BP7 - 29 MEI 2009 : JUMAAT DI UMMC

Today was to be spent in E&T, UMMC.
Made arrangement for *Ida to pick me up at UMMC before we would go for lunch-chat at AMCORP (mana lagi?). Till Thursday, she was attending the course in preparation of AD Bil. 10 (which would take place mid June-early July).
(*Ida is part of the me-she-Manis set of friends which went back to my Sri Aman days!)

Suami & I went out slightly late this morning. I insisted on eating nasi lemak I bought at the gerai near Durrah's sekolah ugama to lapik perut before prednisolone. I think deep down I was also tired from the rigorous daily to UMMC routine.

On my appointment card, the name was one rather similar to a lady cabinet member. Surprise... surprise, the doctor was actually a young male (DrTS)!

Now that I already knew the routine... background check first, etc.
In my eagerness to get this part over & done with, I was going off tangent in my story line. DrTS in a pleading-exasperated way had this to tell me, "Can we do this systematically? My way? You are causing me to lose my lines of thoughts..."
Ha.. ha.. ha.. kesian the guy, "Stop patronizing this young doctor. Let him do his work, girl...!"

OK, so I told him about my vertigo bout involving my right ear during my 1st winter in Kent, Ohio, U.S.A.
Remembered, having to be walked up from the basement of Mazhar's house (which me, Bella, Nikki & Netasha had rented) to the car before the seniors brought me to the clinics. Everything was just reeling.
I remembered it was a viral attack & that I couldn't even drive for sometime. Vaguely remembered, Dr. Bill Cruce driving me back from Rootstown & I was trying so hard to control myself from throwing up in his car... & we were just pulling out of the parking lot to go out of NEOUCOM.

Back to the present.
DrTS checked my ears, sent me to Audiology lab & wrote prescriptions:
1) More artificial tears
2) Losec (to help with the nausea due to prednisolone)
3) Methycobal, a good supplement for neural tissue. I told him that I read somewhere vitamins B6, B12 & Zinc could help & that I've bought Centrum (to cover the first 2 vitamins) & Zinc, on itself. Methycobal has all that & more!

At the Audiology Lab, which was not too easy to locate... my hearing was checked through a few tests.
All sorts of sounds with different tones were put into my ears.
The results showed that everything was all within normal range & so, any problems within the ears (especially the right ear) was crossed off & no connection to my Bell's Palsy.
By the time I got back to E&T, DrTS was no longer there & a lady doctor (DrL) was in his place but she was already briefed about my case.

While I had this perception that DrTS was totally against alternative medicine, DrL was OK with it, i.e. making informed decision after scouting for info in the internet!
However, I was lost during her analogy about conductance between Ipoh-KL...
"Huh? Is this how the students felt if I used too weird an analogy to whatever topic at hand that I was covering in class?"
Some examples of mine:
"ubi kayu" & "bunch of grapes" for exocrine gland; "raisins thrown in between bunch of grapes" for Islets of Langerhans in pancreas; "donuts" as ionophores; "rambutan" for neurons... etc.
Eh... Food... Glorious Food ke semuanya? Ha... Ha... Ha...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAjCBZao38I

Or maybe, the sounds put into my ear has created 'dumb bells' in my head that I wasn't getting what she was saying? Wahteverlah, just put on that "OK, OK... TQ for taking the trouble to explain" smile :)

When I was done, it was close to 12 noon & I told Ida that I would just get a taxi & go straight to AMCORP. I wanted to go to the pharmacy to buy those prescribed by DrTS.
Since Ida was coming from home, I would have enough time. I was also worried with the fact that we wouldn't have much time since I was supposed to send Durrah to school. Solat Jumaat for Suami!

We went to the restaurant that I thought would provide a quick service & also a chance for us to chat. She brought along a bottle of Air Zam-Zam. We both took the same noodle dish but Ida wasn't eating much :(
She insisted of driving me home & sending Durrah to school.
I, then, pushed us back to AMCORP!
Since I treated her to the quick lunch, insisted that she treated us for dessert at the newly opened SR.
I wanted to unwind after a long week of daily UMMC activities & I was not feeling guilty of spending time with her because she's in her sabbatical leave.
We also had much to catch up since her 2nd daughter just entered PASUM while my 1st son in Matrikulasi UIA... both these kids have a common friend (ehmm...).

We slowly walked through the shops at the ground floor level under the pretense of me looking for tudungs to wear during my visits to UMMC which must fulfill the followings:
- easily manageable (i.e. without having to wear pins-brooches)
- made up of airy material (a lot of waitings in rather warm locations)
- with patterns (would not get stained easily by food/drinks not handled well by my herot mouth)
- adult-looking (I had been using Durrah's!).

Mission accomplished at Kak Ijah's favourite DT shop & of course, Ida also shopped. We ended up spending $ in a few other shops, too.
Well, as the saying goes... WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH... THE TOUGH GOES SHOPPING !

After dessert of a piece of carrot cake & a piece of strawberry mousse plus talks on *potential menantus, she sent me home.

(*Mimi, a friend of ours from Sri Aman, proposed that a few of us marry off our children to each other. The logic is, we can be quite confident of how each of us has brought up our children. Ni semua respons kepada keadaan di luar yang penuh lakonan... However, none of this kahwin paksa, but parents -- MOTHERS! -- act as facilatators. Adoi... not sure about the idea of berbisan among friends!)

On reaching home, I went straight to the sofa & this bakal mak mertua fell asleep soundly.
The body was certainly not what it used to be :)

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Part of SUNRISE, SUNSET:

Is this the little girl I carried,
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty,
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

Sunrise, sunset (x2),
Swiftly flow the days.
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as we gaze.

Sunrise, sunset (x2),
Swiftly fly the years,
One season following another,
Laiden with happiness and tears.
What words of wisdom can I give them,
How can I help to ease their way?

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BP6 - 28 MEI 2009 : KHAMIS DI UMMC

To be honest, I woke up feeling nervous about my appointment at UMMC today.
In a way, I was waiting for this particular appointment.
I was supposed to go to Neuro Lab at 5th floor to check extent of damage to my 7th (facial) cranial nerve.
In indirect way, it would give me some idea about my recovery.

The appointment was not until 11.30am, but a staff from the lab called to confirm my attendance & I told her that I would come early. After all I was just killing time at home without the focus to do anything much...
I was toying the idea of either calling Pak Mat Des (our honorary family taxi man) to send me or took up the standing offer of Pak Pozi & Kak Ijah, who were in VA.
Probably, to ease the anxiety in me, I chose to be sent by family members.
Tok Pa & Nek Mak actually had to send their Ayrah to the childcare, then settle some $ matter (on behalf of T.Mak) responding to an SOS & then on off to LCCT to pick up Pak Ripin from his Tual trip.

ProfKJG, himself, did the different tests. Half way into the test, he started humming to himself. I thought to myself, "This is not too good, girl...":

1) Blink Reflex - stimulating supraorbital left & right. In both cases my right orbital oculi didn't respond positively to "look at my hand up here... now here... look straight on, look down..."

2) Motor NCS - different branches of the nerve were checked. Needles were poked to different sites on the face. Adoi !

His official comments on my EMG report:
The right R1 & R2 waves were absent on bilateral stimulation. The facial nerve CMAP is smaller on the right. Needle electromyography showed no active axonal denervation but markedly reduced recruitment pattern. The study suggests a right facial nerve palsy. There is evidence of axonal continuity still.

He explained:

1) I have seen worse cases but your case doesn't look too good, either. There is a conduction block.

2) You have to continue with the established prednisolone treatment.

3) Going for acupuncture will not cause any more damage, but whether it would really help... we don't know. If you're going to do it, do it at a real place, e.g. Tung Shin Hospital.

Alhamdulillah, although not too good good, neither was it SO bad. The inflammation had already started when my ear was already sensitive to the handphone on Thursday night... the onset of the Bell's Palsy was on Saturday early morning; i.e. about 24hours + of the inflammation!

Certainly I would not fall under the category of those who would be back to normal about 2 weeks post-onset.

Finished the tests in time to catch a ride from Suami... But, first to UMMC foodcourt to get rojak & yong tou foo :)
Didn't tell Suami much about results of the tests.
Needed to mull over things...

I was about to take my siesta when Pak Ripin & Pak Pozi-Kak Ijah arrived. However, even at the door Pak Ripin was more concerned over my situation rather than being excited about his adventure!

They brought more rojak.
Luckily, we were joined by Rahil (after work at Smart Reader) & Azmi (from a meeting at Amcorp!) with Madu Kaula.
So, we got to hear a bit about the Tual trip & Pak Ripin's experiences with *the relatives over there (interspersed with answering his & Azmi's questions about my situation).
*Of course, mostly about Adli !

Adli (leading the Tual pack) wouldn't allow Pak Ripin to buy us good pearls, to ensure that we (or representative from each family) come to Tual, ourselves. Betul-betul taktik mafia!
However, he gave 1 normal good quality pearl :) Actually, I did not get a chance to do anything to the 5 pearls he sent earlier through Pak Pozi- Kak Ijah!!
There were 2 disks of photos (taken during the trip & another on the wedding of Adli's son).
While Pak Ripin rested a bit, Kak Ijah did the necessities of dividing the ole-ole.

That night, Kak Ha & Abang Zul came.
Of course, she wanted me to rest my mouth :)

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http://www.video4viet.com/watchvideo.html?id=1pjU3PAxTbk&title=Ampar%20Ampar%20Pisang

Ampar ampar pisang
Pisangku balum masak
Masak sabigi dihurung bari-bari
Masak sabigi dihurung bari-bari
Mangga lepak mangga lepok
Patah kayu bengkok
Bengkok dimakan api, apinya canculupan
Patah kayu bengkok
Bengkok dimakan api, apinya canculupan
Jari kaki sintak dahulu akan masak
Ampar ampar pisang
Pisangku balum masak
Masak sabigi dihurung bari-bari
Masak sabigi dihurung bari-bari
Mangga ricak mangga ricak
Patah kayu bengkok
Tanduk sapi tanduk sapi kulibir bawang
Nang mana batis kutung dikitip bidawang

Pencipta / Pengarang Lagu & Lirik : Hamiedan AC

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