Took a lot of fluids that night, but the fever would not come down. Could not sleep well all night and getting up to go bathroom was a struggle because of the chronic multiple joints pain. It didn’t get better but worse the next morning, the temperature went up to 40 Celsius and the joints were so pain, could hardly move or walk. Was also feeling cold, though with a winter jacket on in this summary weather.

Couldn’t even drive to see a doctor, had to call dad at work, he was busy and could only leave in the afternoon. My mom cooked some porridge for lunch, though didn’t have any appetite, forced half a bowl down the throat. Dad came home for lunch and then we went to see a doctor.

The doctor said I have the symptoms of Chikungunya. Due to my paracetamol allergy, she was cautious when giving out medications. She gave me the Buprol (Ibuprofen) for bring down the temperature and inflammations, Ponstan and another type of pain killer to relieve the joints pain, some antibiotics and oral rehydration salts. She advised me to take a lot of fluids, fruits and drink some 100 plus to prevent dehydration.

An hour after taking the medication, was perspired profusely, the temperature went down, the joints pain disappeared and the appetite returned! In the evening, before I took the next dose of medication, could feel the joints pain coming back.

While the medications are keeping the fever down and the inflammation in control, but the new symptoms – rashes are coming out. The itchiness is bearable. Following the doctor’s advice to take a lot fruits and fluids to prevent dehydration, it will take a few weeks to completely recover from this disease. Currently no medicine is available for treatment of Chikungunya yet. The doctors could only give medications to relieve the symptoms. I have lost three kilograms due to the illness, no need alli anymore. :-)

For the apple enzyme, we have:
-20 green apples
-6 lemons
-500 g organic sugar

The steps:

(1) Wash the fruits and let them air dry.

(2) Wash the jars, knife, peeler, chopping board and air dry them.

**It’s important to have everything dry without water, to prevent contamination, growing mold or bad bacteria.

(3) When everything is dry, you can start peeling the apples and lemons and cut them into slices.

(4) Lay one layer of the apple slices in the jar, one layer of sugar, one layer of lemon slices, one layer of sugar, and continue this process until the jar is full.

(5) Close the jar and put it at a corner without direct sunlight.

(6) You should see bubbles forming on the second days.

(7) On the third day, open the jar to let the bubbles out.

(8) Close back the jar and let the fermentation goes on for another 2-3 weeks.

(9) Sieve the liquid out and you can use the remnants to make jam or drink.

For the dragon fruit enzyme, we have:
-2 dragon fruits
-100 g organic sugar

(1) De-skin the dragon fruits and cut into slices.

(2) Layer the dragon fruits and sugar alternatively until the jar is full.

(3) Follow steps (5)-(9) as in apple enzymes.

Happy making fruit enzymes at home !

Many of us probably have heard and read about this fruit enzyme as a few organic stores have been promoting it quite a bit lately. I remember reading about a Thai alternative medicine practitioner named Dr. Rosukon Poompanwong who teaches people to make enzyme from kitchen waste.

Apparently, they are a few Malaysians who went to visit the health farm runs by Dr. Rosukon in Thailand. They came back promoting the making of fruits enzyme and garbage enzyme widely in Klang Valley. PL went to one of those classes to learn how to make fruit enzymes. Knowing PL is always eager to share what she learns with me. I asked her to do a demo on how to make fruit enzyme at home.

And this is the product we have, two jars of apples enzyme and one jar of dragon fruits enzyme from twenty green apples, two dragon fruits, six lemons and about 500 g of organic sugar.

(It started as a full jar but I forgot to take a picture. This is how it looked like after two days. The osmosis was drawing the juices out and fermentation has begun. Can see bubbles forming and smell like citrus wine.)

The skins and seeds of the fruits do not go to waste, they go in a jar to make garbage enzyme that can be used as fertilizer, disinfectant and many more. (You can also make this from kitchen waste.)

You must be thinking, yuck, the fermentation of this garbage must be really smelly! Believe it or not, this bottle of garbage actually smell pretty good, a bit similar to the citrus based deodorant you have in the car!

This Chinese herbalist doesn’t use the traditional herbs that need to cook for long hours, the doctor actually gave her some herbal medications in pill forms! He recommended her to see the acupuncturist at the same building to expedite the recovery.

Mom thinks the acupuncture helps and she feels less pain after the half an hour session. So, we are going back tomorrow for another session.

The MRI showed the disc between two of the bones on the spine (L5 and S1) has extruded and pressed against the nerves. The nerves happened to be the ones that control the leg movement. That’s why mom has been having leg pain. The extrusion is actually quite bad and the only way to repair such condition is going for a surgery according to the orthopedic.

The orthopedic said there is no medication to cure this kind of problem, he can only give pain killer for pain relief. Since mom is not keen to go for surgery and it may be a while for the pharmaceutical companies to come out with the right drugs for this kind of health problem, we will bring her to try some alternative medicine in the next few weeks i.e. acupuncture, Chinese herbals and chiropractic .

Could even feel it right there, the wounds are hurting. Not to mention the after effect – I have been suffering from pelvic pain and back ache ever since I drove around town to run errands the other day! Well, the wounds outside may seem to be completely healed, but the inside is still healing, any heroic acts can still cause pain that keeps me awake at night. My mother would say: “See, I told you so!”. :-)

The second pathologist’s report came back today, it didn’t mention anything worth further investigation! That means the first pathologist might have read too much and/or over analyzed the elements he saw on the slides!

Thank god it’s just a cancer scare!

It’s unlikely a common practice, but thank god for Dr Eugene who cares about the best interest of his patient, for voluntarily suggested getting me the slides to go get a second opinion. I believe it’s through divine intervention and the power of many prayers that changed and turned the outcome of this, thus keep me from going for another surgery to remove the left ovary as diagnostic and preventive measure, which is unnecessary in due of the second pathologist’s report.

I am very thankful that it’s not the real thing, just a scare that burnt a hole in my pocket and kept me busy running around for three weeks!

I have to start the preparation yesterday. The gastro specialist gave me some phosphate soda, it caused me going toilet 6-7 times after an hour of taking the solutions. I had to take it once last night and another time this morning.

My dad drove me to the doctor’s office since I would be put on sedative and not suitable to drive after the procedure. The colonoscopy and gastroscopy procedures only took about 10-15 minutes, but had to wait for one and half hours for the doctor, even with an appointment!

We can see the inner lining of the digestive tract  on a CCTV when a fiber optic camera passed through it. Nothing unusual was  found, except for a small ulcer in the stomach, this probably in a great extend rule out the possibility of colon cancer!!

Right after the scope, before the doctor typed out a report, I rushed down to the cafe at the hospital, had a bowl of beehoon soup. Really exhausted and hungry after all the purging!!

The second gynecologist and our oncologist friend thinks removing the left ovary (like the first gynecologist Dr Eugene suggested) is a bit too drastic when there is no evidence of malignancy. He thinks further screening to rule out other possibilities and close monitoring of the hard cells on the left ovary plus tumor marker tests every other month would be more appropriate.

This is going like a roller coaster ride, one minute I am convinced that going for another surgery to remove the left ovary is the best thing to do, the next minute, it seems there is really nothing to worry about. Of course, I pray that all these are just false alarms, a cancer scare, instead of the real stuff!!

He asked me to go to see him at his office at 10 a.m Saturday morning, so he can look at the pathological reports, the CT scan and advise me accordingly. I am really grateful for this kind gesture. The other four doctors in the bible study group also prayed for me.  I have informed Jo, the group leader’s wife earlier, so in fact they have been praying for me all along.

Since both the O & Gs advised me to check out the colon (the biopsy expressed CEA, a color cancer tumor marker), so I went to see a gastro specialist and made an appointment for a colonoscopy and possibly gatroscopy on Tuesday.

Both the O & Gs also agreed that the PCOS may be the root of my hormonal and acne problems. No need any acne treatment, just need to keep the PCOS problem under control!

Since both the O & Gs advised me to check out the colon (the biopsy expressed CEA, a color cancer tumor marker), so I went to see a gastro specialist and made an appointment for a colonoscopy and possibly gatroscopy on Tuesday.

Both the O & Gs also agreed that the PCOS may be the root of my hormonal and acne problems. No need any acne treatment, just need to keep the PCOS problem under control!

SL called me on the phone, her mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, so she is quite familiar with various scans available. She mentioned about the PET scan, so I asked Dr Eugene the gynecologist, he thinks it’s not necessary as it probably won’t be able to pick up anything smaller than a ten cents coin too.

After seeing the lab report and the biopsy that expressed the CEA and CK7 tumor tests. The doctor recommended to go for a CT Scan to determine whether any other organs have cancer cells.

Since I am allergic to paracetamol, the doctor gave me a type of steroid. I wonder whether it’s the kind of legal steroids those who are into body building take, but I didn’t ask the doctor. :-) I have to take three doses of the blue pills 12 hours before the scan to avoid allergic reaction.

 So the CT Scan was done on the 16th. The good news is: no other organ has traces of cancer cells. Well, this is only true to a certain extend, because CT scan can only pick up spots that are fairly big. The results of the scans just showed that there are no big spots detectable in other organs, which is good news!

So we planned to go home right after after seeing the doctor on the 12th. We got up really early, hoped to be the first patient when the doctor’s office opened at 8.30 a.m. Sure enough, I was the first patient!

The doctor checked the wound, took out the knot of the stitches and told me that the wound healed really well. Then he asked whether I would like my sisters to come in to listen to what he had to say next. He looked rather serious, so I thought he might have some bad news to disclose. I walked out the room to look my sisters, they have walked away to the other corner, I couldn’t see them. So, I went back in, told the doctor I couldn’t find them and he could talk to me alone.

He showed me the lab report and highlighted the part that mentioned the biopsy expressed to CEA and CK7 – two out of three of the tumor marker tests, so it may be malignant (cancerous tumor)! The doctor went on to say that he didn’t expect this kind of pathological report as the “hard cells” looked benign to the naked eyes. Guess it’s going to be the beginning of our headache, we need two cups of coffee, where is the capresso machine?!

The wounds were painful, but I was able to get down to a walk around the ward the next morning. With the help of painkillers, I was actually sleeping quite well at night. Minus the pains while getting up and lying down, I was having a fun time, chatting with my roommate, a 53 years old woman who had breast cancer, reading the newspaper and the novels that my sisters brought for me.

The doctor visited me twice a day and he was satisfied with my recovery. A few friends came to visit me and they were surprised I looked pretty healthy and could still laugh!

Early morning on the 5th, the doctor told me I could check out after he see me in the afternoon. After settling the bills in the morning, we waited patiently for the doctor to come back. He was a bit late because they were too many patients during his consultation hours. My two sisters got impatient and started joking with my roommate and the doctor came in when we were all laughing about something.

I was told to go back for a check up on the 12th of April and I could call to find out about the lab report starting on the 10th or wait until the 12th to find out the details during the consultation.

During the one week stay in PJ, simple home cook food plus the bad quality of sleep due to pain that kept me await at night, I was able to lose 5 kg without the help of any diet pills. I suspect it’s mainly by getting rid of water retention, still have a long way to go in order to lose all the weight that have piled on in the last five years!

When the doctor came to see me at about 10.45 p.m, even though I was not 100% alert yet, the first question that blurted out from my mouth was “What happened?”, before asking him for painkillers. :-)

What happened? He started with the laparoscopy or keyhole surgery but had to perform an open surgery, cut up a 3″ incision on my tummy to clean up all the mess. The cysts were not the more common “chocolate cysts”, they were teratoma or dermoid cysts and a bunch of small cysts which the doctor believed they are parts of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is the culprit for hay-wired hormone and the skin problems that I have in recent years. Unlike some of my friends who have very bad acnes and tried all sort of natural acne treatments they have accessed to, I didn’t have acne or pimples in my teens or twenties, only at thirties!!

Ok, what it really was: the doctor took out about 10 bottle of “stuffs”!!! He showed my sisters the bottles before I woke up and gave them three bottles of samples. The rest were sent to the lab for further investigations.

At about 6.15 p.m, I was wheeled into the operating theater. The last few things I remembered were: it was damned cold inside there, the nurse asked me whether a man who was wondering around was my husband, and  the anaesthesist gave me some “fresh oxygen”!

I have told my sisters to bring me some porridge at about 9.30-10.30 p.m, thought I would be very hungry when I woke up after the surgery. My sisters rushed to the hospital at around 9.00 p.m, they waited and waited in the ward. At about 10 p.m, a nurse came up to look for my family members and brought them down to the operating theater and told them about what happened and why the surgery took so long.

The surgery was scheduled to be on 3rd April, so I left on the 2nd of April, took a bus to PJ, stayed overnight at my sister’s place. The next day, on the 3rd, I took a cab to the hospital, checked into the hospital at 9.00 a.m. The doctor and nurses were preparing me for the operation, I went on the fast after 10.30 a.m. They also gave me some tablets and solutions to drink to help to clear the bowel.

The surgery was scheduled to be at 6.00 p.m. It was supposed to be a therapeutic laparoscopy or keyhole surgery to remove the ovarian cysts. The doctor did mention occasionally it has to revert to open surgery if complications arise or the cysts ruptured or it gets too messy, but I was assured that that’s rather rare. I was also told the lapascopy procedure would take about half an hour and I just have to stay in the hospital for one night.

We were making arrangement and planning for my sister to drive home on the 5th of April, so that my mom could take care of me during the recuperation process. Little we knew about what happened in the next two weeks!!

Professor Eugene who is going to operate on me is an experienced O & G in UH. He is a very kind doctor, quite humorous too.

When I asked him whether the surgery will leave scars on my tummy, he explained in details about the keyhole surgery he is going to perform and said I can still wear bikini after this.

Yeah, like I own a Apogee Condo South Beach, and my job is sipping lemonade on a beach chair whole day. :-)

Would be going to PJ and staying at my sisters’ house tonight and then going for a laparoscopy surgery to remove a cyst tomorrow. It’s going to be done at UM Specialist Center near my sisters’ house. Will have to stay at the hospital for a night for observation after the surgery.

The UM Specialist Center is the private wing of UH, so no need to be put on a waiting list, can have surgery at a date you request. Of course you cannot compare with staying at the Las Vegas Hotels. But the nurses are more accommodating and the wards are better equipped. That’s health care in a capitalist world, you pay more for faster and better service! Sad.

Have told some of my friends about the surgery and they will probably visit me at while I am at my sister’s place or at the hospital. That will probably the last time to meet up with them before leaving for IL.

One thing we need to look into is how to get me insured. The big boy needs to find out whether his health insurance plan at work would cover me. If not, we would have to pay for a health insurance plan for me.

Are you cover under any health insurance plans? If you are not covered through your work, you might want to look into getting a health insurance plan. If you are retired and not working, you may want to find out more about medicare insurance? It’s really important to do that as health care is very costly in the US, medical bills are the number one reason for many people who filed for bankruptcy!

Having put on at least 20 lbs (10 kg) in the past five years, boy, it’s hard to get rid of the extra baggages as we age. Have been trying to control the diet and exercise, as I am too chicken to try weight loss pills. But, laziness and indiscipline often get the better of me. The weight loss plan hasn’t been working.

As the big boy is so much taller and bigger than me, I still look “petite” beside him, one less incentive for me to lose weight. :-) My only motivations left will be to fit in those trendy and beautiful clothings again, on top of getting healthier.

My friend K said I should learn to relax more, “use the sky as blanket when it falls” like the big boy. Which I replies : That’s my main cause of stress. :-)