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Dead sure.

A bad week

Some say Sunday's the beginning of a new week (check: calendars). I say Sunday's the closing day of the week.

or, a bad week.

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Mon
8.00am: Woke up late and reached office at 9.45am. well, as usual.

Tue
8.00am: Woke up late AGAIN. same time to reach office.

5.05pm: Mom called. "Your father's in the hospital."

6.25pm: Reached SGH. Dad had a mild heart attack. Still in A&E.

7.25pm: Dad sent to ICA Ward (one step lower than ICU). Male staff nurse lightened the atmosphere. A stupid malaysian medical officer came along to explain the situation in deeper detail but made it sound worse with use of "you're in a very dangerous condition now" tone & manner. Understood that dad will be undergoing scope tomorrow morning to see extent of arteries being blocked. Did not know that op will be done at the same time.

8.25pm: Er Gu & family came.

9.25pm: Dad's youngest bro & family came.

11.30pm: Left SGH. Couldnt bear to leave Dad alone. :(

Wed
12.00pm: Received sms from elder bro that scope changed to 2pm.

2.00pm: Called SGH. Told that dad hasnt gone for scope yet. Will be later. Spoke to boss. Was told i can only take 1/2 day leave max even if i need to take cos currently short-handed. Felt like quitting immediately.

3.00pm: Called again. Still havent gone for scope.

4.30pm: Called AGAIN. Dad's in the scope. Told by nurse that she alr told one of my bros that they'll call us when he's out. (Read: Nurse's irritated) Relayed msg to sis.

5.40pm: Received sms that dad's out from scope & doing ok.

6.20pm: Boss drove me down to the SGH bus stop. Dad seemed to be in pain. Dad said that 2 of his main arteries were blocked, so they inserted 2 "balloons" there. (I thought inserting anything would only come after the scope during a separate op?!) Saw some blood stains on his pillow. Didnt see his doctor at all. Told that team doctor only comes in between 8-10am.

8.30pm: Er Gu came again. With 3rd uncle's daughters and youngest uncle & his family. dad's friend came too. Dad advised 3rd uncle's daughters to tell their dad to stop smoking. (What an irony)

10.30pm: Dad's fren drove us home.

Thu
12.00pm: Received sms that dad will be transferred to normal ward.

8.20pm: couldnt get off work earlier - reached SGH. Still no doc. Asked to see doc. Told again that team doc (who op-ed on my dad) is only ard from 8-10am. Asked to see on-call doc (i.e. doc on duty). On-call doc was actually standing right next to me. When i turned over, she gave a look like she's caught red-handed. Smelled a shrink of responsibility coming out of on-call doc when she said she doesnt know much and its better for the team doc to call us tml morning and all she can do is to read off the chart. (bloody-hell, i tot.) Fine, i said, just read off the chart and explain whatever you know to us at least. Said she'll come into the room. just 2 mins later, she rec'd a call and said she has an A&E case to attend to and would probably take some time so cant explain to us. Better to get team doc to call us tml morning, she said again. Fine, i said. (what a bummer!)

9.15pm: Saw on-call doc walking in to check on the patient on the bed next to us. Saw us, but didnt bother walking over and explaining to us despite having returned from her supposedly A&E case. (what a "great" sense of responsibility, I tot.)

9.40pm: We left. Understood that tml am dad will be having his blood test. and will be discharged. Plans were made for sis to take half day leave to bring dad home.

Fri
9.00am: Walking to office. Received call from the same malaysian medical officer. Told that dad going for some scan. couldnt explain properly what that scan is about. The conversation went like this -

*************
MO: "hi i'm calling to let you know your dad will be undergoing XXX scan, it's a scan to er.....it's just a scan to check whether he can be discharged today or not."
Me: "huh?? I tot it'll be a blood test??"
MO: "err it's just a scan to check, the staff nurse will be able to explain to u in details later."
Me: "hello? you have to be specific! what do you mean by it's a scan to check? we didnt know about this supposedly scan?!"
MO: "err no, it's just a check to make sure he's ok to be discharged. And i just called to let you all be ready."
Me: *PANIC* "HUH!?" Be ready?!?!?! For what?!
MO: "Staff nurse will call you again later to keep you updated when he's out of the scan."

*************
Me was left feeling puzzled and extremely worried.

9.10am: Called sis. Told her what happened. She's also puzzled and dunno whether to take leave or not.

12.10pm: Nurse called to say that dad's ok, fit for discharge. Called sis, she said she's on her way down to SGH. Understood from sis that dad has high blood pressure & high cholestrol. Thankfully no diabetics.

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Dad is 60 this year. He smokes heavily (20 sticks/day, he claims) and drinks beer EVERYDAY.

Plus with the stupid shit i get from SGH staff (minus the male nurse on Day 1), i really feel unsafe.

Things learnt:
1) Once you get your arteries blocked (whether it's fats or tobacco), there's no way to clear them. Docs will place either balloons to expand the arteries, or create a bypass.

2) Any surgery comes with risk. not just risk of success/failure. risks of getting other problems like kidney failure, numbness in leg, etc etc.

3) Every one in the family loves & cares for each other. Me & Bro started talking during these few days.

4) Mom's actually very smart, contrary to my earlier belief that she probably has a mental problem. She "siam" accusations faster than my dad can blame her. Now i know. *wink* But of cos, she always "siam" until so obvious, it makes everyone irritated with her.

5) Dad's old le. Mom's 55 this year. I'm 24 this year. Sis's 27 this year. Bros' 30 & 19 this year. I'm supposed to be grown up and sensible. I'm supposed to help a hand in the family too.

I can still laugh & joke today becos i know my dad's fine. for now at least.

p/s: Met up with mel-chan & lis yesterday for ktv. All our moods were very low. Both of them have big serious issues to deal with this week too. All the songs we picked were sad, slow and depressing.

What a week.

Summer Chicks

Been wanting to get myself a brand new proper set of bikini for ages, Finally laid my hands on a set of Australian Summer Chicks ring halter bikini. (The ironic thing is, their web store locator says it's found in Kuta, Bali, but when i went there last July we saw no bikini shops! or did we? damn!)

It aint easy finding the correct fit - the kinds i think will fit, usually doesnt. Esp for the bottom. I had to change mine to a normal string one cos the original boyleg design made my already-not-so-flattering-looking thighs look really huge. Bikini shopping usually meant trying and trying and trying. AND, good quality ones are $$$$. esp when they say theirs came from "australian, usa, france, blah blah blah...". Mine cost me a good 66 bucks. man. burnt a hole in my pocket over 2 skimpy pieces.

Anyways i'm a happy girl, cos i finally have a proper looking bikis in my wardrobe! :)

The sweetest card...

...from my 2 little nieces.


i still love to call them "little" though they're already 13 & 16 this year.


It's not the present, not the wrapping....but the sweet home-made birthday card they made me. It was actually a white canvas painted with pale yellow (on the front cover) and a highlighter yellow on the inside. *smiles*

And for the present? Here's what they sms-ed me, "Hope you'll hug this to bed at night. We call it Kaylee No. 2"


For the uninitiated, my chinese zodiac is Miss Piggy.

There you go - "Kaylee No. 2"! :))

p/s: More birthday updates to come!

Of Azabu Sabo, Mel-chan, Aldo & Fergie

An outing with Mel-chan goes like this:

*SCREECHES*

"HI DEAR!!" x 2

*hugs*

"How have you been doing??"

*rattle, rattle, rattle*

Met up with millicent (aka mel aka mel-chan) a couple of weeks ago. We had a terrific, terrific time, as usual, chatting up, being silly and gushing over mango, topshop, zara, dorothy perkins, aldo, isetan, and what-have-yous.

we were at marina square, another of our fav spots and headed to Azabu Sabo for our fav green tea dessert. I swear it's the most yummilious dessert EVER!! Next time we'll try the main course.

Let's leave it to the pictures to do the talking ---

Green tea ice-cream

Rating: 5/5

Comments: Warning - VERY VERY GOOOOD

Yummy warm rice-cake in red-bean paste

Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: I love the red bean paste cos it's sweeeet! Though with our full stomach, the sticky glutinous rice-cake was abit too much.

Finally, mel-chan bought me a pressie! me doubly-happy!

It's a lovely Aldo bag that i'd fancied some time back, and the music CD of Fergie - the princess of hip-hop (the music i'm so into right now). Of cos, to top it too, a sweet hand-written card. Thank you, mel. :)

Newly certified =))

After months of learning, preparation, tests (200m swim, 10min float, 2 written tests and 20 skills test in both swimming pool & open water), i'm finally a certified Open Water Diver. :)

*pats myself*

=))

I found my love..

Remember the Burberry craze?

The luxury, pride, and joy(!) of owning a Burberry item...


...imagine my exhilaration when i found an exact pair.........in......

CHARLES & KEITH!!

at one-tenth of the cost!!!!!!!!!

"Hail the holy C&K for making duplicates that few know, may God bless thee..."


This is like treasure spotting! OMG, i practically screamed and jumped up n down in C&K Parkway. Mel-chan had to stop me. (though she herself was as breathless with joy over her other newly-found shoey pal..hehe).

Check this out -

*GRINS FROM EAR TO EAR*

Arent they lovely? (Not to mention, they look almost identical to the original one) *Grins, grins, grins* And becos this doesnt have the monogram, no one can say it's a fake!! teeheehee! Esp when it looks so damn good - Burberry's or not.

And can i just digress - There're 2 big reasons for not wearing anything monogram-ed:

1) One-hundred million other people carry the exact same thing as you, one can spot it from a distance distinctively (one may argue that precisely becos of that, you can tell immediately it's a branded bag. But read reason no. 2.).

2) No one believes you're carrying The Real Thing, 'cos how many ppl can afford a $1000 LV bag?

*Disclaimer for my many friends (& sister) who dig monogram-ed bags, shoes, wallets - u're still my dearest friends, no matter what. :D*