scared of the result and it was better not to know. Some said no point finding out if there wasn't any extra budget for the follow-up. Each opinion, I believe, was valid and as realistic as it got. My personal take, however, was to do check-up and find out the hard truth. If it turned out to be unpleasant, at least you could prepare for the next steps...


Check-Up

Cerita kali ini memiliki permulaan yang terjadi di tahun 2008. Saat itu saya menghadiri pesta pernikahan mantan teman serumah yang dilangsungkan di Jakarta. Pas pulang, ternyata penerbangan kembali ke Singapura dibatalkan. Saat berada di bis menuju Hotel Mulia yang disediakan maskapai Lufthansa, kebetulan saya duduk di sebelah dokter dan kita pun berbincang. Di kala itulah saya mendengar celetukan sang dokter yang saya ingat selalu: "manusia itu aneh. Mereka selalu rutin mengecek mobil mereka, tapi badan sendiri tidak pernah diperiksa." 

Pernikahan yang saya hadiri di tahun 2008.

Saya mematuhi nasehat itu, kalau tidak salah sejak saya memiliki anak, dan secara berkala melakukan check-up. Hasilnya selalu bagus, namun sesuatu yang disebut ALT melonjak angkanya tahun lalu. Saya curiga ini dikarenakan oleh vitamin C dan minyak ikan yang saya konsumsi setiap hari. Fakta bahwa saya tidak pernah sakit lagi sejak dua tahun lalu memang sulit dipercaya, jadi pasti ada harga yang harus saya bayar. 

Lantas mulailah sisi lain dari check-up yang tidak pernah saya alami sebelumnya. Dulu semuanya baik-baik saja, namun kali ini diperlukan tindak lanjut. Dokter menganjurkan saya untuk menghentikan konsumsi minyak ikan dan mulai berolahraga secara rutin. Saya sendiri baru saja menyelesaikan sesi olahraga bersama pelatih pribadi dan kini meluangkan waktu untuk Strava, jadi setidaknya sudah ada gerak badan. Selain itu, dokter juga menuliskan surat referensi untuk ultrasound yang harus saya lakukan sebulan kemudian. 

Saya tidak pernah menjalani prosedur medis apa pun sebelum ini, jadi saya merasa ingin tahu dan juga gugup dalam waktu yang sama. Ternyata ultrasound itu mirip dengan apa yang istri saya jalani sewaktu kita mengunjungi dokter kandungan dulu. Perawat mengoleskan semacam cairan lalu mulai menggerakkan alat scan ke sana kemari. Entah apa yang dia cari, sebab yang terlihat oleh saya hanyalah layar hitam-putih dengan tampilan seperti TV yang parah sinyalnya.  

Beberapa hari kemudian, saya kembali menemui dokter. Berdasarkan tinjauan dokter, hasilnya baik, tapi juga ditemukan bintik-bintik putih yang sebaiknya diperiksa lebih lanjut. Sekali lagi dokter menulis surat referensi, kali ini untuk CT scan. Butuh dua kunjungan untuk prosedur ini. Yang pertama adalah konsultasi dokter dan periksa darah. Kali kedua barulah prosedur CT scan.

Ini yang namanya kateter.

Berbeda dengan ultrasound, CT scan terlihat lebih serius. Untuk pertama kalinya dalam hidup saya, sebuah kateter dipasang menembus kulit hingga ke pembuluh darah. Saya tidak tahu harus bagaimana, jadi sedapat mungkin saya tidak menggerakkan sebelah tangan saya, haha. Saya lantas memasuki sebuah ruangan dengan mesin Siemens berbentuk lingkaran donat. Saya berbaring di atas tempat tidur mekanik yang bisa masuk dan maju-mundur di lubang donat. Ketika perawat melakukan injeksi cairan yang disebut contrast, ada rasa hangat yang mengalir di tubuh. Seram! 

Saya sempat mendengar tentang contrast beberapa tahun silam, sewaktu ayah saya melakukan PET scan. Cairan ini akan menyala dan digunakan sebagai penanda sel kanker. Saya lantas jadi kepikiran, bagaimana kalau bintik di dalam tubuh adalah kanker? Saya katakan pada istri saya bahwa setelah makan dan minum selama empat dekade, bukannya tidak mungkin kalau saya akan menemukan sesuatu yang tidak saya harapkan. 

Saya tidak pernah memakai gaun, jadi perlu saya abadikan momen ini. 

Karena skenario terburuk adalah kanker, saya jadi melihat kembali hidup saya. Sekali lagi saya menyadari bahwa saya sudah mencoba sebisa saya untuk hidup sepenuh hati. Ya, tentu saja saya tidak akan suka kalau hasil CT scan ini buruk. Saya bahkan mungkin butuh waktu untuk menerima kenyataan ini. Namun saya tidak terlalu takut dan tidak pula memiliki banyak penyesalan hidup. Secara singkat bisa saya jabarkan bahwa saya tetap bisa tidur dengan tenang. 

Lalu tibalah hari di mana dokter akan menjelaskan hasilnya pada saya. Bintik putih misterius itu adalah lemak. Tidak ada yang perlu dikhawatirkan, namun tentu saja hasilnya bisa lebih baik lagi. Tidak ada obat untuk yang namanya fatty liver ini, kecuali pola makan yang lebih baik dan olahraga. Saya setuju dengan pendapatnya. 

Kalau saya pikirkan lagi sekarang, check-up tahunan memang agak aneh konsepnya. Terkadang rasanya seperti membayar dokter hanya untuk mendengarkan opininya bahwa kita sehat-sehat saja sampai check-up berikutnya. Kita justru panik sendiri kalo hasilnya bukanlah yang kita harapkan dan kita pun menjalani prosedur medis satu per satu untuk menemukan apa yang salah. 

Saya berdiskusi tentang hal ini dengan teman-teman SMA yang seusia dengan saya. Ada yang berkata bahwa hasil check-up itu menakutkan dan lebih tidak tahu. Ada yang berkata bahwa percuma cari tahu kalau tidak ada uang untuk penanganan lebih lanjut. Saya rasa setiap pendapat itu sah dan realistis. Bagi saya pribadi, lebih baik check-up dan cari tahu. Kalau sampai hasil check-up itu tidak seperti yang diharapkan, minimal kita bisa mempersiapkan diri untuk langkah selanjutnya... 

Monday, October 11, 2021

The Personal Trainer

The first question I got from some of my friends was, "why bother engaging a personal trainer when you can just check out YouTube?" Then I told them that it wasn't that simple. I simply lacked of motivation in exercising, hence I was never able to bring myself to do what they suggested. It'd be very different if I had people breathing down my neck. In other words, I literally spent money to pay a trainer to tell me off, haha.

Truthfully speaking, I didn't look for a personal trainer (PT). My wife attended an online course and one of her classmates happened to be a PT. She asked if I was willing to interview him and I didn't mind, so I met this guy named Quek. As I sat and talked to him, I realized that it made more sense to try it out myself. I mean, rather than writing about he said, I reckoned it'd be easier to write about my experience instead. 

Then I signed up for a package of 11 weeks and the training schedule would be once a week on Saturday morning. Quek came over to the fitness corner near my place and he brought with him the training equipment such as resistance band and suspension trainer. He was a punctual man. That must be lesson number one!

With the personal trainer.

The training would begin with notes taking and body fat measurement. The workout then started after the warming up (jumping jack, stretching, squat, etc). We'd do three sets and the routines comprised of shuffle lunge, inclined pull up, mountain climber, burpee and many more. Then we closed each set with few minutes of jogging. Before we called it a day, we'd wrap it up with core and arm exercises, such as plank, crunch and biceps curl.

I'd always remember the first week. Not only I made a rookie mistake by skipping breakfast, I was also so spent that I got cold sweat and felt like vomiting. It was embarrassing, but that's where Quek's experience as a personal trainer made a difference. He didn't say things I wanted to hear as a client, which I respected, but yet he managed to encourage me to continue. He made it okay for me to have a weak start as he ensured me that it'd only get better.

But of course exercising once a week wouldn't make any difference if I didn't practice diligently throughout the week. Quek expected a certain level of commitment and I agreed to train on my own twice a week. Frankly speaking, I disliked this and forcing myself to do it reminded me again why I never exercised in the first place, haha. But since I said I would, I did it the best I could. I'd start with drumming as a form of warming up, then did few moves he taught me before wrapping it up with stair climbing. The HDB flat I'm staying in has 17 floors and for the first few attempts, I'd stop at level 7, 11, 14 and 17 to catch my breath.

Outdoor training.

It was only after the fifth meeting that I could tell there was an improvement. I wouldn't say that I was impressive, but at least I didn't feel like fainting anymore. Yes, I was still panting, but I did feel like I could do it. And Quek was good in mixing the routines accordingly. He could tell when I pushed too hard for the first two sets, then he'd swap some of the moves to less taxing ones, let's say from mountain climber (I hated this one) to burpee.  

11 weeks went by and all good things must come to an end. When we had our last session, we switched to indoor training in my living room so that I had a better idea of what could be done at home when I didn't feel like going outside. We missed out the training experience at the gym pod (it only allowed one occupant in the time of corona), but I guess we covered most of it. And being a good trainer he was, he left me a set of exercise instructions and a parting gift: a resistance band!

I'm never a sporty person, but from little that I know, it's been great to train with Quek. Not boring, as he's a talkative person, but yet he's focused on what he is doing. He's also knowledgeable (heart rate became part of my vocabularies now) and is able to explain what he means in layman's term. Best of all, I had no injuries, which means he knows what he's doing. So, yeah, if you are new to this and wish to have a good start, you should contact him at @strengthelements on Instagram!



Pelatih Kebugaran Jasmani

Pertanyaan pertama dari teman-teman saya adalah, "kenapa pakai pelatih pribadi, padahal bisa cek sendiri di YouTube?" Saya lantas jelaskan pada mereka bahwa permasalahannya tidak sesederhana itu. Saya senantiasa tidak memiliki disiplin dan motivasi untuk berolahraga, jadi saya tidak pernah bisa melakukan apa yang mereka sarankan. Beda ceritanya kalau ada orang yang mengawasi. Dengan kata lain, saya perlu mengeluarkan uang untuk diomeli, haha. 

Jujur saya katakan, saya tidak mencari pelatih kebugaran jasmani. Hanya saja kebetulan seorang teman sekolah istri saya memiliki profesi ini. Dia kemudian bertanya apakah saya berminat untuk mewawancarai temannya ini. Saya tidak keberatan, jadi saya pun menemui pria bernama Quek ini. Setelah berbincang dengannya, saya merasa bahwa lebih masuk akal bila saya mencobanya sendiri. Jadi daripada menulis tentang apa yang dia sampaikan, akan lebih mudah untuk menuliskan pengalaman saya sendiri. 

Saya mendaftar untuk paket 11 minggu dan jadwal latihannya adalah seminggu sekali setiap Sabtu pagi. Quek akan datang ke pojok fitness di dekat rumah saya dan dia membawa serta berbagai peralatan seperti resistance band (semacam pegas dari bahan karet yang bisa tarik-ulur) dan suspension trainer (peralatan yang bisa diikatkan ke tiang dan dijadikan tumpuan untuk pull up). Quek sangat tepat waktu dan ini pastilah pelajaran nomor satu! 

Bersama sang pelatih.

Latihan dimulai dengan pencatatan berat badan dan pengukuran lemak tubuh. Setelah itu ada pemanasan (jumping jack, stretching, squat dan lain-lain), kemudian diteruskan dengan tiga set gerak badan yang mencakup shuffle lunge, inclined pull up, mountain climber, burpee dan masih banyak lagi. Setiap set lantas ditutup dengan lari beberapa menit. Selanjutnya kita melatih otot perut dan lengan dengan plank, crunch dan biceps curl.

Saya selalu terkenang dengan minggu pertama. Saya dengan ceroboh menunda sarapan dan beraktivitas dengan perut kosong, akibatnya saya kelelahan dan merasa mual seperti akan muntah. Sungguh memalukan, namun di sinilah peran Quek sebagai pelatih yang berpengalaman membuat perbedaan. Dia tidak berkomentar yang muluk hanya karena saya adalah kliennya, tapi dia bisa meyakinkan saya untuk terus berlatih. Dia jelaskan kepada saya bahwa meskipun ini bukan permulaan yang baik, tapi latihan secara rutin akan membuahkan hasil.

Akan tetapi tentu saja latihan seminggu sekali tidak akan membuat banyak perbedaan. Oleh karena itu Quek ingin agar saya meluangkan waktu untuk berlatih di kala senggang dan saya pun setuju untuk berolahraga sendiri dua kali seminggu. Jujur saya katakan bahwa saya harus menyeret diri saya untuk berolahraga sendiri, tapi karena saya sudah menyanggupinya, mau tidak mau saya harus melakukannya. Biasanya saya memulai pemanasan dengan bermain drum, setelah itu saya mengulang gerakan yang diajarkan olehnya, lalu saya tuntaskan dengan menaiki tangga. Saya tinggal di blok setinggi 17 lantai dan ketika saya melakukannya untuk beberapa kali pertama, saya sering berhenti di lantai 7, 11, 14 and 17 untuk memulihkan napas saya yang terengah-engah.  

Latihan di luar.

Saya baru merasakan peningkatan setelah pertemuan ke-5. Perubahannya tidaklah drastis, tapi saya jadi merasa lebih bugar dan tidak lagi terasa seperti hendak pingsan. Stamina saya kini lebih baik dari sebelumnya dan di satu sisi, Quek juga pintar membaca situasi. Jika dia melihat bahwa saya terlalu menguras tenaga di dua set pertama, dia bisa mengubah rangkaian di set berikutnya dengan gerakan yang lebih sesuai kondisi, misalnya dari mountain climber (saya tidak suka gerakan yang satu ini) ke burpee.  

11 minggu pun berlalu dan tidak terasa bahwa latihan pun akan segera berakhir. Di pertemuan terakhir, kita mencoba latihan di rumah supaya saya memiliki gambaran, apa saja yang bisa saya lakukan di ruang tamu. Kita tidak sempat mencoba di gym pod (semacam gym di ruang container di tengah taman) karena hanya bisa digunakan oleh satu orang di musim korona. Dan ketika semua berakhir, dia memberikan instruksi latihan dan hadiah: sebuah resistance band!

Saya bukanlah orang yang gemar berolahraga, tapi dari apa yang saya jalani, saya senang berlatih dalam bimbingan Quek. Tidak membosankan, karena dia sangat aktif berbicara tentang apa saja, tapi tetap fokus dengan perannya sebagai pelatih. Dia juga berwawasan luas dan bisa menjelaskan dengan baik dalam sudut pandang orang awam. Yang lebih mantap lagi, saya tidak cedera dan ini berarti dia tahu apa yang dilakukannya. Jadi bila anda baru di bidang ini dan ingin uji coba, anda bisa menghubunginya di @strengthelements lewat Instagram!

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

The Mystery Of Staying Healthy

When I suggested to my daughter to turn off the aircon, she often replied me this, "you are from Pontianak, Papa. That's why you can stand the heat."

I'd smile when I heard that. I reckon there was some truth in her innocent comment. I don't recall complaining about the weather in Singapore and I certainly could sleep soundly without aircon at night. 

Furthermore, come to think of it, the concept of turning on the aircon just for us to hide beneath the comforter were a rather strange behaviour. It was like trying to stay warm in a room conditioned to be below 20 degrees. What a struggle! We might as well switch off the aircon and sleep without any blankets.

And that's exactly what I did last December, when my family went back to Bandung. Since I slept alone, I had the liberty of not switching on the aircon. I noticed that when the night was hot, there was this feeling that I had slept for long hours, though in reality it was only two or three hours. I knew this because sometimes I checked my phone when I woke up to drink water. After midnight, the temperature normally dropped and I really had a good sleep. It got even better when it was raining! Since then, I enjoy sleeping without aircon again. It felt just nice.

Right around the same time, I had a trip to Semarang with high school friends. I knew we'd hang out till late at night, so I took vitamin C as an antioxidant and a way to boost up immunity. Simply put, I didn't wish to fall sick, but long after holiday was over, the habit continued. My work could be stressful and long hours at times. Since I didn't eat fruits regularly, I thought vitamin C would help.

Now, up until here, you might be wondering why I'd been telling you two seemingly unrelated events. The truth is, I used to suffer from the complete package of illness every two or three months: sore throat, runny nose and fever. However, it'd been close to a year since I first did two things I mentioned above and I never fell sick thus far. I still sneezed a bit sometimes, but I had neither sore throat or fever. It was unprecedented! 

I don't really know which one is the main contributing factor of me being so healthy. There were times when I thought that perhaps it got to do with the mindset. I mean, yes, vitamin C might have done its job, but let's not discount the fact that I might have been subconsciously telling myself I always felt healthy after consuming vitamin C. Talk about the power of suggestion!

I did a basic check-up recently and the result was good, so there was no side effect of taking vitamin C for the past 10 months. It'd been quite unbelievable and miraculous, I'd say, because I never expected to be in such a good health for almost one year. I hadn't even touched my 14 days sick leave entitlement yet! What I did worked out well for me, so if this story makes any sense to you, feel free to give it a try!


Vitamin C and aircon.


Misteri Kesehatan

Setiap kali saya menyarankan putri saya untuk mematikan AC, dia sering menjawab saya seperti ini, "tapi Papa berasal dari Pontianak, makanya bisa tahan cuaca panas." 

Saya tersenyum saat mendengar celotehannya yang polos itu. Mungkin ada benarnya juga. Saya tidak ingat kalau saya pernah mengeluh tentang cuaca di Singapura dan saya tetap bisa tidur nyenyak tanpa AC di malam hari.

Kalau dipikirkan lebih lanjut, konsep menyalakan AC dan lantas bersembunyi di balik selimut itu sebenarnya agak janggal. Kita jadi seakan-akan mencari kehangatan di dalam ruangan yang kita atur temperaturnya sehingga berada di bawah 20 derajat. Akhirnya jadi semacam perjuangan! Daripada repot begitu, kenapa tidak kita matikan saja AC-nya dan tidur tanpa selimut? 

Dan ini yang saya lakukan di bulan Desember lalu, ketika istri dan anak-anak pulang ke Bandung. Karena tidur sendiri, saya memiliki kebebasan untuk tidak menyalakan AC. Saya amati bahwa di kala panas itu saya rasanya sudah tidur lama sekali, padahal kenyataannya cuma dua atau tiga jam. Saya bisa mengetahui hal ini karena saya memiliki kebiasaan untuk mengecek telepon genggam saat terbangun untuk minum air putih. Di tengah malam, cuaca akan berubah menjadi dingin dan jadi enak untuk tidur. Bilamana malam itu hujan, akan lebih nyenyak lagi tidurnya. Sejak itu, saya kembali menyukai tidur tanpa AC. Rasanya pas!  

Di saat yang hampir bersamaan, saya berlibur bersama teman-teman SMA ke Semarang. Saya tahu bahwa kita akan berbincang hingga larut malam, jadi saya rutin meminum vitamin C sebagai antioksidan yang berguna untuk menjaga imunitas tubuh. Kebiasaan ini lantas berlanjut. Pekerjaan saya terkadang panjang waktunya dan saya senantiasa harus berpikir cepat dan fokus untuk memecahkan masalah. Karena saya jarang makan buah, saya pun konsumsi vitamin C secara rutin. 

Sampai di sini, anda mungkin heran, kenapa saya bercerita tentang dua hal yang sepertinya tidak saling berkaitan ini. Jujur saya sampaikan bahwa sebelum ini, saya sering sakit tenggorokan, batuk, pilek dan demam setiap dua atau tiga bulan sekali. Namun sekarang, semenjak saya mulai melakukan dua hal di atas, hampir setahun lamanya saya tidak pernah sakit lagi. Terkadang saya masih bersin sedikit terutama di pagi hari, ketika bangun tidur, tapi tidak lagi sakit tenggorokan, batuk, pilek dan demam. Ini tidak pernah terjadi sebelumnya. 

Saya tidak tahu persis apa yang menjadi faktor utama dari kesehatan yang prima ini. Ada kalanya saya jadi merasa apakah ini hanya kekuatan pikiran semata, hehe. Ya, vitamin C memang ada khasiatnya, tapi mungkin juga kebiasaan mengkonsumsi vitamin C ini menjadi sugesti tanpa sadar bagi saya sehingga selalu merasa sehat. 

Baru-baru ini saya melakukan check-up tahunan dan hasilnya bagus. Tidak ada dampak negatif dari konsumsi vitamin C selama 10 bulan terakhir ini. Rasanya sulit dipercaya dan ajaib, sebab tidak pernah terpikirkan bahwa saya akan sesehat ini. Saya bahkan belum pernah cuti sakit sekalipun sepanjang tahun ini. Nah, jika semua ini terdengar masuk akal dan membuat anda terinspirasi, silahkan dicoba! 

Monday, March 16, 2020

The Lockdown

Yesterday, the stay-home notice for all travellers entering Singapore from ASEAN countries news reached my WhatsApp around 18.30. The boarding announcement came minutes after. I took the 19.15 flight to Jakarta.

Inside the eerie, empty plane.

I cursed a bit, never anticipating such notice would happen. This must be tough, at the same time brave decisions to be made. The gov of Singapore must have thought this thru. It was definitely not a decision that could be made in a blink of an eye. The repercussions were huge! This basically stopped ASEAN tourists from coming in. No one would come just to be quarantined for 14 days. And this worsened the situation of the airlines and tourism industry. Both were already hit hard earlier. For Singapore, it would further dampen the economical situation. This is the statistics from 2019, taken from Singapore Tourism Board. The numbers alone were significant, not to mention their spending yet.


So back to the news, many would get impacted. Beside tourists, people who planned to visit Singapore for medical or business trips would be affected. In fact, two passengers from the same flight I took immediately decided to cancelled their trip to Jakarta.

I would also like to share an article which is quite logical to me. The essence of it was, outside China, during the initial outbreak, many countries were too ignorant of COVID 19 issues. When it finally hit, it hit really hard. I could almost relate with what the article was saying: our working environment, our communities, our surrounding, our family. 

The timeline of Coronavirus, part 1.
From: Time magazine. 

I used to be the one who thought, "come on, I won't be so unlucky to caught the COVID-19." But let's pause here and think:
Think of the what if.
Think of the risk.
Think of your loved ones.
Think of the time you might spent if one of your family members caught the virus.
Think of the money you might spent.
Finally think of how you might cause the loss of lives, be it direct or indirect.


The timeline of Coronavirus, part 2.
From: Time magazine.

Stay vigilant, avoid mass gathering, ensure your hygiene, and stay healthy. I'm not saying this will keep you safe, but at least we do our best...

Monday, August 7, 2017

The Cancer Impact

Cancer is so physically, mentally and financially draining that you'll wish it'll never happen to anybody you know. But you don't get to choose, sometimes. In life, if things such as cancer happen to your dearest ones, you don't get to question why. You just have to accept and move on. A friend of mine asked if I could share the experience that I had gone through so far. He got the point, because there's certainly a thing or two that one can learn from it, so here we go.

It was all started with the news, and verdicts in some Latin name that you barely understood could be a very bad news, not only to the patient, but also to the family. When the doctor finally used the term that we could understand, it was so hard to believe that the whole world felt like turning upside down. I remember staring at my Dad, wondering how long more he could be with us. I just couldn't help thinking that his days might be numbered. That was what cancer could do to you. You immediately thought of the worst.

Dad must be shocked, too, but if he was ever afraid, it clearly didn't show. With the track record of smoking for the past 40 years, perhaps he knew he had it coming. As the reality sank in, Dad casually asked questions about what to do next. When I looked at Mum, I knew she must be saddened by the news as Dad was always the pillar she leaned on in life, but she carried herself well and didn't cry. Only my brother was visible shaken and upset. We spent the rest of the day at the mall in Kuching, eating and talking as it had been a while since the four of us gathered together as a family. It was almost normal, because we could still laugh at each other's stories. I was convinced there and then about how we're going to face it: if tomorrow wasn't ours to see, we'd live our lives to the fullest today. We'd embrace it together, so come what might.

Then came the multiple visits to the hospital, from one doctor to another. From Kuching, we were referred to a lung cancer doctor in Singapore, but he didn't think it was lung cancer, so he advised us to see his colleague. This doctor then said we should go for biopsy, but once the result was out, the doctor told us it wasn't clear and made a PET scan appointment for us. When we came back to see her again, we were redirected to another doctor that specialized in head and neck. He did his own biopsy on the spot where I had to see all the gory details on the screen without any warning. Then he decided that it wasn't good enough that my Dad would have to go through another medical procedure. He explained that it was a rather rare case that he would have to discuss it with his colleagues during his weekly meeting. Eventually my Dad's case was routed to another senior doctor who put an end to this and wrote a reference letter to send my Dad back to Indonesia for treatment. He was a no-nonsense doctor who didn't pretend that my Dad's cancer could be cured. He simply told us that the medicine would be the same in Indonesia, hence there was no point to have my Dad treated in Singapore.

Now, the paragraph above was just to give you a brief summary of what we went through. In reality, it was very frustrating and it went on for almost three months. Every time we visited the hospital, we wished it would be the last time, that we would finally know what this was all about, but no, we were always kept in suspense. The things with how the doctors worked were, they were methodical. They would have to try this step first and if it was proven to be not sufficient, then they would progress with the next one. However, if you were the patient, the whole damn thing was painfully slow to the extent that you started wondering, did the doctors even know what they were doing?

At the same time, of course money was a concern. I wasn't born rich, so that pretty much highlighted how our finance situation was. But still, when it came to your parent, you just had to put on your brave face and smiled to ensure them things were taken care off. I mean, they already got the cancer to worry about and the last thing they wanted was to be a burden to their son. So there I was, trying to laugh it off as I saw my savings depleting. This was cancer and we were talking about more than IDR 100 million just to figure out what it actually was. It was quite stressful to see the doctors ordered one medical procedure after another that I was about to tell them, "excuse me, but I don't print money." To think that we hadn't even started the treatment yet. Was I worried? Yes, I was so bloody worried, especially when I was a sole breadwinner who was responsible for my wife and two young daughters.

This was when insurance came into play. I don't endorse any particular insurance company here, but what I'd like to emphasize is, don't underestimate the need of having an insurance. When I realized I could buy insurance for my parents, I did it right away. When nothing happened, yes, it felt like paying through your nose. Nevertheless, in a situation like this, insurance surely came handy. I heard stories about how people ended up claiming just a dime or two, but that perhaps due to the fact that you needed to know what you bought in the first place. I wasn't an insurance expert and I was admittedly confused when an insurance agent started talking, but I did tell my agent what sort of protection I needed for my parents and I told him to get me exactly that. Few years later, when I had to claim it for my Dad, I was reminded again about what I bought and there was a limit of how much I could claim, but it was still better than nothing.

Based on what I went through, I could tell you that the process of claiming the insurance won't be smooth sailing. It very much depends on how flexible and knowledgable your agent is. In my case, my agent was a nice chap and a friend of mine, but I still had to argue with him and escalated the case to his supervisor before the claim was finally approved. From my experience, we needed to keep all the relevant receipts and documents of the insured patient. At the same time, do your reading again so you can question what you think should be your entitlement. This is not to say that you shouldn't trust your agent, but it's more of getting on the same page of understanding. By the end of the day, recouping back around 80% of what had been spent sounded about right. It did help to pay for the daily expenses as my Dad is going through the cancer treatment now.

Talk about treatment, one other thing worth mentioning is BPJS, a medical coverage in Indonesia. Not sure since when it was there, but I tend to think that it became functional only during Jokowi's administration (that's my President, love him). My Uncle told me that when my Grandma was diagnosed with cancer, Dharmais Hospital was awfully quiet as only certain groups of people were able to afford the treatment. Now, with BPJS, everybody could seek for help that they literally flooded the hospital. 

If there was any downside of BPJS, it must be this: the procedure of BPJS was so long-winded that it required the patient to go back and forth from one counter to another just to sort out the paperwork. It was chaotic, with no clear direction of where to go, but once you got the hang of it, BPJS was like a miracle for the less fortunate. The doctors consultation, countless blood test and blood transfusion, the ward, the six cycles of chemotherapy, they were almost free of charge, all thanks to BPJS. Having said that, if you haven't got one, just go and apply for it. As for how it works, in our case, Dad went to the BPJS appointed doctor in Pontianak and the local doctor then came up with another reference letter to certify that Dad would be a BPJS patient at Dharmais Hospital in Jakarta.

Once money wasn't much of a concern anymore, it did a great deal to let us focus on the treatment itself. Trust me when I said there were still a lot to worry about. In short, not only the patient's life changed overnight, the lives of the closest family members were also affected. Mum had left her teaching job as she got to stay with Dad. The two of them would have to adjust to a new life in Jakarta. For me, I would fly to Jakarta from time to time to accompany Dad during his chemotherapy sessions. 

While it was painful to see Dad losing hair and weight, one good thing about Dad was to hear him talking about what he wants to do when this is over. If he still gives a thought about what to do in the future, that means he hasn't give up. The man sure has a fighting spirit in him. By his own admission, he feels so much better now and has put on weight since he finished the chemotherapy cycles. The cancer is not fully eliminated yet, though. Next is radiotherapy. Hopefully he'll be in complete remission after this...

A family means we'll face it together, with a little help and prayers from our friends.

Dampak Kanker

Kanker betul-betul menghabiskan segala daya upaya, baik secara fisik, mental maupun dari segi keuangan. Begitu buruknya dampak dari kanker sehingga kita tentunya berharap dijauhkan dari penyakit ini, tetapi terkadang kita tidak dapat memilih dalam hidup ini. Jika seorang anggota keluarga divonis mengidap kanker, kita tidak bisa bertanya mengapa, tetapi hanya bisa menerima dan menindaklanjutinya. Seseorang teman baru-baru ini bertanya, apa mungkin saya bisa bercerita tentang pengalaman yang saya jalani. Saya pikir dia ada benarnya. Saya juga berharap ada hal-hal yang bisa dipetik dari cerita saya, jadi mari kita simak kisah berikut ini.

Semua ini berawal dari penjelasan tentang hasil diagnosa oleh dokter di Kuching. Dunia bagaikan jungkir balik ketika dokter menggunakan bahasa orang awam untuk menerangkan apa arti dari bahasa Latin yang tertulis di laporan laboratorium. Saya sempat menoleh ke Papa dan berpikir, tinggal berapa lama lagi beliau bisa menghabiskan waktu bersama keluarga. Menghitung hari adalah sebuah pemikiran yang negatif, tapi yang kita bicarakan di sini adalah kanker, jadi secara otomatis asumsinya sudah mengarah ke kemungkinan terburuk.

Papa pasti juga merasa terkejut, tapi kalau pernah dia merasa takut, dia tidak menunjukkannya. Setelah merokok selama 40 tahun terakhir, mungkin sedikit-banyak dia juga sudah tahu akibatnya akan jadi seperti apa. Tatkala kita perlahan menerima kenyataan ini, Papa bertanya kepada dokter, apa langkah berikutnya. Saat saya menoleh ke Mama, saya tahu dia pasti sangat sedih karena dia sangat dekat dengan Papa. Akan tetapi dia pun menerima dengan lapang dada dan tidak menangis. Hanya adik saya yang terguncang dan terlihat khawatir. Setelah konsultasi, waktu yang tersisa di Kuching akhirnya dihabiskan dengan jalan-jalan di Mall. Kita makan bersama dan berbincang, suatu kesempatan yang langka mengingat kita berempat jarang berkumpul bersama sebagai satu keluarga karena saya tinggal di Singapura. Setelah berita buruk dari dokter, fakta bahwa kita masih bisa tertawa sungguh terasa aneh tapi nyata. Dari situ saya sadari, mungkin ini caranya kita akan menghadapi cobaan ini. Jika kita tidak tahu apa yang akan terjadi di hari esok, maka kita jalani hari ini dengan sebaik mungkin. Apa pun yang menghadang di depan, akan kita hadapi bersama-sama. 

Hari-hari selanjutnya diisi dengan kunjungan demi kunjungan ke rumah sakit, dari satu dokter ke dokter yang lain. Dari Kuching, kita direferensikan untuk berjumpa dengan dokter paru-paru, namun dokter ini berpendapat bahwa apa yang ia lihat bukan hanya kanker paru-paru semata, karena itu Papa dianjurkan untuk menemui dokter bedah khusus kanker. Setelah menjalani biopsi, dokter bedah ini merasa hasilnya masih belum jelas, oleh karenanya Papa harus menjalani PET scan. Ketika kita kembali dengan laporan berbentuk satu buku, kita direkomendasikan untuk menemui dokter kanker khusus bagian kepala dan leher. Dokter ini lantas melakukan prosedur medis secara langsung untuk hasil yang lebih akurat, namun hasilnya masih tetap belum memuaskan. Papa kemudian menjalani prosedur medis untuk kesekian kalinya. Setelah hasilnya keluar, dokter menjelaskan bahwa ini kasus yang jarang terjadi karena tidak mirip dengan gejala kanker yang biasa ditangani, oleh karena itu dia perlu berdiskusi dengan rekan-rekan sesama dokter. Ketika kita berkonsultasi dengannya lagi, dia mengarahkan kita untuk menemui dokter senior lainnya. Dokter kali ini berbicara apa adanya berdasarkan data yang ada. Dia mengatakan harapan untuk sembuh total itu tidak ada. Untuk kemoterapi, lebih masuk akal jika dilakukan di Indonesia karena obat yang digunakan itu sama dan biayanya juga akan jauh lebih murah.

Paragraf di atas adalah gambaran singkat tentang apa yang kita jalani. Pada kenyataannya, proses ini memakan waktu hampir tiga bulan lamanya dan sungguh membuat frustrasi. Setiap kali kita berkunjung ke rumah sakit, kita berharap ini adalah untuk terakhir kalinya. Kita juga berharap bahwa kita akan tahu kanker apa ini sebenarnya, tapi setiap kunjungan dan prosedur medis hanya membuahkan tanda tanya berikutnya. Dokter di sini bekerja secara bertahap, dalam arti mereka akan mencoba prosedur medis seperti biopsi dulu. Ketika biopsi dirasakan tidak memadai, barulah pasien disarankan untuk PET scan. Masalahnya adalah, sebagai pasien, jika kita terus-menerus diberikan jawaban yang tidak pasti, ada saatnya dimana kita jadi bertanya-tanya dalam hati, apakah dokter-dokter ini paham dengan apa yang sedang mereka kerjakan?

Di satu sisi, tentu saja uang juga menjadi masalah. Saya tidak terlahir kaya, jadi bisa disimpulkan bagaimana kondisi keuangan kita. Namun masalahnya tentu tidak sesederhana itu. Berhubung ini adalah sesuatu yang berkaitan dengan orang tua, saya berusaha untuk tampil santai dan meyakinkan bahwa mereka cukup fokus pada hasil pemeriksaan dokter. Saya tidak ingin mereka merasa menjadi beban finansial bagi anaknya, jadi saya tetap tersenyum, meski saya tahu berapa banyak yang terkuras setiap kali saya menggesekkan kartu kredit. 

Yang kita sedang hadapi ini adalah kanker, penyakit kritis yang tidak murah dan ratusan juta habis hanya untuk mencari tahu, kanker apa ini sebenarnya. Melihat bagaimana dokter memutuskan sendiri dalam memberikan kita instruksi untuk menjalani prosedur medis ini dan itu, saya jadi berpikir kenapa dokter tidak pernah bertanya apakah saya punya cukup uang untuk membayar semuanya. Kalau diingat kembali, saat itu kita bahkan belum memulai pengobatan apa pun, jadi jika pertanyaannya adalah apakah saya merasa khawatir, maka tentu saja jawabannya adalah iya. Saya sungguh khawatir, terutama karena saya adalah satu-satunya pencari nafkah untuk istri dan anak-anak saya yang masih sangat muda. 

Di dalam kondisi seperti inilah asuransi terbukti bermanfaat. Saya tidak sedang menulis atas nama perusahaan asuransi mana pun, tetapi yang hendak saya tekankan adalah, jangan meremehkan pentingnya asuransi. Sewaktu saya menyadari bahwa saya masih bisa membeli polis asuransi untuk orang tua saya, saat itu juga saya mengurusnya. Ketika orang tua masih sehat, mungkin rasanya seperti memboroskan uang begitu saja karena kita membayar sesuatu yang tidak terlihat manfaatnya, namun beda ceritanya ketika orang tua sakit. 

Ya, seringkali saya dengar cerita klaim yang tidak berhasil, tapi mungkin itu karena kita tidak tahu apa sebenarnya yang kita beli. Saya bukan pakar asuransi dan terus-terang saja, ketika agen asuransi sudah mulai menjelaskan, saya biasanya bingung dibuatnya. Kendati begitu, saya katakan pada agen, mau saya itu seperti apa dan tolong berikan saya sesuatu yang persis seperti saya mau. Beberapa tahun kemudian, ketika saya mulai klaim, saya diingatkan kembali tentang apa yang saya beli dan apa limit yang bisa saya klaim, tapi di saat kita butuh uang, tentu saja limit yang tertera itu lebih baik daripada tidak jaminan keuangan apa pun. 

Berdasarkan apa yang saya jalani, saya bisa katakan bahwa proses klaim asuransi itu tidak selancar yang kita mau. Proses ini juga tergantung fleksibilitas dan pengetahuan agen yang membantu kita. Dalam kasus saya, agen saya kebetulan seorang teman yang baik, tapi saya masih harus beradu pendapat serta mencari bantuan dari atasannya untuk membuat keputusan terhadap klaim yang saya ajukan. Dalam pengajuan klaim, penting bagi kita untuk melampirkan tagihan dan surat keterangan dokter dari pasien pemegang polis. Pada saat yang sama, baca kembali apa yang menjadi hak anda. Ini bukan berarti anda tidak percaya dengan agen, tetapi untuk memastikan bahwa kita memiliki pemahaman yang sama. Pada akhirnya, saya berhasil mendapatkan kembali sekitar 80% dari biaya medis. Uangnya kemudian digunakan untuk biaya sehari-hari bagi Papa saya di masa pengobatan ini. 

Bicara tentang pengobatan, hal lain yang patut untuk disinggung di sini adalah BPJS. Saya tidak tahu pasti sejak kapan BPJS mulai berlaku, tapi saya cenderung berpikir bahwa BPJS mulai berfungsi sejak era Jokowi. Paman saya bercerita bahwa di kala Nenek saya didiagnosa kanker, Dharmais tidak seramai hari ini. Di kala itu pengobatan kanker termasuk mahal. Sekarang, dengan adanya BPJS, semua orang datang untuk berobat. Masyarakat benar-benar terbantu. 

Jika ada yang masih kurang dalam penyelenggaraan BPJS, maka itu adalah prosesnya yang masih berbelit-belit. Untuk bisa ditanggung oleh BPJS, pasien harus datang ke rumah sakit mulai dari pagi hari untuk mengurus surat-surat registrasi dari satu loket ke loket lainnya dan langkah yang sama harus diulang dari awal setiap kali kita ke rumah sakit. Saat pertama kali berobat, pemegang BPJS harus bertanya ke sana kemari dan mendapatkan jawaban yang bervariasi karena tidak adanya pusat informasi dan minimnya petunjuk. Secara keseluruhan, setidaknya dibutuhkan waktu tujuh jam bagi pasien untuk berobat dengan BPJS, mulai dari melakukan pendaftaran sampai bertemu dengan dokter.

Walau terkesan lama, perlu dijelaskan pula bahwa pengobatan mulai dari konsultasi, tes darah, transfusi darah dan kemoterapi boleh dikatakan hampir ditanggung seluruhnya oleh BPJS (satu-satunya yang kita bayar hanya dosis tambahan untuk obat kemoterapi). Bagi yang belum memiliki BPJS, bilamana cerita di atas dirasakan bermanfaat, tidak ada salahnya dijadikan pertimbangan untuk segera mendaftar. Tentang cara kerjanya, dalam kasus Papa, dia menemui dokter Pontianak yang terdaftar dalam BPJS untuk meminta surat rujukan ke Dharmais sehingga bisa berobat di sana. 

Dengan jaminan BPJS, setidaknya uang tidak lagi begitu menjadi masalah. Dengan demikian pasien dan keluarga bisa lebih fokus dalam menjalani pengobatan. Jikalau kita bicara kanker, percayalah bahwa uang bukanlah satu-satunya kendala. Singkat kata, bukan hanya pola hidup pasien yang berubah, tetapi juga orang-orang terdekatnya. Mama sudah lama berhenti mengajar karena dia harus menemani Papa. Mereka berdua harus beradaptasi lagi dengan kehidupan di Jakarta. Bagi saya sendiri, terkadang saya terbang ke Jakarta untuk menemani Papa yang menjalani kemoterapi di rumah sakit. 

Tidak mudah rasanya melihat Papa yang dulunya gagah kini menjadi agak ringkih dan rontok rambutnya. Satu hal yang pantas untuk disyukuri adalah semangatnya dalam bercerita tentang apa yang ingin dia lakukan setelah masa pengobatan ini selesai. Jika dia masih memikirkan hari esok, itu artinya dia belum menyerah dalam menghadapi penyakit yang menyerangnya. Keadaannya sudah berangsur membaik sejak ia menyelesaikan kemoterapi, namun masih ada kanker yang tersisa dalam tubuhnya. Proses berikutnya adalah radioterapi. Kita berharap kankernya akan teratasi setelah ini...

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Tissue Issues

The Four Essential Tissues

What tissues? Kleenex? Puffs? No, Honey, it is the tissues found in your body. Tissues are a group of similar cells linked together doing the same job. “So, what are the four, exactly?” They are epithelial tissue, connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue.

We’ll start off with epithelial tissues that can be found in various part in your body such as pharynx, salivary glands and skin. Now these tissues are differentiated by firstly the shape and then the number of layers. There are three basic shapes for these tissues, columnar, cuboidal and finally squamous. For one layer, we call it simple. For multiple layers, we call it stratified. Now that you know the very basics, we can go in depth to the purpose of the different shapes.

Columnar, because it is more long (rectangular) than it is wide, hence it has more surface area in which it is excellent in absorption. You can find simple columnar epithelial tissues at the duodenum (microvilli) and stratified columnar epithelial tissues at the pharynx for protection.

Cuboidal, as the name suggests, it is more cube-like, hence it has more volume for storage, for example the kidney for secretion or salivary glands, stratified cuboidal epithelial tissues.

Last of all squamous, it is spindle shaped, hence can be thin enough to provide rapid exchange of gases. Simple squamous epithelial tissues can be found at the alveoli while the stratified squamous epithelial tissue can be found at the skin for protection.


We’ve still got three more special type of epithelial tissues such as transitional, pseudostratified and glandular epithelial.

For transitional, as the name suggests, trans means change shape. This transitional epithelial tissue can be found at your bladder. So make sure you don't keep your pee in for too long! There might be nasty bacteria in there, that can increase the risk of bladder infection.

Pseudostratified, pseudo meaning “fake” and stratified meaning “multiple layers”. Pseudostratified columnar can be found along your trachea.

Finally, glandular epithelial which can be found in exocrine and endocrine.

Congratulations to you if you’ve made it this far to connective tissues. What are connective tissues? Yes, yes, they are like wires. These tissues give strength, flexibility, structure. It is shock absorbent, also it acts like a medium for transport. There are two categories of the connective tissue, proper and specialized. Under proper, there’s loose and dense. Loose connective tissues are areolar, adipose and reticular. While for dense, we have regular, irregular and elastic. Under specialized, there are the bones, blood and cartilage section. And those were just the tip of the iceberg.



Get a little stretch! Here comes the muscle tissues! The initial thought of muscles leads to movement, right?! Well, muscles allow us to move be it involuntary or voluntary. For example, our hearts never stops beating, "bedok bedok" (unless you're immortal). This such movement is involuntary. While voluntary means that we have the control of our movement. We have three types of muscle tissues. The first is skeletal muscle tissue, whereby these tissues moves bones. The second one is smooth muscles, which provide movement in the hollow organs like the oesophagus, ie. pushing the food down mechanically. Lastly, we have our cardiac muscle tissue.


Nervous tissues. Oh, don't freak out just yet! Neurons! These are like your wiring in the house that transmits electricity. There are several types of neurons in our body that are for different functions. As for example, the multi-polar myelinated neuron basically has a distinct cell body, nucleus and dendrites (branched out structure), axon (one long branch that is stretched out from the cell body to the axon terminals).


Now how amazing is our body ? It feel like it is similar to a house! Epithelial tissues could be like the bricks of the house. Connective tissues are like the composites used, steel (reinforcement) and cement (matrix). Muscle tissues are the power source while nervous tissues are the electrical wires all around the house. So let us appreciate the components that makes up our body and eat healthy to keep our house strong!

Simple
Stratified


Transitional Epithelium:
Pseudostratified Epithelium:
Glandular Epithelium:

Connective tissue mindmap:
https://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/gcaplan/anat/Notes/API%20Notes%20F%20Connective%20Tissues.htm 

Diagram of Arm: