Work as ‘emotional outlet’ for Carla’s health woes

“Discouraging” or “frustrating” was how Carla Abellana described her 2019, which saw her struggling with various health issues.

She has hypothyroidism—the medication for which caused some liver damage. As a result, her weight fluctuated, which was exacerbated by the steroids she’s taking for her asthma. On top of those, she also has a condition called tachycardia, a heart rhythm disorder that makes her heart beat faster than normal, even at rest.

“Fortunately, it’s only the hypothyroidism I have to focus on at the moment. Everything else has more or less normalized. I have already gotten a clearance from my liver doctor to proceed with a new treatment plan which, hopefully, can start next month,” she told reporters at a recent press conference for her new GMA 7 drama series, “Love of My Life.”

One of the biggest health scares she had, Carla recalled, happened during a recent family trip to Japan, where she experienced severe bloating and shooting knee pain.

“I had steroid medication for my asthma—administered intravenously—before flying. But once there, I got so big. And in the middle of one night, I had sharp pain in the knee. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this one rendered me unable to walk or stand. We had to visit three hospitals, because the first two didn’t have an English-speaking staff,” she related.

“It was my first time to experience something like that. I was very scared. You’re in a foreign country, and you have no idea what’s going on. Is it a side-effect? Am I having complications? It was alarming,” Carla added.

It was, to say the least, a challenging period in her life. Slowly but surely, however, things are getting better. “My health has been improving. I’m still here, going through it,” she said.

But the 33-year-old celebrity wouldn’t have been able to bear that weight if it weren’t for her loved ones and, of course, her boyfriend of five years, Tom Rodriguez. “My family was always there for me. I don’t think I would be able to handle all those things without them,” she said. “They’re my medicine.”

“If there’s something that needs to be taken care for, or when something’s stressing me out, Tom is always there to help in any way he can. If there’s nothing he can do about what I’m going through, he listens and stays by my side. He offers me words of encouragement. He just lets me cry my heart out,” she added.

Carla is ready to get back to the grind. In “Love of My Life,” which airs weeknights beginning on Feb. 3, she plays Adelle, a widowed single mother, who falls in love with a well-off architect, Stefano (Tom). But as they begin to settle down and build their own family, Stefano gets diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Stefano’s ex-girlfriend, Kelly (Rhian Ramos), then comes barging in, along with the son he fathered. “I’m happy Tom and I were given another opportunity to work together again. We’re both very excited, and our fans have been requesting for it,” she said.

Despite her health problems, not once did Carla think that she wouldn’t be able to act again. “Actually, I have been wishing for work. That’s why I was emotional during my recent contract signing. I was like, ‘Let’s start working, so I can take my mind off my issues; so I can start enjoying myself,” she said. “Work is an emotional outlet for me.”

While Carla and Tom have already bought a lot on which they plan to build their dream home, they have yet to be engaged. They don’t have concrete marriage plans yet. “We do discuss it, but not in detail. But we’re sure we both yearn for the same thing—marriage. I just hope it doesn’t take us another five years to get there,” she said.

Is an engagement still needed at this point? “Aba, dapat lang!” she said, laughing. “It’s a formality … a moment! —ALLAN POLICARPIO INQ