Helliza is back in the shore. She has successfully completed her internal medicine training and passed the specialty board exams, and while she has the option to leave–LEAVE!– the hospital, she has decided to stay and train further to become a rheumatologist. Rheumatology is not something I am most fond of. You see, back in college in UP Diliman, I had no plans of entering med school but Mrs. Therese said she would go to the UP College of Medicine so I copied her plans. Once in med school I had no plans of going into internal medicine specialty training but Mrs. Therese said she would go into it so I copied her as well. So far so good, I said, I did not have to think of my own disposition in life, I only needed to copy a model. After residency we submitted an application for Oncology training together and I thought hellowship would be less hellish if Mrs. Therese would be there to listen to my endless whines. A few weeks later she changed her mind. “Gusto kong gumamot ng mga lolang masasakit ang tuhod,” she said. In my irrational selfishness I still always wonder how hellowship would have smarted less, how easily survivable it would have been, had she been there.

So far Helliza seems to be enjoying her stay as a rheueueheuma hellow, treating all sorts of lupus with all sorts of complications (the young, the old, the pregnant–all audit-baits). She has so far been able to become zen through it all, waking up early in the morning to meditate, pray, speak tongues, levitate–before going on rounds to receive all sorts of crap as all hellows should get used to.

While messaging each other in Messenger a few nights ago I’ve sensed this zen-ness. She sounded calm, collected, at peace.

After a long conversation about all sorts of things I sort of drifted away for a while so I said:
“I’m in the bathroom right now. I’m taking a bath. I need to listen to a podcast as I take a bath,”
“Okaaaay. Hindi ba mababasa yang iphone mo.”
“Hindi naman, I always wrap it in my used underwear para hindi mabasa.”

*cricket*

“WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU TELL ME THAT DISGUSTING INFORMATION?!? YOU PUT THAT THING ON YOUR FACE! YOUR LIPS ALMOST TOUCH THAT PHONE!!!”

As I said, zen.

My grooming practices and sense of style weren’t always the best.

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