13.7.08

Happy Birthday to Ling

Ling pictured here with her miniature birthday cake and her two best friends, Snowy and Dana.

7.7.08

Wii... the Game for Family

Since young, I long to own an electronic game... be it PlayStation, Nintendo or just a simple portable gaming machine. Whenever I see people playing their games, I silently or even verbally (to Ling) vowed that I wanted to buy one.

Just a few months back, when my colleague told me that she got a PSP, I was so tempted to buy one! Reason for holding back was that I knew (ok, someone give me an independent honest and open opinion) I wasn’t going to make use of it often. My many used-for-a-while items served as a reminder of my buy-buy-buy habit…

I got to know about Nintendo Wii from my 2nd Bro’s blog. Hence, I went to do some research of what Wii offers. PS3 and X-Box 360 were the other choices. When I visited the game shop on 4.7.08, I wasn’t too impressed with the Wii games available… too cartoon for a grown up like me. After a while, I decided that perhaps the PS3 would be a better choice. Luckily, the Sales person highlighted the one impt benefit of Wii which is also written on Nintendo’s webpage “Wii is not just a gaming console, it's a reason to get together with your friends and family and play today's hottest games.”

That’s it! I bought the Nintendo Wii without much hestitation. I hope that my family and relatives would enjoy the time spend together playing Wii. I’ll also bring the Wii set (when possible) along for all to enjoy during family gatherings.

Lastly, the cartoony games have far exceeded my expectations and I’ve lost some weight in the process of gaming. I’ll share my experiences of Wii gaming in my next post :)

5.7.08

老李打电话给我-----------(联络篇)


电话铃声一响,Hello, 我是老李。熟悉的声音,甜蜜的呼唤“老廖”您好!

七咀八舌,噼里啪啦,互相报告最新的消息,还有一些花边新闻,最后彼此祝福。

虽然是短短的十分钟交流和对话,却是我们多年友谊的结晶。老李,祝你健康,快乐!

我又上学了---------(学习篇)

今天的心情好兴奋,因为我来到新加坡管理大学,参加第三届终身学习进深课程。

林莲芳是中医应用课程的老师,很年青。环顾班上的同学,多数都可当她的妈妈或婆婆了。

虽然我们年纪大,但是有一股学习的热情,专心听讲,写笔记,提出问题。

亚九和我都乐意为同学服务及协助老师分派讲义,所以我们当上正副班长。

第一节:

中医的基本特点 :中医基础理论

· 阴阳之间的关系及变化规律
· 阴阳学说在中医学上的应用


第二节:

五行学说

· 五行学说的概念及基本内容
· 五行的生克乘侮

这些名词和医学知识,我从来都没接触过,我也许需要花一段时间去消化和学习

(天下无难事,铁棒磨成针。)


心里的话-------(感想篇)


今晚的感触比较多,所以给锦波发了一个电邮,说了一些埋藏在心里的话,希望波儿能领会。

弟弟上报了!


第一次柏强重回课室上课(电脑基础课程)竟然登上报章。这个画面,这个消息,让认识他的人都纷纷打电话去恭喜他,询问他,一个早上他“红”了。

作为姐姐的我也替他高兴,柏强终於踏出第一步,参于各种团体活动,学习新知识,掌握新技术。加油!再接再励!

4.7.08

Updates on Dana

It has been some time since Dana made the headlines in this blog. The last time she was featured was when she returned from her dreaded trip to the vet and got herself shaved (albeit only over a small spot) due to a skin allergy. I am proud to say that the wound has healed nicely. See the photo below where Dana displays her very nice back for all to see. You couldn't really notice the slight depression, could you?
I think I mentioned earlier that she doesn't like the camera and will always attempt to look away from the camera when I try to take a picture. After much coaxing, she proceeded to look at me, then away.
Finally, a look straight into the camera, but she's not happy! She has that bo pian look in her eyes.
I had to play her favourite game with her favourite basketball to get her attention.
I think she has had enough.

1.7.08

Updates on Grandfather's condition

I received a call from the hospital in the morning informing that grandfather can be discharged. We are requested to arrive at 1pm as the doctor would like to see us. In the end, we met the doctor only around 3pm. It was a long and hungry wait. we left the hospital only around 5pm because we had to wait for the pharmacy to deliver a chemotherapy drug which the oncologist has prescribed. More on this later. Oncology is the study of cancerous tumours.

The CT Scan, which was done the night before, showed that grandfather's liver have been affected as well. In medical terms, this is called metastasis or in simpler terms the cancer has spread. So grandfather has metastatic colon on colorectal cancer. From this point on, there is no turning back ie no cure technically and whatever medicine can do is to make his life easier.

Grandfather was insistent on not having surgery. From the doctor's point of view, the immediate risk is that should the tumour in the colon swell, the colon will be completely blocked and could lead to a rupture of the colon. There are two options. First, chemotherapy to try to reduce the swelling of the tumour. Second, inserting a stent at the location of the tumour to allow waste material in the body to continue to discharge to the rectum. However, inserting a stent is not always possible and make not always work well. It is definitely a short term mitigation.

Thankfully, grandfather was receptive to chemotherapy. The good news, as the doctor shared, was that chemo has advanced so much that it is now possible to take the drugs orally compared to intravenously in the past. Xeloda was presecribed. Our concern is whether grandfather will take the drug obediently. We just have to hope that he does.

This round of medication will take 3 weeks. Review is in 3 weeks time and the doctor mentioned that a CT scan will be carried out again to ascertain whether there is shrinkage of the tumour.