world's apart

The first thing people do when an injury occurs is to stabilize the injured part, to try and not move it around so much. Such was the case for my twisted ankle. It was iced immediately and wrapped, i assume to keep it stable.

However, my parents had a different idea.

The minute my mom found out, she immediately decreed that I was to go to Bulacan with them and have this looked at. Kailangan ipa hilot. Pag nahilot na, mas makakalakad ka na.

As I was in pain already and could not walk at all, I agreed. After all, its what they do in Bulacan, and if it works for them, why not on me?

Hours later, I was crying in pain as she twisted my ankle which was, up to that point, securely wrapped and resting since I wasnt moving around. The pain was excruciating...and in those moments, I thought to myself, there has got to be a reason why they wrap it up --- hell, they put it in a cast if need be! This injury is probably meant to be left alone...and yet here we were, twisting and turning my ankle like it was 100% flexible.

So when all is said and done (and after two sessions of twisting my poor injured foot), I am walking as opposed to hopping on one foot though my foot is still somewhat black and blue and bruised -- whether or not its because of the injury itself or because of the injury i brought upon my injury, I dont know.

I wonder though, is my common knowledge of how to treat sprains completely wrong? I know of the cold and hot compress and resting and securing....but why is the "old-fashioned" treatment so very different? The only similarity I found was that my foot was wrapped in heated pieces of oiled "Tangan Tangan" leaves. That would be the equivalent of the hot compress.

I dont think I'll ever figure it out...but I will say, that my mom's reaction when she saw me walking instead of hopping was that if I had not gone to the manghihilot and to the doctor instead, sinemento lang nila yan.

incidents

Last month I scraped my left knee (and then some) on some corals in Palawan.

Two weeks ago, I rushed to get a Tetanus shot due to some embarrasing-won't-go-into-it incident.

And then a few days ago, I twisted my ankle real bad and added more scrapes and bruises to my now-healing left knee (and leg). Both ankle and leg are bruised, swollen and hurting...

I'm such a klutz without you....

we can all be a little greener

About two weeks ago, I went grocery shopping in one of the big Supermarkets in my area. I brought along one of those re-usable bags which I figured would do very well as a substitute for the grocery plastic bags.

I've been planning on using it for shopping for the longest time, and when that opportunity came, I was excited. I was so proud that I thought of it and was looking forward to checkout even before I started buying. When the time came to pay for my groceries, I proudly asked the bagger to please use the bag.

Only to be met with a confused stare.

He stared at the bag like it was the weirdest thing he's ever seen. "Whats that?" he seemed to be thinking. "Is it alive?"...or at least I think he was thinking it was alive, see, he didnt reach out to get it.

So I opened it up with my hands to show him that my bag doesnt bite. "You open it up like this, see?" I almost said. What I did say, was to please put the groceries in the bag.

"Aaaah." Finally, he got it.

"Lagay ko muna ho sa plastic ma'am?" Eeeep.

"Wag na, diretso nalang dyan yung kasya. Yung basa nalang ang paki plastic."

I had to actually be the first one to put something in the bag, urging him to follow since he was hesitating.

In the end, I used up less plastic and hopefully saved the earth even just a little bit. Unfortunately, my joy in being earth-friendly -- even if in just that small gesture -- was short-lived. If only more people knew better, then maybe our little things will indeed add up to something more.