On the occasion of Hemophilia Consciousness Month, twins Jose Marco and Jose Miguel Antonio, sons of Jose Mari Jonathan & Myrish Antonio, share their experiences of living with the disorder — Editors
They say, there is always a first time for everything. Well, last Saturday, 19 April 2014, more than a week after my 11th birthday, I had my first experience injecting myself. For me, it is among the most important achievement I have so far.
I remember waking up at 4 in the morning that day at my grandparents’ house, tasting blood in my tooth. This is not my first tooth bleed but everytime I taste blood, it really makes me panic. Like I imagine some kind of lineage to Dracula. I know this is rather weird but when you try it, it really is ridiculous. I immediately got up, went to the bathroom and looked at the mirror to see where the blood was coming from. That’s when I realized my right tooth was loose and ready to be taken out. In times like this, I usually waste no time to wake my lolo and lola up for help. Miggy, my brother, was soundly asleep so I did not want to bother him.
I knocked on my grandparents’ room and woke them up. I argued with my lola for a good 15 minutes because she wanted me to wait till morning for the tooth to be taken out. I insisted it had to be immediately because it was bothering me and I could not sleep back also when it was still there and I could taste the blood coming from it every second. I won the argument so my lolo had to take the tooth out using the yarn. He did the crude and traditional way which somehow always makes me feel better. He only does this when the tooth is so ready to be taken out. He then tied the yarn into my tooth and yanked it out. In no time, it was out. What a relief. I went back to sleep almost immediately and woke up late that morning. No blood came from the extracted tooth. I was happy.
The afternoon was a planned movie watching together with cousins Teo, Rosa and Ana. My cousins (I have 6 including Ethan, Kiera and Raizen) are among my favorite persons in the world. Spending time with them always bring me much joy. We watched Rio2 and despite my mom’s insistence that I stay on soft diet, I convinced her I would be careful to eat the popcorn. She looked worried but I guess gave me the benefit of the doubt. At some point, I did think she probably had some kind of premonition by the warning look on her face but I vowed to make sure my gums would bleed no more. Right after the movie, I again felt blood oozing from my gums. I told my mom and she looked into my mouth.
It was indeed the gum where the extracted tooth came from. “I told you so,” was all she told me and it was enough for me to be quiet. What can I do? I just love popcorn and although my mom really says No most of the time, she gives me the chance to prove my promise sometimes. This time, sadly, I failed and had to apologize. We placed powdered hemostan in cotton at the bleeding area to make it stop. It never did. An hour after, I had no choice but to request for an injection because the bleeding will not stop. You see, I have a hereditary blood disorder called hemophilia. My bleed does not stop until I am injected with Factor 8 that I lack. It is really expensive here so my twin brother and I are careful most of the time. We try to do things always in moderation although many times we forget and our parents have to remind us. We cannot play ball out in the field but we can play touch screen games for 15 minutes at a time. We cannot also walk long distances and must not use much effort in anything. It is really difficult to predict when a bleed will come except when we overstress ourselves physically. Our family is always ready for an emergency and we thank them for being there for us all the time.
My uncle, Junjun took me to my other uncle’s house. Both of them have hemophilia and they have guided me on how to live my life as best as I can. They also are my inspiration. My Kuya Reymil then started mixing the distilled water and powdered Factor 8 together. He made me finish the mixing. As he was transferring the mixture into the syringe ready for injection, I jokingly asked him if I could inject myself. Lo and behold, he agreed. I got so excited, I think I trembled a little bit in both fear and excitement. Kuya Reymil briefed me slowly on what to do. Just relax. Look at my biggest vein on my hand and make sure I insert the needle right into it. It might hurt but I have to be brave. I heaved a sigh and taking all my energy and belief in myself, took the butterfly needle from Kuya Reymil’s hand and pushed it right into my big vein somewhere in the middle of my hand. I wanted to close my eyes for a moment in anxiety. Alas! The needle was in and it was a success. I then pushed the liquid factor from the syringe and into my veins. I immediately called my mom and dad to let them know of such accomplishment. It was among the happiest injections I have ever had.
