There goes my long weekend.

I was suppose to have a long 4 day break on the day of National day. (9th Aug) and was looking forward to go out and shoot some pictures or meet up with some friends.  But during the last night shift I started to develop a flu like symptom followed by an unrelenting cough.  It got worst when I cycled home from work and I couldn’t sleep well as I spent most of my energy wheezing and coughing my lungs out.  Horrible horrible experience.  Even when my colleague called me up for an OT I rejected outright (not myself usually) as I have not been able to sleep for the past 24hrs.  I’ve drank some cough syrups and managed to get some sleep finally on Friday, spending the whole day in bed.  Lucky me, I got better today after managing to sleep non-stop for more than 6 hours.

Anyway, I was suppose to write up a short bike trip and a short review on my Nex 7 that I took with me.  The photos are over here in my fb page.   The last 2 photos were taken another day during a night cycling trip with a friend from Bedok to Marina Bay.  I would say the 7 is a great upgrade from my 3.  I was more at home with the viewfinder and the controls as they resemble more of a SLR rather than a PnS like the 3.  There is however, some flaws to the camera.  The first being the size of the camera.  It’s just too small for my fat fingers.  I have trouble gripping it and without an inbuilt Anti Shake system means I have trouble shooting it handheld at anything lower than 1/30.  I think I need to get a grip or a case soon to solve this issue.  The other major F**k up thing is the bloody video button.  I think most who have read the reviews knows what I’m talking about.  It’s just stupid to have the button so easily triggered.   I think this are the 2 major problems I have with the camera.  Other then that, the camera serves my purpose well and I am seriously considering dumping all my SLR gear if and only if they come out a Nex with FF sensor… : P 

I will try to pound out my bike trip later.  Need to rest more.

Siburin Hosiptal

My daughter is born in Overbrook Hosiptal which was quite a big hospital chain in Thailand. Its the oldest private hospital in Chiang Rai. There is a gahment hospital in Maesai but I would strongly advised not to go there unless you are really broke...

This time around, we chose Siburin which is a new and growing hospital chain in Thailand. It's also in Chiang Rai so we drove there in our new car. Girl girl and my mother-in-law also came to help. We checked-in on the 16th evening as the procedure will be on the 17th morning. The standard rooms were all taken so we were give a choice to upgrade our room to the special suite for an additional of 400 baht per night or upgrade to the VIP room at 1000 baht per night. It was a no brainer so we took the special suite. The room is very clean and spacious. And I will gladly say its as good as those private hospitals in Singapore. (You can see for yourself in the pictures). There is even a fridge with mini-bar on it. You could also order food over the telephone to be delivered to your room at any hours. MAcham hotel with room service liao :P. And its not that expensive. 35 to 40 baht for a Pad Thai or fried rice.

I was expecting to spend about 40kBaht for this whole thing. I have heard that price has increased and I only paid about 28k for my daughter's procedure. So I guess in this newer and better hospital it should be more expensive. Overall, the bill is 37k baht. About $1600 SGD in a private hospital in Thailand. Its $400 plus more than what I paid for my girl but we also stay one more night. Total of 4 days 3 nights (whereas girl girl only 3 days 2 nights).

I kind of understand now why a lot of foreigners actually came to Bangkok or Chiangmai to have plastic surgeries. At this price and service, its again a no brainer. :)

Suppose to be in Thailand....

I am suppose to be in Thailand yesterday. But due to my recent operation. Wife and my mum (or actually my whole family with exception from me and my girl girl) were strongly against my trip. Alas, going to miss my girl girl's 3 year old birthday on the 18th :(

Xinhui is not happy of course, she has been looking forward for me to come back. Wify and I tried to explain the situation to her but she does seems to understand that much. So face black black for a few days....

Everything changed when our brand new car (Toyota Vios) arrived on the 15th. Girl girl very happy and wife is taking the new car for a spin everyday to get used to it. And she seems to forget about me not able to come liao. Jia lat :(. I am recovering very well actually. I have been taking some brisk walking sessions almost every 2-3 days. I also have been actively going out to run some errands and meet up with my photography Master's wife recently to discuss on some future ventures.

So all in all. My MC will be over soon and I will be back to work next Wednesday night.

Scarred for life! Part 3

Day 3 night at the hospital was horrible. It was hot and humid and I feel cold and hot and the same time. (Think its because my body is repairing itself). Next morning the surgeon came and saw my wound and said I could go home. Whoo pee. Though he also damn funny. Pulled of the bandages and dressing and exclaimed "BEAUTIFUL!" Huh.. what the tulududu... He saw my face and quickly say "Oh I don't mean the scar itself but how its healing."

Anyway wait for mum and took a cab home. On 7 days antibiotics course and 2 weeks of MC. I tried to move as much as possible to get more blood circulation. Friends also called in to ask my condition and again, wish to thank you all for your concern. I am really getting better everyday. (Just completed a 2km slow walk along East Coast Park).

So what now? No more gallbladder. There are a lot of myths surrounding that one could no longer eat fatty food. On the contrary, this is not the case as bile is created by the liver. Not the gallbladder. The functionality of the gallbladder is to store the extra bile produced by the liver. So in the event that you eat fatty food. It will release the bile juice into the intestines. Still, it is advisable to cut down on fatty food to prevent cases of diarrhoea.

So far I have not eaten anything oily yet so I can't really tell. But I do notice I tend to go to the toilet more often as digestion within the intestine has gone haywire.

With this I conclude these series. I think it will serves a good chronicle for myself on this dreadful experience and as a reminder: Health is more important than anything else for anyone. You can be rich but if you are not healthy, you won't enjoy it anyway.

Scarred for life! Part 2

On the left is a photo of my big "cut". If you wish to see the gory details you can click on it. If not just skip :P

Anyway, after I woke up. The assistant surgeon, a young lady came and showed me my stones in a bottle and informed me about the surgery and said I did well and its a complete success although they need to open me up as there were severe inflammation and did not want any complications. So the only option was to open me up. I also noticed I had a plastic tube sticking out from a small hole on my right lower belly. She said its for draining those internal bleeding that might still be there.

I was pushed back to bed and lay still for the rest of the night. Semi-concious and talked to my mum and assured her I'm fine and send her back. The night was peaceful actually. The pain was quite severe whenever I even try to move a bit. So I need to press the morphine and wait for a while before even I try to shift myself in bed. The problem with hospital beds are they are damn hot!! The pillow does not help either so it was really really uncomfortable.

Next day the surgeon Dr Lim came and checked on me and say everything is fine so far but I am already starting to have fever during the night. So antibiotics and lots of Drips for me.

Not sure what antibiotics. But it was administered through the drip via injection. In 3 mins, without any warnings I threw up with smelly goo and whatever is left in my stomach and cringe in pain. Took about 5mins to recover from the pain. Explanation given was that the nurse might have injected the solution too quickly. Anyway I was cleaned up in a jiffy and back to rest.

I actually felt much much better after I threw up as I was feeling very bloated. The rest of the day I was actually improving so I held no grievances to that nurse who gave me that shot.

3rd day in the hospital was a major improvement. I could sit up and actually get out of bed and walked a bit. I no longer need the morphine so that machine was unplugged from me. But I still have drips and that bloody waste water bag besides me. Started to eat but little appetite.

TBC...

Scarred for life! Part 1

First of all. Just wish to thanks those who were concerned and gave their well wishes to me for the pass few days. Many thanks and I am recovering.

I decided to chronicle this whole incident in this blog again as friends keep asking me the same questions and so by jotting it down here. You can read it and I get to avoid repeating myself. :P

On the 29 April. I was admitted to SGH. I went alone I don't want to let my mother to wait for that long in the hospital. The swine flu alert was still yellow that day. Went and and admitted to my ward. The surgeons in charge came and see me at the bed in the morning and explained the procedures. Its supposed to be a day surgery as the incision will be small by using Laprascopic method of extraction. 95% chance of success where 5% they need to open up and use the old horrible method as due to severe inflammation. I will also go through a minor surgery on my butt for my anal fistula at the same time. So its 2 in 1 for me.

After meeting the doctor. I was in the ward waiting. My time on the Operating theatre is 3pm. A looong wait as I was admitted at 9am. (Suppose to be 7am but the nurse called me before and asked me to come later)

So about 2pm. I was changed and pushed in a trolley bed to the OT. I think (i totally lost count) 4 to 5 different nurses (I start to think they definitely screwed up before) asked me the same question before the whole procedure. Basically

1) Your name and nric.
2) What ops are you performing today.
3) Is this the form you signed.
4) Any drug allergies.

So I was pushed into the OT and my surgeon came. Dr Dennis Lim by the way. Very chatty fella and the Anesthetic doctor also introduce himself and ask me some questions. So a plastic mask was put over me and I just fell asleep........


ZZZZZzzzzzz

ZZZzz

zz

Woke up and found myself in severe pain in the abdominal area. Still groggy and ran my fingers across the area and found it to be heavily padded with a very huge dressing. Jia lat... I am the bloody 5%....




TBC....

Kena (Got myself) Scanned.

I had an MRI appointment for my gallstones as the doctors are still baffled by my condition. The bile level is so abnormal in my blood and I do not have a blocked bile duct (scoped twice and found nothing) so they send me for an MRI to get a "clearer" picture. Think the full name of MRI is Magnetic Resonance Imaging(please correct me if I am wrong). Its an interesting experience as I did CT before and they say its similar but I find it a bit different though.

First of all, the machine is huge and loud. The room is also more like a vault. I was asked to put on robes and administered an IV needle for the contrast agent. I was then strapped onto the bed and the radiologist gave me a cap to wear and a set of headphones to listen to her instructions (not music hor). The doctor needs to scan my whole abdominal area. So the scan took some time. About 45 mins. I think I nearly fell asleep during the process if not of all those whizzing noises the machines make. It really sounds like those flatbed scanners every time it scans my body. Then there is the part when they will inject the contrast agent into your body and you feel something flowing into your arms to the whole body. Very weird feelings. Or they will ask you to hold your breadth for 20 secs.

Anyway, hope nothing seriously wrong with me. Will be seeing the doctor on the 22nd and the schedule ops date is on the 27.

The pain.... ooohhh the pain!!

Just had a gallstones attack today [again] in the morning before I went to work and it came and go and lasted till lunchtime.

The pain normally starts from the stomach area. Feeling bloated and gassy. Then it just ballooned up to your chest and you nearly can't breathe or move. So this is actually the peak of the pain. Most of the time I will be sitting or squatting down and try to breathe. At this moment, your stomach area all the way to the chest will feel like someone using a clamp, clamping your insides and twisting it for fun. This will last for 5 to 10mins before the clamps start to stretch to your sides and reached the shoulder blades behind your back. Then it will slowly fade away....

This is how I feel every time the attack comes. Not fun at all and definitely I need to get the stones out....

This is demoralising

I had a pain (gallstone) attack this morning again and its horrible. Luckily it went away in the afternoon but still, these attacks are quite demoralising. It just comes without warning. Woke up, went to pee and just drank one cup of water and bang... dunno what trigger it... cannot be the water bah??

Went back to my room and squatted on the floor for almost an hour. Sweat pouring. Only last friday went for a root canal repair and this coming Wednesday is my follow up for my surgery on the fistula and gallstones.

Luckily today is my off day if not I will need to take MC again. Tom back to work and I feel fine at the moment. Suppose to run some errands today but all plans are blown. Sign... not a good year for me

Root canal repair on my teeth. Fistula on my butt and bloody stones in my gallbladder....

try to beat that.

Overdosed.

If I really go and follow the doctor's instruction and take all the medication they prescribed.

One type for pain, one for gastric, one for vomiting and 2 types of antibiotics. I only completed the antibiotics and left the other 3 alone. They even prescribed me 1 year supply of Paracetemol. Bloody 180 tabs!! And that's only CGH. SGH gave me another 80 tabs.

I wonder if someone who have financial issues are able to pay for all these drugs. I did checked with the pharmacist but she said the doctor prescribed it and I have to take it. So I guess its the doctor's fault?

So whoever wants Paracetemol (Panadol) do let me know... maybe can pass some to you.

Recovering.

Not really a good year for me in 2008. First half was great until it took a downturn.

As my previous post did mentioned my health was not that good ever since I came back from Thailand in Nov. Recently, after attending my friend's wedding dinner on 6th. 2 days later I had severe stomachache. It got better the next morning and I continued to work for 2 more days before it struck again. This time was just so sudden at the office and I could not even breadth as the pain actually spread to my chest area. My colleagues called an ambulance and sent me to CGH (Changi General Hospital).

CGH checked my lungs and heart and detected no issue and send me home the next day. On MC for 4 days and on the 12th. I woke up and noticed my whole skin is yellow. Jaundice! No more CGH so this time go to SGH instead. Took 2 days for them to confirm I had a inflammation on my pancreas due to gallstones. On drips for 4 bloody days.

So now I'm back at home resting again.

On the other end. Wife is pregnant again (seems to be made in Keng Tung :P) and we did not planned this. Girl girl seems unaware of the situation that she is going to become a big sister... hehehe... And girl is now in Pre-school and she enjoys it so far. Thats the update from me so far in Dec. Will post some more if I could. Still a bit lethargic from all the drugs I took.

Cycling to work

I am working on night shift today (8pm to 8am) and its also the first time I cycle to my new workplace at Kaki Bukit. I had studied the maps and found the nearest and safest path to work is just a mere 5km ride. The path that I took is actually the Park connector from East Coast Park all the way to Bedok Reservoir Park. I am quite familiar with this route as I always jog along that connector. The whole ride only took me about 20mins. And I rode at a leisurely pace. Which is quite surprising to me as the bus ride took almost the same amount of time. Moreover, I still need to wait for our so called "world class transport". The route is also very safe, only need to cross 6 road junctions with traffic lights in total and some riding within the HDB carpark. So I guess I will ride my bike to work more often.

Speaking of my bike, its an honour to say that it has served me for 7 years liao. Time really flies man... :)

PUMA TIME Heart Rate Monitor

I've talked about interval training and have not been following the routine as its tough for me to gauge my limits. Meaning that normally after 2 intervals, I get too tired to push to the 3rd one. So I read up about how to gauge your workout load through a heart rate monitor. Its quite a simple way of monitoring your heart rate while you workout to maximise the type of routine (cardio or fat burning) you want to achieve.

So went down to hunted around for a heart rate monitor watch that I could wear. Spotted this from PUMA at Bencoolen plaza going for $170. Bargain till $150 and managed to try it today. I have to say it really works but the ECG band is a bit uncomfy leh... like wearing a bra (not that I wore one before).. Overall, I actually completed a 4km run much faster and less tiring then I used to be. Mainly because if my heart rate does not hit my desired upper or lower threshold, it will give off beeps to tell me to slow down( or speed up). Those who are into running or seriously want to loose weight should get one. It really does help!

For more information, try these sites for more information on desired target training heart rate.

This site gives the different zones for different types of workout you want to achieve (fat burning, endurance, cardio, strength etc)

For the more hardcore and particular one, read up on this one to see how to determine your real max heart rate (important to know your max to set up your training zone)

Baby Sick again

There's an outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease here in Maesai and all the schools are closed for the week. Not sure how Girl caught the disease but I guess its at the carnival where lots of kids were playing.

Anyway, she developed the rashes from her feet first and now spreads to the mouth and hands. Saw the first doctor (at night and wife a bit panicky again) and the clueless joker gave anti-biotic. Errr... I am not a doctor but I do know that Amoxycilin is for bacterial infection, not viral. Next morning, we went to the larger clinic and this doctor is more informed. Explained to my wife the anti-biotic is not necessary (actually she already convinced by me liao) and ways to make her feel better.

Guess I might not be writing much for the week. The thing will last for a week and girl seems restless. A bit worried on she will get dehydration as she had difficulty in swallowing. Doctor did said ice and cold stuff will help so lucky girl now have ice-cream everyday liao... :P

Cost of seeing a doctor in Thailand

I have a lot of things to write but have been busy lately as wife is sick. Some of my friends had asked me how cheap and good is the medical facilities in Thailand. So this time, I took the opportunity of showcasing how they price the fees here.

Do click on the image to see a bigger scanned picture of the reciept. I had removed my wife's name as its not relevant. Anyway, the clinic we went to is the largest PRIVATE clinic in Maesai and it has a bigger hospital (about the size of Changi General hospital) in Chiang Rai. Of course since its private, we are expected to pay more for the consultation and drugs. Anyway, the total cost is 524 baht. About 25 dollars in Singapore. The breakdown is very interesting as you can see. Consultation itself is 30baht!! which is less than 2SG. Scary. Drugs wise, a bit more expensive as wify had a serious infection and need an injection plus 3 different types of pills for her to take. If I remember correctly, once you have an injection in Singapore, normally the price would be around $30 for public Polyclinics (that's 2 years ago when I experienced that, not sure about the price now). So normally, without any injection, the price range would be 150baht to 350 baht (depending on the drugs issued).

But here's the interesting thing, even if I am the one (a foreigner) going to the same doctor, I will be charged 30baht for the consultation too. And I still pay the same price for the drugs. If I go to the public hospital in Maesai (there is one but bloody long queue). All I need to pay is 30 baht and a heavily subsidized price for my drug (more than 50%). If you are a Thai citizen. Lagi best as you only need to pay 30baht for the consultation while drugs are totally FREEEE. Yes FREEEE!

So I pay cheaper price but do I get better service?? Well, there's a bloody playground for my girl and other kids at the clinic (slides and swings) and big sofas and television at the waiting room. No air-con but nice ceiling fans. The clinic we went is actually a huge 2 storey building with their own X-ray machine, blood test rlab, EKG machine and a CT machine. Yes, a CT machine(multi-slice some more) in Maesai and I've checked the price. 64 multi slice CT full body scan cost 999baht (45SGD). Wat lau, I'm getting one liao..... :P

The hopeless people

I watched Sicko by Michael Moore yesterday and was a bit overwhelmed by the fact that hospitals in the US are actually dumping patients without insurance coverage on the street. What's even worse is how the insurance companies are finding ways to deny those with insurance on their claim.

Watching the movie kinds of frighten me on the outlook of Singapore's own medical care. It seems like we are trying to follow the US style of having expensive medical care and only allowing a limitation of Medisave claim for our bills. I was wondering, do our own Singapore hospital did the same to those with no money??? Kick them out of their bed??

Anyway, the best part of the movie was an interview with Tony Benn, a former member of parliament of the United Kingdom. He said this which seems very applicable to not only US but also to Singapore or Thailand. Here's part of the quote but the gist of it :

"People in debt become hopeless and hopeless people don't vote. So I think there are 2 ways that which people are controlled. First was to frighten people and secondly to demoralise them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern. And I think they is an element in the thinking of some people that we don't want people to be educated, healthy and confident because they would get out and control. The top 1% of the world population is holding 80% of the world's wealth. Its incredible that people put up with it. But they are poor, they are demoralised, they are frightened and they think perhaps the safest thing to do is to take orders and hope for the best."

Do get the DVD and watch it if you can. Pretty good stuff . :)

Scar (WARNING!!! Do not see if you can't stand gore!!)

I want to archive this injury for memorial sake. (See here and here for those who missed the story) So took a picture of my "beautiful" scar with stitches as a reminder for me. Be bloody careful next time....



errr... hope this does not spoil your appetite. hehehe

Recovering

Part 2 of my previous post. :) Currently now in day 3 of the incident. Already feeling better. My left arm could bend more than 90 degrees but my right arm is still sore from the injection. Think its a combination of muscle cramp and injection symptoms. Still I managed to have a short run today. Not sure why but I just feel like exercising. So took a slow jog with a limp right arm... Not as siong as I thought (maybe mentally prepared) and I went quite slow on this run.

Finished and cleaned up. Need to change my dressing liao as it has been 2 days. Prepared all the stuff and removed the bandage. Surprised to see its actually 5 stitches rather then 4. (The nurse dunno how to count) Anyway, use a swab and cleaned the wound. I tried bending my arm and the stitches seems to hold quite well. Looks quite nasty with all the strings but its actually healing quite fast. It looks promising also as its not red and swollen, which means there is no infection (yet). So I changed the gauze and re-banded my arm with fresh bandages.

I have to count myself lucky. The doctor did prescribed a 10 day Anti-biotics for me but I am not taking it unless it get infected. Don't want to rely on antibodies too much or else your resistance will weaken. Still, if it starts to swell or have pus, I would start to take the meds immediately.

Anyway, while I am typing this, my wounded area feels itchy already. Which means its really recovering. Still need to wait for 4 more days before I could visit the doctor again to remove the stitches....

Wounded.

I am now typing with both my arms stretched straight. My left elbow was cut deeply by some iron bars from my roof and I had received 4 stitches. (I guess I am not as agile as I used to be liao). Anyway, what happened was my wife complained to me about hearing some noise on the roof. So this morning I went up to take a peek. Nothing but I think some birds make a nest at the corner of my roof. Anyway, on my decent down, my elbow struck something and I got an excruciation pain from it. I used my other hand to feel it and was surprised by the nasty cut. Being cool, I slowly climbed down and called my wife for help (BIG MISTAKE). She saw my wound and start to panic liao (thought I am suppose to be the one to panic). I calmed her down while I rush to the tap to wash most of the blood off (big mess sia). Then I asked her to get me the medicated alcohol and proceed to douse the wound with it. Super pain of course but no choice. I looked in the mirror and bend my elbow and can see the muscle liao (jialat). Which means definitely I need to go to a doctor to get stitches. Asked wife to help me dressed up while baby at the side looking a big stun ... hehehehe (more like "huh" wat happened?")

My wife already called the neighbour for help but I could managed, so I took my bike alone to the nearest clinic. Lucky no one in the queue so I got to see the doctor almost immediately. The young doctor not very "zai" leh but no choice lah. Proceeded to stitch me up and gave me a Tetanus Shot.

Here's the funny part. The nurse who gave me the shot without asking me, jab the needle onto my right arm. Nah beh! Now my right shoulder is sore with the Tetanus shot while I can't bend my left elbow. Suay ahhhh......

Running Again

Since my failed attempt to reduce my weight to 84kg. Decided to at least maintain my current form. I have already stopped for almost a week and so I started my running routine today. Again, I started slow by reducing my usual distance by half. The run was not that enjoyable as the air was pretty dry. Its cooling and you don't feel exhausted at all (completed my 3km within 30mins). But the breathing part is tough. I tried to breadth through my nose but the cool dry air seems to be difficult to suck in. Like in an air-conditioned room. Switched to breathing through my mouth lagi worst. Throat became very dry and extremely uncomfortable. Tried swallowing my own saliva but not very helpful. I think I need to condition myself to the weather here. Think the first week would be tough for me.

Maybe I would try interval training again but I just really enjoy jogging around my neighbourhood. It has a fantastic view......