One Moon Hiatus

It has been over a month since my last post.

I felt guilty for not updating, even more so for not blog-surfing to the places I have always been a regular visitor at.

I know I had to at least update something on my blog, just to tell those that do come in that I am alright and that I am just too swamped with so many things that I do not have enough time to do the things that I like and have always been doing... to blog and read blogs.

I am glad that I get some genuinely concerns about my well-being but I do however, apologize for the dead-silence, the non-activity all this while.

Strangely enough, I have been blogging... but offline. I wrote many posts on my iPhone Note application while I travelled to and from work this past month. Only thing is, I did not have time or simply the energy left to switch on my iMac and post them.


Believe me, the name of my blog and the slogan "picture-book" it has, have many pictures that come with the posts that I have written... I just could not find time to merge them together fast enough to post on the same day or two after I wrote my journal; however mundane or insignificant they are.

I dragged the time from one post to another, and before I know it, it has been a month since my last... I lost track of time... between work, family, my Mom and my health, I was left with none for blogging. Sigh.

I have just recovered from a bad case of flu... headache, migraine, stress, lost. Yes, I was lost for some reason. Lost as in "what the hell was I sick from!"

The doctor said I was not having flu, though the whole of my body ached. My head was throbbing and my nape was stiff and painful, but my blood pressure was normal when he checked it!


All the sickness I was feeling was intangible! Nothing to show the doctor that I was indeed in pain... except for the three large ulcers in my mouth that I am still nursing. All three, under and on the left of my tongue. The only thing that was showing for the doctor.

This has been the worst mouth ulcers I have ever experienced. It was so painful that my right ear became tender to the touch. I had lumps formed under the jawline that were tender and the tenderness stretched all the way down to my neck around the throat area.

I could not talk and screamed silently in pain whenever I drank or eat. I was on medical leave for a day and was high on Pacofen painkillers for the next three days. Till today, I am numbing my ulcers with Orased Jel before meal times.

Last weekend was the worst of weekends. I broke the record of not touching my iMac. Instead, I was in a daze for the most part of the day and night after taken my cough medicines and painkillers. It was not a pretty sight.

I braved a grocery shopping with Wifey late Saturday afternoon, I just had to get out of the house to make my weekend worthy for me but spent most of the time seated on the bench waiting for her to come back and forth, like a busy bee to its hive. Poor Wifey! She had to do all that shopping while I gave some burst of manly energy to carry the load up the bus and up to our home, where I laid flat once again and into oblivion.


Now I will have to tweak my posts because I have to backdate them... or do I? We will see.

I have to post them because they are fond memories of the good things that have happened to me and my family through the course of this past month, like our birthdays and the celebrations, our first Jasmine blooms, my first Tommy Hilfiger, our Kranji Nature Walk and many other stuff... for posterity, maybe.

Thank you SisStar Kylita and Rhiannon for coming by and giving me some energy to jolt my blog back into life.

Lunch Time Dash

Fancy that!

Mom & I left Tan Tock Seng Hospital straight after we took our lunch at the smaller cafeteria situated right in front of Clinic B1 at basement 1.


Mom was too hungry that instead of going to collect the medicines Dr Ian prescribed, after his consultation, we headed for lunch and then blissfully strolled, window shopping.

We totally forgot about the medicines, only to realize in the cab upon reaching Mom's place.


So today, I rushed off at lunch time to TTSH to collect Mom's medicines braving the thunderstorm that had started just before going to work this morning.


Good thing is, TTSH is near to where I work. A half hour journey from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 on bus Service 72 to catch a train at Yio Chu Kang to Novena, 5 stations away.


Headed straight to its pharmacy and waited for my queue number after I registered at the auto registration terminal using Mom's Appointment Card.

All that hassle paid off once I sat down for a nice lunch of Fishball Noodles at the same cafeteria in basement 1, after collecting the medicines.


The rain still poured on my way back to work but at least it the whole journey was cooler and a pleasant one. Phew!

What is Geriatric?

Well, I got to know another medical term this week.

Mom's case was transferred from Orthopedic to Geriatric clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

After consulting with Dr. Vincent Yeo, Mom's back pain due to spondylosthesis can only be managed with medication and therapy, instead of an operation to correct her worn-off and narrowing of the spine column that is pinching her nerves.

I had to take another day off work to take Mom to see Dr. Ian Leong for her first time cum follow-up of Mom's condition after 2 weeks of medications from her Orthopedic.

So far, the medications have been quite miraculous to say the least.


Mom has gotten enough sleep she deserves everyday from 11:00 at night all through to 7 and sometimes up to 9:00 in the morning! She wakes up feeling refreshed and cheery most days now.

She does not wake up screaming in pain at night, the time when the acute pain strikes the most due to the pinching nerves when she lay down to sleep. A little twist of the body would trigger the involuntary spasms that wakes her from her sleep... that was very often.

More frequent these past few months but without Dad by her side, helping to ease the pain by massaging her legs. Though the doctor said it was useless to do so, it was enough for Mom to have her life-long companion beside her. Not any more since early January this year, when Dad passed away.

That is why I consider this course of medications not short of a miracle! Only wish we could have gotten it sooner, so at least both Mom and Dad did not have to go through the hard times with her frequent attacks.

Mom mentioned to me one time while we were talking over the phone. Dad uttered his worried mind if he was no longer around to help Mom whenever she had those attacks. I hope Dad is looking down on us now and see that Mom is well now.

She is sleeping well every night nowadays and had not had any acute attack since the course of medications started two weeks ago. I am so relieved for Mom and so happy that Dad's wish for Mom be to be well has come true.

Today, this pleasant and wonderful doctor, Dr. Ian Leong has prescribed a lesser dose for Mom for both night and now day time, to hopefully reduce further any symptoms of attacks.

Mom skipped her breakfast this morning because she overslept and only had time to get dressed for the appointment when I arrived to pick her up at her home.

She was so hungry that her stomach growled so loudly that it paused Dr. Ian from talking further until it stopped. We all had a good laugh in Consultation Room 14.

"Hopefully this dosage will not make you oversleep much... you will be able to wake up at about 7 or 8 in the morning." Dr. Ian said with a big smile.

We were really ecstatic and with Mom growling tummy, we headed to the cafeteria to eat an early lunch. We totally forgot about collecting the medicines from the Pharmacy.

Instead, we did some window shopping at the adjacent Novena Square Mall. Sat at the atrium for a long while after we got tired, chatted for quite sometime but was totally clueless that we had not picked up the medicines until we almost reach Mom's place.

We had another good laugh in the cab when I told Mom about our slip-up. I figured I drop by the hospital the next day during my lunch break to collect them.

It was so funny. It had been a very nice day!

End To Begin

Today is family day out! My kind of fun.

With the month-long June school holiday kicks into gear, we have so many potential places and activities to do together as a family... I get endorphins just by thinking about it!

After an official family discussion last night, all three of us unanimously decided that we watch a movie today. The movie everybody had in mind spontaneously is Shrek, Forever After.


Wasting no time, I quickly booked it online at GV Tampines for the 4:25PM show. We are watching Shrek and his friends for the final time in 3D.

An avid fan of the friendly green ogre, this family has been watching his adventures from the very beginning, all on the big screen. The imprinted scene that everyone particularly love is the journey to the Far Far Away kingdom. Donkey's over-zealousness and "are we there yet" antics gave us the best laughter ever!


Each show has been very funny and entertaining. After watching each movie, we cannot wait to watch the next one. Well, the next one is here but it is "The Final Chapter" unfortunately.

Then again, like true-blue fans, we will have fun watching this last movie of our green ogre. Like Shrek, this family will be together forever after.