Monday, February 27, 2017
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Fatherhood Reflections XXXVIII - A Father's Worst Nightmare III
This I just ripped off from my wife's latest post.
It's out!
After much worries and heartache last night. It's finally out.
Thru this episode we have learnt a lot. Right colon up left colon down.
Never trust a doc who holds and reads the X-ray from the reverse side.
Always seek second opinion.
On hindsight we shld have just waited for one more day.
Anyway just so Glad it's out. :)
And thanks to the family for all the help and love.
God bless.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Fatherhood Reflections XXXVII - A Father's Worst Nightmare II
After the boy swallowed the 50c coin, we decided to bring him to the hospital for a check up when he hadn't pooped it out on day two.
What a roller coaster evening it turned out to be.
We brought him to Parkway East Hospital, which I figured was nearer and less crowded. Indeed it was like an express queue where we had great service upfront and immediately attended to. In fact it took at most ten minutes from reaching A&E to the X-ray room. The nurse taking the X-ray was also very friendly, and with the equipment they had, the picture appeared almost immediately. The nurse also muttered that everything looked as expected, where the coin was on its way out.
Then we had to go to the doctor's room to await the consultation and diagnosis.
This was when things headed downhill extremely fast.
The night doctor has always been rumored to be more junior, and untrained. This middle aged plump unshaven lousy excuse of a junior doctor that night proceeded to give us a very solemn look from the moment we entered the room. He said that as the coin was lodged in the small intestine headed upwards, it meant that the coin had to be surgically removed. He kept emphasizing that the boy needed to fast for the rest of the night after 10pm, and he will write us a referral to Mt Elizabeth to see a pediatrician and would highly likely require surgery. Told us he didn't want to further speculate. And there were no other qualified doctors around to give a second opinion.
We were mortified. Never knew it was gonna be this serious. Suddenly from thinking it was a run of the mill case of child swallowing foreign object, it made us think of the worst possible scenarios. The really unimaginable ones. The life of my child flashed before my eyes and I had gravely solemn thoughts from here on.
Rather than wait in agony for the next day, we made the collective decision to head down to KK Children's Hospital for a second opinion. One reason I never liked KK was the obscenely long waiting times for every stage of the consultation. In total we waited more than two hours in there. Yet, KK does what KK does best, seeing children health issues systematically and accurately.
In spite of the long wait times, we saw a junior doctor who took a quick look at the X-ray and said that everything looked pretty standard and the boy would pass out the coin in a couple of days. We couldn't believe our ears, it was too good to be true! More importantly, she read the X-ray correctly, thereby indicating that the doctor at Parkway East had read the mirror image of the X-ray as he had been holding it on the wrong side! How unprofessional is that, when a trained professional cannot even read a basic X-ray properly?! And whether the coin appeared in the left or right made a whole damn world of difference!
We were still digesting the information from the junior doctor in KK, and were skeptical. So we asked for a second opinion from a senior docter. She came and saw the X-ray and confirmed that everything looked normal other than the fact that there were lots of shit still waiting to be shat out by the boy.
In the end we left KK extremely relieved, hoping that the coin will be pooped out the next day.
This is the picture of the X-ray.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Fatherhood Reflections XXXVI - A Father's Worst Nightmare
If this doesn't rank as one of the worst possible things a parent should face, I don't know what else can be worse.
So I was lying on the couch yesterday afternoon playing with my iPad as usual. The wifey was in the room sleeping. Both kids were trying to sleep.
Then the boy came out and said he had swallowed a new 50c coin!
WTF?!
He said his throat hurt, so I quickly brought him to the bathroom thinking of making him vomit it out. I told him to dig into his throat to induce vomiting while I did the Heimlich maneuver on him. It didn't work after several tries. Then he said his throat wasn't so painful anymore.
I didn't know what else to do so I quickly went to wake the wifey up.
Even the wifey was in shock with what happened. How on earth can a seven year-old boy swallow a new Singapore 50c coin on his own?!
In the end we went to the internet to search for help and answers.
We will have to wait 2-3 days and see if he passes the coin out in his stool. Other than that there seems to be nothing else we can do. He doesn't seem to have any breathing difficulties and he slept sounly through the night and is still breathing and behaving normally when we dropped him off school.
Geez, I was all worried sick.
Something so simple as playing with a coin in his mouth without us knowing, while he was trying to sleep and then he accidentally swallows it. Imagine if he had gagged and choked and was struggling in bed while his sister was soundly sleeping, his mother was sleeping in the other bedroom, while his father was resting on the sofa in teh living room? No one would help him as he tragically struggled in despair.
What a dreadful thought.
It is important to appreciate everything that we have and every moment that we have. For life and all that we hold dear can just be taken away from any one of us so simply and so suddenly. Like the flick of a switch.
Sigh. I'm still traumatized.
Hopefully the boy gets better and learns better from this so that I can tease him about this for the rest of his adult life.
So I was lying on the couch yesterday afternoon playing with my iPad as usual. The wifey was in the room sleeping. Both kids were trying to sleep.
Then the boy came out and said he had swallowed a new 50c coin!
WTF?!
He said his throat hurt, so I quickly brought him to the bathroom thinking of making him vomit it out. I told him to dig into his throat to induce vomiting while I did the Heimlich maneuver on him. It didn't work after several tries. Then he said his throat wasn't so painful anymore.
I didn't know what else to do so I quickly went to wake the wifey up.
Even the wifey was in shock with what happened. How on earth can a seven year-old boy swallow a new Singapore 50c coin on his own?!
In the end we went to the internet to search for help and answers.
We will have to wait 2-3 days and see if he passes the coin out in his stool. Other than that there seems to be nothing else we can do. He doesn't seem to have any breathing difficulties and he slept sounly through the night and is still breathing and behaving normally when we dropped him off school.
Geez, I was all worried sick.
Something so simple as playing with a coin in his mouth without us knowing, while he was trying to sleep and then he accidentally swallows it. Imagine if he had gagged and choked and was struggling in bed while his sister was soundly sleeping, his mother was sleeping in the other bedroom, while his father was resting on the sofa in teh living room? No one would help him as he tragically struggled in despair.
What a dreadful thought.
It is important to appreciate everything that we have and every moment that we have. For life and all that we hold dear can just be taken away from any one of us so simply and so suddenly. Like the flick of a switch.
Sigh. I'm still traumatized.
Hopefully the boy gets better and learns better from this so that I can tease him about this for the rest of his adult life.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
For The Rest Of This Year...
I shall eat grass.
I/We have a plan.
I need to be extremely disciplined in order to achieve my year end target.
That will be the life goal for me in 2017 - on extrasaver mode!
Save, save, save money!
No more silly investments, trading and gambling! At least as little as possible.
I need to at least try to see if it can be done.
Wish me luck!
Hurt ah!
Monday, February 13, 2017
The Ecstasy Of Gold
No, this is not a Metallica related post.
Just before I went out for my weekly jog, I 一霎那间 felt the urge to search an old location for any old headphones I could try to use. Who'd think I'd find a brand new pair from my old iPhone box?!
Ever since the kids came into my life, it has been so difficult to listen to my favourite music in peace (I'm not complaining here) and suddenly I found this lifeline. It's funny but it was there the whole time and I never thought to use them.
Now they're stuck in my ears.
Guns N Roses - Not In This Lifetime Tour Singapore
This was truly a dream come true.
To see the band I have loved since I was an angst-filled teenager.
To make things even better, the original line-up of Izzy Stradlin, Duff Mckaggen, Slash, and of course, Axl Rose were all in attendance for the very first time in Singapore.
Held at the Changi Exhibition Centre at Aviation Park, the total attendance clocked 50,000 people!
And boy did they rock the house down. I sang to almost every song since I knew almost every one of them since young. Slash was still at one of his guitar hero best, while Axl, while obviously showing his age, was still able to rock it superbly?
What a concert.
It had its down point though. The concert organizers, LAMC Productions, did an extremely poor job. You can read it all here.
Thankfully, we didn't get involved with the RFID prepaid food and drinks. Though we did take an hour and a half just to get to the venue. We were actually 30 mins late but thankfully that was right when the band began playing. Leaving the venue took us two damn hours man! In the end we caught a bus to Bugis and reached only around 2.30am.
Nonetheless it still ranks up there as one of the best concerts I've been to. Guns N Fuckin Roses. I'm glad I've managed to catch them finally, once in my lifetime.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Manchester United 2 Watford 0
What a masterclass last night.
We really should have won by 4-5 goals.
Martial was given a chance to start and he played so well he probably was MOTM.
Yet we are still in 6th but we have trimmed the lead at the top two from 10pts to 2pts. Next weekend, we could be 2nd for all you know.
Onwards and upwards!
GGMU!!!
Ride The Lightning
Picked this up for only $25 at a flea market at Katong Square.
One of my favourite albums of all time!
Saturday, February 11, 2017
11 Years @ Saxo
Last night, we had another one of our annual New Year Parties.
It was really good fun.
Luckily nothing really got out of hand.
2017 I will be spending my 11th year with this employer.
11 years is a very long time to be with one single employer.
I've already collected long service awards for my 3rd, 5th and 10th years.
Let's hope for even more good years ahead.
Onwards and upwards!
The Unhealthy Life
This hasn't been a good week for me in my own health department.
I didn't clock any form of exercise at all the whole week.
Been drinking almost every day.
Been eating fatty foods almost every day.
Need to make a bigger effort to make a change to my health.
The only good thing I've done is to change the way I work. I have now raised my desk to my waist level. This means I have to stand in order to work. It actually makes me feel better though in the early stages my knees and heels were sore. I have managed to cut down my sit down rests from about 10-13 times a day to between 5-7, which is quite a feat!
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Fatherhood Reflections XXXVI - The Sickness
The boy fell sick for the first time in a long while. This s the first time he's fallen this sick since attending Primary one. He had cough, flu and a sore throat, which is giving him a high fever all through the last two days. He had been very weak and fatigued all through the two days.
Thankfully, today he is feeling much better. Is able to sit beside me watching me type this, and able to walk around playing his toys and the occasional revision of his own homework. Still has got cough but the fever has subsided. Hopefully he gets stronger and healthier from here.
The problem is that the sickness has now spread to the girl. Today is day one of the sickness for her. She is very weak and fatigued and showing all the signs that the boy had shown two days earlier. She also has the dreaded fever. Right now lying on the sofa trying to sleep.
Hopefully she will get better in a day or two. Tomorrow should be another rough day for her going by how strong this virus strain is.
Hopefully also, the parents will be spared.
Bless us all.
Thankfully, today he is feeling much better. Is able to sit beside me watching me type this, and able to walk around playing his toys and the occasional revision of his own homework. Still has got cough but the fever has subsided. Hopefully he gets stronger and healthier from here.
The problem is that the sickness has now spread to the girl. Today is day one of the sickness for her. She is very weak and fatigued and showing all the signs that the boy had shown two days earlier. She also has the dreaded fever. Right now lying on the sofa trying to sleep.
Hopefully she will get better in a day or two. Tomorrow should be another rough day for her going by how strong this virus strain is.
Hopefully also, the parents will be spared.
Bless us all.
Leicester City 0 Manchester United 3
Fantastic performance!
Mkhitaryan was superb, Mata was great and the whole team in general performed well above expectations for an away match against the reigning league champions (who might suffer the ignominy of getting relegated by the way!).
Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and win our next few matches.
We are still in 4 competitions (the league, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League) and there are a lot chances to win trophies still.
Onwards and upwards!
GGMU!!!
Mkhitaryan was superb, Mata was great and the whole team in general performed well above expectations for an away match against the reigning league champions (who might suffer the ignominy of getting relegated by the way!).
Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and win our next few matches.
We are still in 4 competitions (the league, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League) and there are a lot chances to win trophies still.
Onwards and upwards!
GGMU!!!
