MATTERS OF THE HEART

This is how i would look like when all these ECG sensors are strapped all over me on an actual Treadmill Stress test

With the recent detection of some suspected problem on my heart by Halcyon Marine Health care System. I decided to verify this results if this were true on the local hospital, Good thing that my sister has a local contact with the hospital to perform ECG (Electro cardiogram) for free. Results verified indeed there is some sort of problem detected but is too faint to pinpoint on where exactly is the cause of it and needs further more test to verify it, (Specifically a 2D echo). For now based on the result there is numerous causes why the beat of my heart is palpitating. The nurse say that it is related something to my diet and have been drinking too much caffeinated drinks like coffee or soft drink , or some sort of electrolyte imbalance - that sort of thing , Other suggest it is something to do related on my sleeping pattern of sorts ( I wake up 11am and sleep at 3 or 4 am).

As of the moment it is not pinpointed yet on what is the cause of this problem, until a 2D echo test is made and verified. The local cardiologist say that I'm still going to fit in the medical screen for OFW's - at least for now, however he implied indirectly that somewhere in the near future I might find myself having problems with my heart valves and may later resort to be forced to retire at a very young age.

Without further test , it is speculation that somewhere on the lower part of my heart has problems and this has a relation to the beating rhythm - maybe even the valves themselves has a problem.

Unfortunately the general rule in being a sailor is sadly bound on one's health and this work is very vulnerable to any form of disease, compared to any other types of work. Have any chronic disease and it will untimely end your career as a sailor - it doesn’t matter if you have a license or not or even if you're a novice Deck cadet , a veteran A.B. or O.S. , The thing here is that once a chronic health problem is detected. IT WILL UNTIMELY END AND (FORCE) RETIRE a sailor. In other words the things that a sailor brags about on propaganda like the money, women and travel - well they can kiss that all goodbye.

So how this is related to me ? Given with my predicament , it is likely that this will turn out to be a (Force) retirement on the near future and had to quit it altogether, not to mention that since there is an early warning that my heart beating is irregular I can only surmise that it will untimely end my life in short notice and literary (and figuratively) drop dead on my tracks.

It is fortunately believe it or not , that I didn’t not pursue in getting a license in officer ships or else it will render a quarter of a million peso cost only usable in a couple of years' time and we'll be utterly worthless in the near future. Sooner or later , I'm going to retire from this job either I like it or not. Anyway I could have retired from this job a long time ago if it weren't for the sake of my younger sister, Unfortunately she is still in law school and there's no way for me yet to do anything about it until she finishes schooling.

In other news

Given with my recent predicament with health, I decided to drop by on the Social Security to check out a salary loan and as well inquire and possibly apply for this so called "FLEXI FUND" program they had specifically for OFWS. Well it turns out that Career never paid my last December's Social security and turns out that instead of 6 months paid social security , it only registers as 5 months on the Social security records resulting to me being disqualifying to make a salary loan.

As for the "Flexi Fund" retirement fund for OFW's , I was also disqualified on that part. In particular on the part of having a "NO PERMANENT (Foreign) ADDRESS" given that sailors do not stay on a country that long - (WHAT THE FUCK ??? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN ?) .

Now the thing here that annoys me based on their propaganda material (includes the website) , is that what part of the word "OFW" does a sailor do not belong ? And that sailors are not qualified (and excluded as not OFW's ) to take flexi fund program for OFW's on the basis of FOREIGN ADDRESS ISSUE only ! . In other words an ordinary humble sailor (me in particular) WILL NOT FIND any retirement financial security other than a standalone social security pension later on in life. As for the Social Security - next time when there are planning to start a pension programme, make sure that they have already worked out the details especially on the OFW part.

OBJECTIVES AS OF MARCH 18, 2015

1. Take Medical exam

 A. Repair dental

 B. Retake urinalysis test

 C. Retake Thread mill

 D. Clearance on dental

 E. Pay Halcyon Marine Medical 2000 Php for retake med exam

 F. Retake IQ test

2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing

HEARTACHE BY THE NUMBERS

1. Take Medical exam

 A. Repair dental

 B. Retake urinalysis test

 C. Retake Thread mill

 D. Clearance on dental

 E. Pay Halcyon Marine Medical 2000 Php for retake med exam

 F. Retake IQ test

2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing 

As of the moment these are the only accomplish object I had finished on the span of two weeks, Very little progress has been made given that funding has been very scarce. I could accomplish other objectives that require almost no funding within a week, however for the objectives that require money, then it will be a problem. It be put on a grinding halt on it.

After a week of finding funding and cancelling out my deployment on CONTI Ginuea , (As a result of lack of funding to repair my dentals). I had finally manage to fix my dental problems but again,  unexpectedly I encountered a crippling road block. When I came back to the Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems to have dental cleared and the other pending medicals as well , I'm surprised to find this out on the cashier.

Apparently I was caught by surprise to find out that retaking parts of the Medical exam is charged to the patients and not to the company. In other words since I had four parts of the med exam that I had failed, I had to pay them in cash on the retaking of these exams amounting to a total of 2,000 Philippine Pesos.  What the hell ??? Worst of the insult was that these four pending parts are dubious.

Like for example being put on a tread mill test which for all I know is reserved for people who have heart problems . What the FUCK ???!!! SINCE WHEN DID I HAVE A HEART PROBLEM ??!!! Seriously i think Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is ripping me off on money and saying false reports that i have a heart issue. I assure you I'm fit as a horse,

Besides that eight months ago i was put on medical diagnostic and maritime medical clinic didn't say i had one. Now question here is if there is any changes on the medical on a short amount of time ? I was cleared before and why not now ? Worst Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems charges patients separately for retest (they say the company doesn’t cover it) and i had to shoulder the cost and pay them in cash, implying that they're really ripping me off - WHAT THE FUCK !!!!

Third is it's highly unlikely for my age to have a heart problem and I'm starting think Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is just robbing me by making false medical reports and take note, i recall my blood pressure on that day of the test to be 110 / 70 . How the hell do you explain that you halcyon fuckers !!!!

It’s a good thing that there isn't such a thing called "Fraud" in the Philippines (both technically and figuratively by Phil. Law )but fact is Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems is committing fraud in the sense that they are intentionally falsifying medical records by deliberately failing their patients on test for monetary gains and for the purpose of making their patients pay extra for repeated medical test. FILIPINO SAILORS SHOULD AVOID THIS MEDICAL CLINIC LIKE THE PLAGUE. As it will rip your money (and wallet) to shreds. Believe me common Filipino sailors you have been warned !! .  This is the information about this fraudulent clinic and I'm posting it so anyone out there should be aware as a public service

For the interest of Everyone and to the GENERAL PUBLIC

Halcyon Marine Healthcare Systems

Webiste: www.halcyonmarine.com.ph

Address: Floors 10, 14 and 19 Trafalgar Plaza

105 H.V. Dela Costa Street

Salcedo Village

Makati City

Philippines

UNRESOLVED MATTERS

M.A.R.I.N.A. COP Releasing Booth as of March 09, 2015 Time picture taken was 1713 HRS

Two sudden changes have been applied on the NSB principal in Career, First off the medical clinic for NSB principal is now Halcyon Marine Health care systems. (previously it was Maritime Medical Clinic) located HV dela costa street, deep within Makati City. Second changes was the additional In-house training called QMS (Quality Management System) which I have to take in Senator Crewing Agency near POEA area.

I had already accomplished taking the medical screening, and cleared most required test. Incidentally my X-ray was not a problem and my Blood test are all clear. However though I had cleared most of the test some are still yet to be repeated like my urinalysis and Psych exam , as well as have dental repairs. For the moment the status of my medical is still in a pending situation due to lack of funding for repairs on my dental. I guess I have to figure out a way to get the necessary funds needed. Once my medical exam is cleared my next objective will be taking this so called QMS In-house seminar

For the moment this is my current quest objectives to be completed to be on-board the next NSB ship.

1. Pass Medical Exam and clear pending issues

         A. Pass urinalysis

         B. Repair two teeth for dental

         C. Take Thread mill test

         D. Retake Psych Exam

         E. Submit Stool sample

2. Take QMS in house on senator crewing
3. Recover BTOCT COP Document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting briefing

Recently my agenda in MARINA to get my BTOCT COP Document ended up in an "epic fail" scenario. Apparently my COP document will be released at 3pm this march 9th  but turns out that when in arrived at about 5 pm the whole COP Releasing booth was cluttered with other sailors who are also trying to get their COP's as well. From what I saw there was a total disarray on how the staff handled things and could not in any way control the crowd and assume order. When I finally manage to squeeze in to the front of the booth , the female personnel there said that they will not accept my stub and I will have to go back tomorrow - To simply say it their telling me that the booth is already closed despite the fact that office hours of MARINA was rumoured to be extended by around 10pm.

I didn’t manage to push through , as what I saw in the surroundings and best to call it a day and be back when my schedule (and funding) is clear.

Incidentally as well during my visit in MARINA , I saw my old college friend there named joenar palomas trying to get his MARINA COP. I had a chat with him in the nearby 7-11 store on the Magsaysay building. We chatted about the latest news going on in the seafaring community , and told him that if he has any relatives that are still enrolled in PMI college , it is best that he should transfer now given that PMI is having problems with licensing issues on MARINA. I added that currently there are only four Maritime Schools that are sanctioned by Marina in the metro manila area , and that is AIMS, TIP, FEATI and PMMS las pinas - beyond that every maritime school is still under evaluation and yet to be cleared. We talked for hours before parting ways.

For the moment all my agendas are pending till I get funding , In the meantime I'm having difficulty in securing this given that previously I was drained of cash in paying all the medical debts my mom had on her hospitalization last month. So basically I'm left penniless as of the moment

I hope I get the necessary funding within a week.

Funding for my work has been difficult to obtain, given that my current predicament is that were still knee high deep on debts from mom's last year series of hospitalization, and my sister simple couldn't find any more money lenders to help me out and some eligible money lenders are not willing to let us borrow money. Seriously I could still have funds up to now if I wasn’t got dragged down in paying all those debts , I alone could not consume that high and could maintain my savings for at least six months.

Apparently on actual situations it only lasted for a month…

Problem on my situation is that I'm not spending my own money and ended up me being penniless in the end. The situation in the house is difficult and dragging - enough to make my situation complicated and be in the bankrupt status. A simple repair on my dental problems could mean weeks before being solved out (up to now I'm still pending ).

The only solution I could think of if I get out of this financial mess, is change tactics . I don’t want to resolve to being greedy or stiff but the situation calls for me otherwise, Personally I'm very generous but people around me take advantage of that  - So I end up in this kind of misfortune. Anyway things will be hard for me and difficult from this day onwards and definitely I will change tactics for my sake on future "Vacations"

There are numerous ways my sister and I are thinking on how to fund my work as of the moment, One possibility is for me to get a salary loan on the social security but its plagued with problems on the fact that when I checked online , The information that was fed there says that my employer is not registered on the Social Security - implying that it could be that I have to get a salary loan by going to the Social security office directly. 

The Whole Floor Processing area of COP Documents, This Floor is reserve for the "Expedite" Processing of Documents. 

Manage to grab one of this Magazines in Kalaw area before going back to MARINA Office

STEAMROLLING SITUATION

Couple of days ago, I got a BTOCT COP document from M.A.R.I.N.A. , This time around I tried the Online Appointment system method. Took me only a couple of hours to accomplish the COP document and I'd be back by march 09 to get the document.

From my point of perspective Online appointment system of MARINA is a huge improvement compared to the "walk in " version of their COP document , it drastically reduces the time of step 1 process to a fraction of the time normally taken by just going to the "walk in" . Typically (as what I wrote before) the step one process takes literary half a day of waiting just going thru it and worst is that I had to wake up early at 1 am in the morning and be there at around 3am, accomplishing the COP document will be around somewhere on noon time or 1 pm , so it’s a 12 hour long wait on that scenario.

From my observation the 12 hour long waiting time is divided into these . It's about 50 percent waiting time on step 1 process, 15 percent of time waiting in step two which is payment and 35 percent waiting time of the step 3 part which is encoding.

For now I will rate the online application to be positive because of that alone. However despite the huge improvement it is not perfect, like for example it does greatly reduce the amount of time and effort on step 1 but does little in (or none at all) on step two process and three process. So for the payment and encoding step , it is still back to the classic dirty old routine of getting back to the line and waiting for your turn.

On my way home , I saw on the LRTA -2 recto station that there are huge creates position on where the former ticket vending machines place. I wonder to myself if this will be the return of the machines that spit out tickets, since I haven't seen any functioning one since a couple of years back. I'd stay tune on this one.

On Tuesday March 3, 2015 . I had received again a call from my company from the landline phone telling to hurry up. The details according to what they said to me was that my departure will be on the march 08, I told them that I'm still not finish my documents on that time and its impossible for me to catch up on that deadline. Despite my protest, the company told me to go directly to the office to discuss further details in clearing this matter.

Following day , after a brief discussion with the crewing manager "captain Nidoy"- I was assured that march 08 2015 will be cancelled and that most of the batch I was joining with are still in the same situation as I am.

For the moment the objectives left before clearing are the following

1. Take Medical exam
2. Take QMS in house lecture on Senator Crewing Agency
3. Received BTOCT COP document from MARINA
4. Attend PDOS
5. Attend Accounting Briefing  

Probably it will take me a week or more to accomplish this, and it depends on my financial capabilities. If fully funded I could reach the deadline , but with restrictions its assumed that it will take a week.