Archive for the 'Health' Category

They are catching them younger and  younger these days, the consumer ads.

I remember those days when I was wadling in and out of my gynaes clinic when I was pregnant, I received loads of product samples, milk powders, diapers, creams, more milk powders….. I don’t mind the diapers…. Anyway, the point is, all these while my baby was still snug in mummy’s tummy.

Then I remember an occassion when my children’s regular paeditrician was off and I went to another. I was horrified. His entire clinic was full of glass showcases with all sorts of consumer products on display! I am quite annoyed with paeditricians who recommend milk powders instead of promoting breastfeeding.

Recently, my daughter came home from kindy with yet more product samples. “Mummy these are party packs” she told me innocently. “And look, mummy, if you buy one at $16, you will get one T-shirt free. I want the T-shirt.” she declared. I’ll need to have a word with the principal if this continues.

Oh and don’t forget the TV. I don’t subscribe to pay TV (Astro here) so fortunately my kids don’t get influenced by TV ads. Phew! Or I’d be hassled with more “I want!” at the supermarket.

When they hit the teen years, the ads will keep on coming and it never stops and it never will. Lets face it. Young consumers means big $$$$$$.

These ads and product samples aimed at the young annoy me so especially the milk powder ones and the junk food ads on TV (with the exception of the free diapers Ahem!). What about you?

I’ve been seeing the world through blury vision. I can’t remember when in my adulthood that I required spectacles but the first time I made my specs and walked out of the shop, I was amazed at how clear everything looked all of a sudden. Although my power isn’t very high, around 150 plus minus still it made a big difference.

Over the recent years however, I found that my eyesight had actually gotten better and I didn’t need to wear glasses anymore. I thought it was just old age making my eyesight better. Anyway, I noticed that I have been squiting and struggling to see things from afar lately so hubby took me to the optician to get a new pair of spectacles.

Wow! Suddenly everything looks crystal clear again. Hahaha. I have some astigmatism as well so my night vision was greatly improved after I donned my new glasses. We went for a car ride last night and everything looked so pretty, all the night lights, the street lamps and other colored decorative lights, the high rise apartments (I could actually see the little windows in them now and not just a blur of lights. Lol!), as we zoomed passed buildings, I could see all the names of the shops with clarity.  Wheeee!

Fantastic. Now I don’t need to look at the world through blury vision again. Only one thing though………..now I look like the Ah Soh that I am. (Not that I didn’t look like Ah Soh before but now even more so!)

Have visited the gynae for the pain my the left breast complain. First she did an ultrasound to view the two cyst in the ovaries which she found during my last pap smear and told me that they have shrunk. “Don’t worry, its not cancer” she says. “You can come back in 6 months or a year and we’ll monitor it. Hopefully it will have disappeared by then.”

I told her about the pain in the left breast around the area where she said she had found a lump. “Should I get a mamogram?” I asked her. “There’s no harm” she said but she didn’t suggest or insist on it. She then did an ultrasound of the breasts. “The ultrasound will help us to see any cyst.” she said. She did not found any. She said that the pain was probably caused by the breast tissues. There is more tissues on the left according to her. Hmmm….. maybe I’m fatter there.

She then took some blood for a tumour marker test and concluded the visit by giving me antibiotics and Evening Primrose Oil for 4 months. Initially she had wanted to give me Vitamin E for two months but changed to EPO instead. She said the pain could be caused by infection and thats what the antibiotics is for. I told her that I was taking anti-seizure medicine and asked her about the safety of taking the antibiotics and the EPO.

She said they were safe. She told me that the medicine I was taking could have caused some hormonal imbalances and the EPO will balance it back. The damage was RM326.

When I got back I searched the net for “Evening Primrose Oil and Epilepsy” and found that it is not advisable for those with epilepsy to take EPO as it could cause seizures. Hmm… Anyway, the tumour marker results are out and its normal.

So we’ll live with things as it is until the next annual appointment. After the conclusion of this visit, I think I’ll wait a while before getting a mamogram done.

During my pap smear at the end of last year my gynae told me that there was a lump in my left breast and she told me to monitor it myself. Well, I can’t really find the lump myself but its been giving me pain so I’ve scheduled another appointment. Anyway she did tell me to go back for a follow-up to check on those ovarian cysts she saw so I am due for another check-up. Aaarrgh I hate all these doctor visits. I’m scared of the results and of course I hate the waiting but mostly I am afraid of what the doc will say and I hate the anxiety of doing diagnostic tests.

My sister says she’ll probably ask me to do a mammogram. Sis tells me that the mammogram is very painful and uncomfortable. I can’t imagine how its like. I just visualise that it must be like having your breast photostated or something. I searched around and saw this mammogram video on YouTube. Gosh! It looks terribly painful, to have your breast squashed and pressed together till its flat and round like a pancake. Now, I’m even more scared. Shouldn’t have searched around! But looks like I can’t escape it. I’m over 40 and haven’t done my first mammogram yet and with a family history of cancer….

Anyway, I should stop this worrying and just get on with it. I will write an update after my doctor visit. In the meantime, below is the video for those who are wondering how a mammogram is like. And here is a good article about what is a mammogram, when and how often you should do a mammogram and a description of a mammography.

I poisoned myself ……….. with decomposing vegetables. Yeap! Thats what I did.

“My wife is trying to poison me.” said Mr MG to the doc as we sat there together to see him. Well, in actual fact, I did poison him and myself too in the process. Fortunately the kids were not affected.

We felt very ill immediately after eating the dinner that I cooked. He felt dizzy, nausea and fever. I felt gastric pains, nausea, fever and chills. The kids were ok. We had eggs and beans, tenggiri fish and onions and mixed vegetables. The kids ate everything we ate accept the vegetables so it must have been the vegetables.

For the mixed vegetables, I used white cabbage, carrots, brocolli and celery. Hmm… so which is it. The white cabbage and carrots looked nice, perhaps too nice but they’re organic so they couldn’t have been loaded with pesticide could they. The brocolli still looked ok. Maybe the celery… it did not look that fantastic but I thought it was just grime and dirt. I did peel off the skin and I soaked the vegetables and changed the water 4-5 times. For the life of me, I just don’t know what it is but I threw them out just in case.

Hubby had it bad. He vomitted and cerit berit a couple of times. I just had severe gastric pains that made me want to bend over. And I felt tired… so very tired and cold. I just wanted to sleep all the time. Gosh. Its horrible, just horrible. Fortunately the kids are ok. Phew! I’m just recovering so I won’t be writing a long post. This is just to remind myself and everyone else to be very, very careful with your food. You could end up feeling very ill. Ewek! Got to go and rest now.

Oh I almost forgot. Happy Chap Goh Meh to anyone who celebrates it.

I was supposed to get my pap smear and dental appointments out of the way last year. Well, I managed to get myself to the dentist chair but the pap smear appointment was delayed because the timing wasn’t right.

Anyway, I finally got it out of the way. Took half a day. No, not the Pap Smear. That took a minute but the wait to get it done took half a day. The gynae discovered two ovarian cyst and a lump on my left breast. Hmm…..

She said that the ovarian cyst could be due to what she called a fertile period cyst (which will go away after ovulation), early ovarian cancer or something else which I can’t remember. According to her a cyst for any of these 3 reasons ( the third which I can’t remember now, the long wait must have numbed my brains) look exactly the same. She said that I could go back during a menstruation period to make sure that its gone and then we can be sure that its just a fertile period cyst if thats what it is.

She said that I should monitor the lump on the left breast. Hmm… My mum died of cervical or ovarian cancer (I’m not sure which as I was too young at the time) and my aunt (father’s side) is a breast cancer survivor. My aunt is incredible. She used to drive herself for a chemotherapy then drive straight to work immediately afterwards and no one knew what she was going through. My aunt owns a hardware shop and she said that she had to keep quiet about her condition or else she would no longer get goods on credit. She is an amazing lady.

So now with the pap smear out of the way, its just the results which I hope will be fine like last year. Enough scary thoughts on a Monday morning, I shall now turn my thoughts to something else like spring cleaning for Chinese New Year for example. Theres lots and lots to be done. I can’t decide whether I want to do spot cleaning (room by room) or clean only windows, only fans etc. But first, I’ve got to go and do my exercises.

At first I was just doing scaling. I closed my eyes and put my hands on my lap. My whole body was tensed. Haha.

Then the dentist asked me again whether I wanted to have gum surgery. She had asked me to do it the last time (maybe a year aog) but due to lack of time, she had asked me to return on another appointment for it but I never turned up. Hehe.

This time she reminded me. Your gums look really bad especially this one. You should address this problem. Don’t let it get worse. So I agreed since I was already there.

She gave me two jabs and then proceeded to trim my gums. This is nothing new to me actually. I’ve had my gums cut and trimmed and sewn together etc before. I have 9 crowns done years ago and gum surgery done a few times but I still hate it.

Phew! At least that is one appointment out of the way. I will talk about my girl’s dental appointment on my other blog instead. The dentist was kind and gentle with her with the objective of making her first visit to the dentist a pleasant experience so that she won’t develop dentist phobia like her parents. Hahaha.

Gynae’s office has called up a few months ago to remind me to do my pap smear. Alamak! Still outstanding. One of the things I have to do before the year end.

Another dreaded appointment I have to meet before the year end is the, the, the, the, DENTIST! Ok. I’m chicken! I’m scared shitless. I hate the sound of the dentist drill. Help! But my daughter needs a check up and I’ve got to show her how brave I am by example. Hahaha.

So wish me luck as I make my appointment. Once I get those dreaded appointments out of the way, perhaps I will have more pleasant ones like appointment with the hairdresser, with Santa Clause etc. Now, if only I had more time. These things take up so much time. Sigh!

Well lets see…

• My symptoms came on suddenly
• I feel feverish
• I don’t have a runny nose
• I have a slight sore throat
• I have a dry unproductive cough
• I feel very tired and fatigued
• I have bad body aches

According to this flu or cold symptoms chart, it looks like I’m having the flu. Baby had it first, then my girl, now me. Aarrgh! I hate this merry go round of sickness. Happens all the time. Next time someone gets sick in the house, I must quarantine them.

All the articles I read say that you don’t need antibiotics for a cold or flu and yet everytime I see the doc when I have a cold or a flu, the doc would prescribe antibiotics. Hmmm…. so how? To take or not to take?

Last night I had a bad dream. I dreamt that I had colored pages and pages into a coloring book but had no recollection of doing it. I dreamed that I had colored my bears purples and pinks etc. Everything was colored badly. There were no shades or different colors for each object. Everything was colored in one color.

I told my bros and sis, thats not me. I would color everything nicely, not ugly in one color like this and I don’t remember doing it. Look. I told them theres so many pages of it too. I don’t remember coloring any of them. I must have had a seizure without knowing it, I told them. Perhaps I had a seizure and I was doing this repetitive task and now I can’t remember a thing.

I guess that my subconcious fear has not gone away. I still fear my seizures. I fear the feeling of having a seizure and not remembering it afterwards. I had one day erased from my memory on that day when I had 3 seizures in a day and it was scary. My sister told me that I didn’t sound like myself, that I sounded sort of whiny when I spoke to her after recovering from my seizure. Its strange to not remember. Feels as if I had been a walking zombie or something. I do not remember anything that I said to my husband or children. He said that the second time it happened that day, I had called him and told him that my girl had informed me that I just had another fit. I don’t remember any of it. I worry what the kids felt, being alone with me when it happened. It was on the 1st of April. What a stupid April Day’s joke I had played on myself, I thought. OMG, I’m going to stop this train of thoughts right now.

Last night I read a bedtime story to the kids. There was a line in it which said “Nurse Elephant tells her patients that it is no use feeling sorry for themselves. There’s always someone who’s worse off than they are.” I’ve only had a few seizures and they seem under control now with medication. Only a few seizures and I’m scared shitless. My doctor tells me that he has many patients, some of them who have several seizures daily. Some, once a week. My once a year or two pale in comparison to what these other people are going through. I wonder how they lead their lives but I guess they just go on. There is no choice. You just go on, just like everybody else.