#MyTMCexperience: How I survived my first big operation

September 3, 2020 will forever be etched in my mind. The day before, I brought my mom to the airport where she boarded her flight back to the US after months of being locked down in the country.

The morning after, I woke up with blood around my right nose. Funny, I told myself. This is the first time my nose bled in my 62 years on Earth. I wasn’t alarmed. In fact, I felt relieved that my over concerned mom was blissfully ignorant of what was happening.

I googled nosebleed home remedies and dutifully pressed an ice bag on the troubled nostril. Bleeding stopped. End of the story? No!

My nose bled again the next day, as I bent over to pick up a piece of paper on the floor. It was back the day after, as I was walking at the mall to pay my bills. It followed me to the rest room where I took off my face mask and stared aghast at the red stain on the spot which covered my nose. That was the only time I was glad there was a pandemic. My mask hid the embarrassing pool of blood under my right nostril.

The bleeding recurred four more times. So I sought help. I told my boss, Baby F. Go, publisher of BG Showbiz Plus Magazine, about my problem. I was lucky. Her grown-up children have been treated by Dr. Daniel Alonzo, whose work as otolaryngologist at The Medical City has produced impressive reviews.

“Take the afternoon off and see Dr. Alonzo,” she told me. “He’s very good!”

In 30 minutes, I was waiting in line outside Dr. Alonzo’s clinic along with around 10 other patients. When my turn came, I faced a stern man fully-covered in PPE. Beside him was another ENT, Head and Neck specialist, Dr. Esperanza Argelyn Ong. They didn’t look happy over my CT scan results.

I tried not to think when Dr. Alonzo said after peering at my nostril with his hi-tech machine, “Only a biopsy can tell if your tumor is benign or not.”

The word biopsy felt like a death sentence. Did I have cancer? Why? How long has it been? What can I do to get rid of it, or at least make it shrink?

Dr. Alonzo said we have to wait. But we have to move fast to arrest whatever it was he found in my nose.

He told me I need general anesthesia and I had to be confined for two days and two nights at The Medical City (TMC).

I drove home in a daze. I’ve never been under general anesthesia in my whole life. I’ve never been told my chances of having cancer is 50-50.

I asked my sisters at the Legion of Mary for prayers. They assured me of their prayers.

I found it easy to smile at Dr. Alonzo and Dr. Ong that morning when the staff wheeled me into the operating room. Hours after, I got the good news: the tumor is benign! I went home with a prescription and a list of dos and don’ts (e.g. no hot soup or liquids in the meantime, yes to daily baths).

Around a week after, Dr. Alonzo and Dr. Ong were talking to me online, this time to refer me to another ENT specialist Dr. Peter Simon Jarin. Dr. Jarin struck me as soft-spoken and self-effacing. Told that Dr. Alonzo described him as the best in the field, Dr. Jarin said he just strives to be the best. I haven’t personally met the guy yet because it was a teleconsultation. But I was floored.

Dr. Jarin advised me to have the tumor surgically removed to avoid a “10 percent chance that it develops into cancer.” He explained that the tumor under my right eye must be totally excised to avoid a recurrence. I had to be confined and put under general anesthesia again.

Come D-day, Dr. Jarin looked as cool as anesthesiologist Dr. Julius Caesar Garcia. Both wore PPEs. I put my life in God and in my doctors’ expert hands and dozed off.

I woke up in my hospital room with blood dripping from my nose at the slightest movement. I called Dr. Jarin’s secretary to ask why. She responded, “Dr. Jarin says it’s normal.”

The bleeding slowed down and became less frequent when I got home. Dr. Jarin prescribed medicines and the usual dos and don’ts. I was required to rest at home for a week.

When I went to Dr. Jarin’s clinic almost a month after, the bleeding was minimal, almost gone. His endoscopy machine peered at my nose. Then, Dr. Jarin asked me to return the next month to have “my nose cleaned.”

The 30-minute procedure was arduous for a newbie patient like me. Dr. Jarin inserted a spatula-shaped steel instrument with a laser light at the tip into my nose, and scooped out dry matter that formed inside.

I closed my eyes and clenched by fist as pain made me tear up. Dr. Jarin tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. I had to be brave.

“How much do I owe you, doc?” I asked.

“Nothing. It’s part of your surgery fees,” he smiled.

Dr. Jarin’s secretary, scheduled a follow-up check-up two months from that consult. I admit the prospect of returning to a hospital with COVID-19 patients was scary. But again, I had to be brave.

I wore a surgical face mask and face shield. I also brought a small alcohol container for good measure.

The thermal scanners, contact tracing app, and short interviews about COVID-19 symptoms and exposure put me at ease. I rode the elevator and heaved a sigh of relief upon reading a sign that the buttons were disinfected regularly.

By the time I stepped into Dr. Jarin’s clinic, I was ready to set my fears aside and let him do the ‘nose job’ I needed. Today, the clogged feeling in my nose is gone. I can speak without sounding nasal. I can breathe easier.

Most of all, I realized that when you entrust everything in the hands of God and of competent doctors, you have nothing to fear.

About the author: Maridol Ranoa-Bismark is a seasoned lifestyle and entertainment writer.