Tag: health

When Community Service and Self Care Goals Conflict

Posted in Edmonton, lifestyle, Local Establishments, Personal, Politics, Social Issues, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Giselle wearing a stylish safety glasses, KN95 mask and a volunteer Tshirt

By: Giselle General

Last fall, I had an an eye-opening moment as I went about doing my volunteer activities. During the third weekend of September 2023, I had two activities back-to-back, both outdoors. From morning until early afternoon, I was in my neighbourhood park helping with an annual gathering that includes serving lunch, having activities for kids and families to enjoy, and for residents to apply for their membership with our organization. Shortly after, I went to an Philippine arts event at an outdoor park in downtown Edmonton.

When the day began, I checked the air quality index and it is a 4. Not yet a concern which is great. But as we approached the lunch hour, my eyes started to feel irritated so I wore my glasses. It’s not the type that corrects your vision, but a cuter version of safety glasses I got a few years ago. Turns out, my eyes get irritated by the wildfire smoke, more easily that the average person.

It was 3 PM when I rushed to the arts event, where I kept my glasses but didn’t wear an N95 mask. That was my mistake. Although I must say that communicating and connecting with my fellow writers in our booth was so much more efficient without the mask. Also, since we were outdoors, I figured the COVID risk would be minimal.

Unfortunately on my bus ride home, as I sat on my seat resting my legs from walking and standing all day, that’s where it hit me. When taking transit I still wear a mask because I definitely don’t want to catch any of the respiratory viruses spreading around. As I sat patiently waiting for the bus to reach the west side of the city, I checked the air quality index app again. It went up to 8 – high risk! No wonder my eyes were irritated for the afternoon. As soon as I arrived home, I plopped on the couch while struggling to answer my husband’s question about what we plan to have for dinner. After dinner, my chest started to hurt, and I have to make an effort to breath in for the rest of the night.

I had plans to attend other neighbourhood events the next day, but when I looked out the window and saw the familiar orange haze in the sky I knew it’s a bust. The air quality index app showed a rating of 8 in the morning which went up to 10+ in the afternoon. I have to stay in.

This is just frustrating. I very much hate the fact that my own body seems to now get in the way of my volunteer activities. I also know that since COVID precautions are virtually nonexistent in public spaces, the burden on individuals to protect themselves is just more significant. The worst part is, event individual precautions are less effective especially if let’s say, you are one one of the 100+ people in an indoor hall during a community engagement event. While on one hand, I know that my assistance and contributions will be very helpful during the said event or activity, none of the organizers, fellow volunteers, or attendees would step in to help me if I get permanent harm from attending.

Perhaps that is part of the reason why that even more so the past few months, I make sure that majority of my volunteer activities can be done from home. Writing two informative articles for the monthly ethnic paper for the Filipino community in Edmonton continue to be rewarding. Over winter and until now, I started to do volunteer sewing tasks, upcycling old merchandise from my husband’s running group and turning them into personalized outfits. The documentary and book projects are also tasks that hopefully will make a positive impact in the future and can be done without risk of being exposed to smoke, fumes, viruses, hostile weather or all of the above.

There’s really no solid takeaway message I can pin down. During my election campaign a few years ago, I made decisions that I know prioritize my wellbeing and my life over potentially winning over votes. “My goal is to come home alive” and “if I’m sick, severely injured, or dead, then I won’t be able to help” are my personal constant reminders when I feel guilty about missing community events or volunteering opportunities.

In the new year, I tried to nudge more of my free time towards improving my personal health. Weekends offer what seems to be an unlimited opportunities to get involved and volunteer, whether it is events, workshops, rallies, and more. However, given that my husband goes out for a run with his running group in the afternoons (in the winter), I discovered that it is best to try a fitness related activity that I can try to stick to on a weekly basis. So for that past three months, that has been swimming for about 45 minutes at the local YMCA.

Giselle wearing a swimsuit getting ready for a swim.

This weekly swim routine has paid off really well in just a few weeks. It’s hugely help reduce my shoulder, neck, and back pain from doing office work full time. Swimming laps and treading water is definitely good cardio without aggressively hurting my joints. And slowly, as I gain confidence in learning how to tread in deep water, I also manage my fear while celebrating my incremental improvements.

This tradeoff has been worth it for now. My community service time and activities are sprinkled over week nights, lunch breaks and weekends, so I figured carving out a premium time for my self is the right call for now. I do dread the upcoming summer though with the greater likelihood of forest fires and smoke risk. Maybe volunteering for public and indoor activities is the approach moving forward.

Like Father, Like Daughter: We Both Have Metal Dentures!

Posted in Edmonton, Family, Family History, Local Establishments, Personal, Self-Care, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , Leave a comment

As an attempt to convince his kids to take dental health seriously, I remembered my father, when I was a kid, basically telling us “don’t be like me!” He had metal dentures for the top of his teeth, and he during one of these conversations, he would take them out of his mouth and show them for us to have a closer look. I don’t recall any other details about what happened to his teeth that he ended up losing a few of his adult teeth and him needing to have dentures. He was too focused driving down his stern advice: don’t eat too much sweets and brush your teeth every night, or else you’ll lose your permanent teeth and that would be bad.

I knew he meant well, but back then there’s an issue as far as people’s perception of dental care in the Philippines. Since dental care is something you pay out of pocket, when you don’t have the means, so-called preventative care and checkups are out of the question. You would go only when there’s a toothache that is so unbearable pain or only to pull out rotting teeth.

In 1999, shortly before my family got into the fatal vehicle accident, I vaguely remember my sister telling me that she went to the community dentist on her own for the first time. That she was nervous and also proud that she went. At the time, both she and I are starting to see many of our adult teeth forming.

And when the accident happened, well, medical check-ups of any kind went out the window. Asking for permission, and for money, for medical and health related reasons was tough. My grandma would mock me and scornfully ask “did your father’s side relatives make you ask? If they want so badly to do things like dentist checkups form you, maybe you and your brother should move and live with them instead!”

2007 was a chaotic year for many reasons but January was pretty rough. After coming back from New Year’s vacation from the father’s side relatives, I asked the mother’s side relatives, who I live with, if some of the suvivor’s pension money can go towards a dental checkup. This infuriated my uncle and grandmother and my brother and I got punished severely. That’s all I have to say about that for now.

It was soon very obvious that two of my froth teeth were really rotting. Since dental care is cheaper in the Philippines, they were extracted and I got my new dentures less than a month before my flight to Canada on August 2007.

During university I managed to get a few check ups and fillings done for my teeth because I managed to stack my benefits. I learned that my benefits from working retail at Future Shop which covered 50% of basic procedures, plus the 50% covered from being a university student, completely took care of the cost. Perfect for a broke university student!

When I visited the Philippines in 2013 with my then-boyfriend, since I knew dental work is still cheaper and I was unemployed, I got a replacement for my dentures. I was sold to the fact that the one with a metal plating will be more sturdy than the plastic one. I was pretty irritable for a good chunk of the trip for other reasons so it was a stressful experience. The metal base had to be adjusted a few times so it stops cutting through my gums, but it was all good ever since.

After I got used to my metal plated dentures, that’s when I remembered that my father had a metal plated one as well! I whispered a little prayer then, apologizing that unfortunately I didn’t manage to keep all my adult teeth. From then on, my dental care routine has improved dramatically. I told myself, I’m the adult now and I can take the reins moving forward and take care of the teeth I have left.

When we moved to the neighbourhood my husband grew up in, he convinced me to go to his dental clinic so that we have the same dentist. Remarkably, my husband only had one dentist for his entire life, since he was a child! When Dr. Chin retires, I bet it will be quite an adjustment for him. Maybe my husband can reach 40 years old first before that happens?

The first major dental surgery I had was 2015, when I had ALL my four wisdow teeth pulled out at the same time. The bottom two are impacted, meaning they are not coming out properly and are kinda stuck, causing pain, risk of mis-aligning the rest of my teeth, and potential infection from hard to reach areas that I’m not able to clean properly. Again, huge thanks for work benefits covering the cost of all that.

These days, I go to the dentist at least once a year for a full checkup and cleaning. Even after we moved from my husband’s neighbourhood to a different location, we continue to go to the clinic of his childhood dentist. It’s funny that I seem to be more diligent with booking my appointment that he was. When I sit on the patient’s chair and the dental hygenist gets started with their work, I have to remind myself to ask “oh! I have dentures, should I take them out now?”. Then they would put it away neatly wrapped in tissue and inside a paper cup.

Every appointment I would ask my dentist to check on my dentures. At this point, I would have this metal one for almost a decade now. Whenever I ask, how are they looking? Are they falling apart? Should I get them changed? So far, the dentist keeps saying that the dentures are still in good shape and for as long as they are comfortable I can keep using them.

Maybe in the future, when I am in a position to have a positive impression on a child, let’s say being an aunt or grandma, maybe I can do the same technique as my father did. Maybe I can pull out the dentures, grin widely to show the missing teeth, and say “this is what happens when you don’t take care of your teeth. Do you best to care for them and brush them always!” While I wasn’t able to fully follow my father’s advice, those were due to childhood circumstances outside of my control. Maybe when I give the strict cautionary tale, with the support of the adults in their lives, the kids these days will be able to follow through.

My “Turning Red” Story: When I Got My First Period

Posted in Edmonton, Family, Philippine Culture, Reviews, Self-Care, Social Issues, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Scene from Disney Pixar Movie "Turning Red". Mei, as a red panda, looks at her reflection in her home's bathroom mirror.

In honour of the soon-to-end International Women’s Month, and in appreciation of the recent Disney Pixar movie Turning Red, I’d like to share the memorable and also a bit scary experience I had when I got my first period.

By the way, I got mine when I was in Grade 5, at 10 years old. So for those who argue that getting periods is not a topic for children, this is something that kids experience all the time!

As a storekeeper of a sari-sari store, I’m familiar with menstrual projects, which we nickname “napkins” in the Philippines. I noticed though that when kids come to our store to buy them, they always asked that it be wrapped in newspaper, or in an opaque plastic bag that conceals what is inside. When I ran out of newspaper, I’d use the cardboard from a 10-pack of cigarettes, or a bag from a wholesale pack of candy or bubble gum – those things are thick and brightly colored. During the movie, when Mei’s mother was putting different types of pads on the bathroom counter while describing them “regular, overnight, scented, wings…” it make me chuckle.

Just like most of my weekends, I was left alone watching over our little store in the mining village where I used to live at the time. Grandma (Lola Aleg) left for the day, to go to the city to get products for the store. Or is it for a while weekend or week? She’s gone so often I can’t keep track.

It was early in the weekend, when my mischievous self was tempted to sneak a chip bag from the store inventory as a snack for myself. It was 10 AM so the electricity for the whole village was shut off for a few hours already, an austerity measure that the mining company introduced a year ago. If I needed to go to the bathroom which is in the basement of our little store, I have to very carefully head down the ladder and do my business in a tiny room that is almost pitch black.

I went to the bathroom and in the faint light coming from the window, I saw something very wrong in my panties. I thought to myself, OMG! I can’t believed I pooped my pants without even knowing! This is what I get from sneaking too many snacks from the store display. It was sticky and brown, but surprisingly not as smelly as poop normally would. I hurriedly changed into clean underwear, fumbling in the dark where my underwear bag would be, worried that a customer would be calling from the storefront upstairs.

Then 4 PM comes around and electricity is back in the village. I went to the bathroom again to checked if there’s anything unusual in my underwear. This time around, there’s no mistaking it. It’s liquid, it’s sticky, it’s red – it’s a period! I hurried to try to wash both panties with water and bath soap, as I didn’t know how to clean blood off of fabric then. We learned that later in the school year.

I honestly can’t remember whether I told my grandma that weekend or sometime later. It wasn’t until six months later that I had my second menstrual cycle. This I wasn’t surprised about, as we learned about this in health class earlier in the school year. We also had a school assembly shortly before my first period, from one of the multinational companies that sell household items, including menstrual products.

What I do remember thought is that once I started having acne, lola told me many times on how I missed out on one of the most effective ways to combat acne. She said, I could have used the underwear when I had my first period, lightly wash off the blood but not completely clean if off with laundry soap, and with the part of the panty that had some light menstruation blood residue, to dab it off my face where pimples are popping up. The things was, she said, is that it needed to be from my first menstrual cycle. Looking back now, it sounds kinda nasty, but I understand that she grew up in a rural area in the 1930’s – 50’s. My brother and I weren’t spared from other old-fashioned methods to address various illnesses growing up.

Thinking back now, there were so many things that I wish I learned about how menstruation works. Dealing with cramps every month was a common experience, but I learned later on about how it can be debilitating for other people – as in blacking out or being nauseated in pain. I wished I learned earlier on how having sexual intercourse works during someone’s menstrual cycle. Turns out, it is messy, but doable and pretty satisfying – as long as you and your partner have prepared to clean up afterwards. I wished I got adequate information when I was exploring birth control methods, so I can better differentiate what is “expected spotting”, “usual menstrual cycle discharge” or “excessive bleeding” when I adjusted to having an IUD implanted in my uterus. It took one year for my frequent bleeding to stop and I’ve had an IUD in me for 11 years, that I might have a learning curve on how to put on pads again. Maybe I’ll just skip those altogether and go with a Diva Cup or those fancy new period panties.

Compared to years past, I think that available information about puberty life and other life milestones is getting better now, thanks to access to online information, being referenced in mainstream media, and professional content creators. I hope that for kids, teens and their families, that such experiences are something that is anticipated and informed about ahead of time.