Hello again .... cataracts operation

Wow it's been quite a long time since I've update my dear old blog here ...Anyway, guess what .... I went for another operation!! This time for my eyes ...I had bilateral cataracts and had to operate on both eyes ... cool right ???

Quite scary when they ask you to sign the "Informed Consent" form .... you know ....but anyway I did it and it has been a week since both eyes surgery. I am not yet jumping for joy because I get to see without wearing glasses or contact lenses (after so many years !!!) as I feel I'm not getting 100% vision as yet. I still feel hazy and the focus is not sharp. Doctor said that it is still in the healing process and so .... give it some time. I still need to put eye drops but have been lessen to 4 hourly instead of 2 hourly.

I am praying hard for a good and complete recovery and I really hope everything will be well soon ....

And one more thing, it cost me a bomb for the lens since the insurance company does not pay for multifocal lenses. Doctor said that I will regret if I went ahead with the normal monovision lens ...

Doctor please be correct correct correct ... I took your advise and went with the multifocal and keeping my fingers crossed !!!

Chinese New Year is coming very soon ... 3 days away .... the year of the horse .... gallop gallop ...

Gangnam Style ???

Fibroid or Cyst ... that is the question .....

Continued from my "endometriosis" ....

So I asked my friend who had her fibroid removed recently, to recommend me her gynae. So made appointment at UMSC for Prof BK Lim. You know what, I tried to make an appointment with Dr Siti but she was full until the middle of Sept and I cant wait too long (that was in mid August). I saw this Prof BK Lim and he seems like a nice guy, not very friendly. Told him my problem and wanted to show him the pics of the scan but he refused to see it. He ask me to go on the bed and did a ultrasound himself. "You dont have fibroid!" .... "OH NO, then what do I have ???"

"You have a cyst and it's exactly 5cm!!!??? Huh ??? It's getting pretty confusing now ..." But the gynae at Columbia Asia told me I have a 5cm fibroid ! He said "Nope it's a cyst at your right ovary". Hmmmmm ....

So what do you recommend, the doc said same thing, to take all out. Frank said he mentioned a few times, you are 48 years old .... yeah take out everything ! Unless you want to have a baby ... huh ??? of course not! Actually the doc said if I have a baby now, then no need to operate. ... should I .... haha ... no lah I think I'm too old to have a baby now ..... Doc said he will do a laparoscopic hysterectomy, where he will make 3 or 4 holes in the abdomen instead of the big cut like a c-section. Recovery will be much faster and less invasive.

Doc continued "Then you dont have to worry about ovary cancer, uterus cancer and cervical cancer" .... that's nice to hear 

But I'm not menopausal yet and if I take out everything, I will be into surgical menopause. I quite worried about the symptoms of menopause , read that it could be quite bad for some and of course a breeze for others ... well .... decision decision decision.....

So I have decided to get a third opinion. Spoke to a good friend who is a child specialist and she recommended Dr KK Wong of Gleneagles and I managed to make an appointment with him the next few days. His clinic looks very old school and so is his nurses ... but anyway ....he did a pap smear for me and and ultrasound and also a vaginal scan.

He confirmed I have a cyst measuring about 4.5cm on the right ovary. He said I have this endomitrosis. He even took his time to draw a diagram of the whole uterus/ovary/cervix thingy and explain to me what it is all about. Btw he's not young .... should be in his early sixties. He also told me to take out all and told me "Uterus is only good for two things, one is to grow babies and one is to grow cancer !!!".

But KK Wong did say that if he opens up and the left ovary is still good, he will keep it.

So what did I decide to do .... after a lot of reading and researching on the internet and also listening to a few people's advice, I decided to remove all. I read that cyst comes back very often once you have them and since I'm already 48 this year, will be nearing menopause, I decided once and for all, remove everything and be rid of it. Doc said once everything is removed the endometriosis will not come back. 

So it was a cyst after all .... was wondering if I can take any action on Columbia Asia for wrongly diagnosing a fibroid instead of a cyst ??? Anyway ..... sighhhhh ... feeling scared and nervous of my impending surgery. How about my work ??? I need to be on 4 to 6 weeks MC ...gosh ... but thank God, all my bosses were very nice and asked to to go ahead with my surgery, have a good recovery and rest.

Well I never expected to be faced with this phase in my life but I thank God the almighty for everything.  The growth could become cancerous if it was left inside and started growing and stuff like that. Even KK Wong was telling me that he needed to shift his perspective. Last time he used to tell his patients, if the fibroid or cyst does not bother you, just leave it but 8 to 10 yrs down the row, he has seen many that have become cancerous and nowadays he advises this patients to take it out.

I thank God for being with me through this journey and I pray that I will get full recovery from this without side effects and move on with my life. Now I am taking supplements to boost my health. Doc prescribed Livial for HRT but I'm not taking it cuz I read about the many side effects especially breast cancer but doc said got no side effects but I'm not taking any chances. I joined Amway to be able to buy their vitamins especially the Protein powder drink and the black cohosh and soya supplement. Hope everything goes well and my road to recovery will be good and life can be back to normal again. Praying hard .....

What is endometriosis ...

Endometriosis (en-doe-me-tree-O-sis) is an often painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus (endometrial implant). Endometriosis most commonly involves your ovaries, bowel or the tissue lining your pelvis. Rarely, endometrial tissue may spread beyond your pelvic region. In endometriosis, displaced endometrial tissue continues to act as it normally would — it thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. Because this displaced tissue has no way to exit your body, it becomes trapped. When endometriosis involves the ovaries, cysts called endometriomas may form. Surrounding tissue can become irritated, eventually developing scar tissue and adhesions — abnormal tissue that binds organs together. Endometriosis can cause pain — sometimes severe — especially during your period. Fertility problems also may develop. Fortunately, effective treatments are available.

Flashback to about 4 months ago, I had my first attack at around 3am in the morning. Suddenly I felt a sudden sharp pain on my lower abdomen. At first I thought it was just a passing pain and that it will go away but the pain never went away and I started to sweat due to the pain and I woke Frank and said "Please take me to the hospital, I have this very very painful pain in my abdomen!!". He drove me to the nearest hospital which was Columbia Asia emergency room and they took some urine sample from me to test. I think about one or two months earlier I did some blood test there and found that I had some urine infections. I told the MO that I'm having period now and it's the second day and she said it's ok. While waiting for the urine test to come back, the pain somehow subsided and the results came back negative but because of blood in the urine, they suspected stones but I told the MO I've got my period !! Anyway, she gave me some antibiotics and pain killers and ask me to go back for another urine test after my period. She did not even suspect that it was due to some gynae problems cuz it's during my period , did not do any ultrasound or scan or whatever on my abdomen, what kind of MO is that ??

So I was on MC for 2 days due to pain which was due to wind in the abdomen after taking the antibiotics and pain killers, as I was told by another doctor. The pain was quite bad , if you touch your abdomen or sneeze or walk too fast or even in the car going over a bump causes pain! All due to the wind!!

The second attack came a month later, same second day of period! The same sharp pain on the lower abdomen. I then knew that it was something to do with my periods and gynae matters. I went to Klink Samurkh to check since it's a women maternity centre. The Doctor checked and did an ultra sound and found nothing! He said I had severe menstrual cramps and send me home with some pain killers. When I showed him the pain killers from Columbia Asia, he said that I don't need to take such strong pain killers. I then told him the whole story about my first attack and he said normally these antibiotics and pain killers will bring about lots of wind in the abdomen which will cause a lot of pain. 

I was getting phobia when the third month came, expecting the sharp pains but luckily it did not come. I dont know if it is due to the Shaklee GLA which I was taking at double dose or what. The fourth month came and also no sharp pain but I did feel intermittent pain on and off at the lower abdomen that sometimes can be quite uncomfortable. So I decided to go check out again and I went to see Dr Yong (Surgeon) of Columbia Asia.and he recommended colonscopy and an ultra sound. So I decided to do the ultrasound first. Lo and behold, the radiologist found a 5cm fibroid in the scan !!! He proceeded to scan the rest of the other organs which he said was in good shape. Then I was referred to the gynae, Dr Suhaimi Hassan since this is a gynae matter and no more under the general surgeon. He asked me quite a lot of questions and then he did a pelvic exam and also an ultra sound too as he wanted to see for himself. He confirmed that I had a cyst measuring 5cm and that a total hysterectomy including ovaries. He said that in universal medical terms at my age this is what will be recommended to do, then I will go into menopause (surgically) as I'm not menopausal now.

Wham !!! that was a hard one to swallow ...such a major surgery ... do I have a choice ....never imagined that I would got through this at this stage in my life. Doctor asked me to think about it and do the surgery as soon as possible.

TARA4

Well I was supposed to interview Allan Wu this afternoon ... was quite looking forward to it. Did my preparations etc ... searched all the info I needed and armed with questions to ask him. Then last night when I called the organizers to find out what time I should be there, they told me that the interview was canceled ???? Then I called my editor and she said that a similar article already came out in another paper and this was supposed to be an exclusive one on one interview .... hmmmm. If we were to come out with another similar article one week later ... what will that look like ...

Took Kristin to the gymrama class and then came back and had a restful day with the kids and watched two movies (: Kristin wants to stop her dance class at Yogaria ... very insistently to stop. I just felt that it was a waste to stop the class after being there for so many years but it was her choice.

I still know who she is ...

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided since I wasn’t busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On examining it I saw it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors and got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.
I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while! As she is a victim of Alzheimer's disease.
As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.
I was surprised and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'
He smiled as he patted my hand and said, 'She doesn't know me but I still know who she is.' I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm and thought, ¨

'That is the kind of love I want in my life. True love is neither physical nor romantic'.

True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

Peace is seeing a sunset and knowing who to thank. The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

Life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain.

The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs.
But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Almighty God, you will make it to a place called Success. Pass it on to ten people whom you want to see blessed.

GOL - Gracehill Orchard Lodge 5-6 Dec 2008

This has been a very eventful and meaningful trip for me and my dad. We both got baptized in the waterfalls in the hills of Pahang ...

It was really a surprise to see my dad accepting Christianity and agreeing to getting baptized. II guess God works in his own ways. I actually accepted Christ when I was in Form 4 at school. Then I attended the Wesley Methodist Church every Sunday and I still remember when we were courting, Frank used to attend Sunday services with me. But after I got married I guess I backslided but I'm very happy and thankful to be back again! I think that my dad has changed a little eversince that eventful trip, he does not seem to be so bad tempered as he usually is. That is a good sign and I think we should see more changes as Pastor Mark (my cousin) has mentioned about. More changes in him and also myself. I really hope that I can change for the better, be a better wife, mother and daughter. Actually I felt that I have learned a little more to control my temper and I hope to learn more and grow each day ...

Pastor Mark said that sometime in Feb this year, he asked my dad if it was ok if he prayed for him and my dad said ok and they prayed together. I did not know about this until recently. At that time, he was still having his skin problems etc.

The first time we went to Livingwaters Mission Baptish Church was just for a visit during a CNY gathering for the Wong family early this year. Then it was for Kel Vin's baptism, Bernard's baptism, Bernard & Santhi's wedding and their farewell. My cousins was telling me that my dad would like to go to church every sunday if I would bring him. I was quite surprised but nevertheless we still go whenever there was some family event. We feel very comfortable and at home in this church as everyone is very friendly and warm here.

Then when I found out about this trip, I told Frank about it and he was also quite interested and so we booked Meranti Apartments and was lucky that it was available. Then I gave a call to Kathy and everything was arranged and off we went. The rest was history.

I think God has planned this event in his diary. I did not know what motivated or made us so interested to attend this trip furthermore this was some kind of a church retreat. (should be quite boring etc) Even Pastor said that all this was God's work and his plans for us.

Second Chance

How many people will get a second chance in life ? Well I really put my hats off to DSAI for making it a second time, after all that he has gone through! I am not a supporter of any parties and neither do I like or dislike him. But I felt that he really showed us something that no matter what happens, we must work hard and continue to strive towards what we want in life.

Our country's 51st merdeka is just around the corner. I trully agree that in some ways, we have proceeded forward positively but there is still much work to be done. Hopefully with this change, something good which benefits the people from all walks of life will come into place soon.

At these times, I trully wish for PEACE, LOVE and HARMONY and may god's richest blessings be upon our leaders to lead us through to the correct path.