After a long day in school, at 5 pm, I could not start the car's engine.Mr Arthur Lim and Mr Ivan Ho confirmed that is is the battery's fault. Of course no decision can be made until LS ( mother was so clever to inform LS who happenened to be on leave-waiting for a contractor) fetched LG over to the school to ascertain that it was a flat battery. Then it is AA to our rescue at the cost of $117 that can be charged to a credit card. The chap is such a friendly and cheerful soul that it makes the experience almost a pleasure except for the inconvenience of waiting for half an hour after making the call.5th Jan 2010 ( Tuesday)
LG went for the TILT test to check on the fainting spell he experienced. Apparently he cannot stand stand for too long which is the trigger point for the vertigo. He came back and had lunch and slept for quite a long while in the afternoon-- which is good as he will be admitted soon to SGH for the 4th cycle on 7th Jan and it is not easy to sleep for long in SGH which all the constant checks and questions asked.4th Jan 2010 ( Monday)
School starts....... my day starts at 5.50 am and I reach home 530 pm. Three very caring lady colleagues ( Chee Kit Wan, Lim Soey Huang and Low Lay Sian)of LG came to visit at about 6 pm and left slightly past 7 pm. Apologies for not getting a snapshot of them.2nd Jan 2010 ( Saturday)
LB bought us a sumptuous dinner at Zhou's kitchen and then we adjourned to house of the most recent arrival in Strathmore Avenue- The fantastic 10 year old sound system, state-of-art deco, erotically-inclined wall furnishing that is good taste and innovative use of space will take your breath away as there was no professional designer involved. There was certainly a lot of brain work and leg work involved---In the picture you can even see our reflection in the gleamingly-polished marble flooring. Free admission and preview only for selected few.
Went for a hike to Bukit Timah again with LB at 10 30 am There seems to be quite a few monitor lizards today and they were definitely less aggressive than monkeys.After lunch I made a cheese cake( Kimberly also helped in the making) to welcome the Goh family into our very friendly and hospitable Queenstown neighbourhood. My mother was ill after eating something bad, so I volunteered to get dinner for all including LS's family. See the long queue at my favourite sliced fish beehoon soup at Mawell hawker centre--- you have "to savour every mouthful of the piping hot soup" which I guarantee is quite out of this world. LG is getting stronger each day and even drove me to get dinner. It's beginning to feel a little like the old days where the father and mother bird go out to gather food for the nestlings! Philip ( Peter's brother ) gave us a fridge and my friend Maggie told me that its the"in thing" to have 2 fridges in the house!
Today is the last day of 2009-----Many friends will send me good wishes for the approaching new year. Somehow I am not able to be enthused by the "Happy New Year feeling"Went to Henderson to buy prawn noodle soup for lunch and manage to get quite a lot of stuff at a shop nearby for the Budget Corner in school- thanks to Peter's recommendation.
Attended the count- down party at Tanglin CC.
30th Dec 2009 ( Wednesday)
I have to be in school the whole day for staff meeting and departmental meeting. This is the only time in 30 years that I experienced a great reluctance to go back to work and I am a workaholic. I dread people asking " How are you feeling, Mrs Lim ?"-- Do they really want to know?......
Maggie and Jeffrey came to visit and it was good as Jeffrey's "market talk" was like a whiff of refreshing air for us.
29th Dec 2009 ( Tuesday )
1130am --TILT test at Heart Centre to check on the fainting was scheduled. The above test was not performed as LG did not fast before since there was no instruction given to us.--This means we had to kill time for 2 hours. Decided to go to Block 4 to visit our friends(they have all been discharged) and amend his leave to the date he wanted as well as to have a lunch break. At 1 30 pm --- Blood transfusion at NCC
28th Dec 2009 ( Monday)
Went to NCC for the blood count test at 830. We also talked to Jing Jing the BMT co-ordinator and made arrangement for the younger siblings to come to SGH on 8th Jan for the genetic blood typing. Dr Tan W M attended to LG at 1030 and asked him many questions so as to ascertain all his organs are functioning properly.As the haemogloblin level is 8.1 , he arranged for a blood transfusion tomorrow. So need to draw blood again for the transfusion. Next we trotted back to Haematolgy Centre in block 7 for another blood test for the genetic blood typing. There is a total of 4 needle pricks ( 3 plus 4 one that is not successful- as many of the veins are "frozen") I guess the best news for today is his weight has gone up to 47 kg ( measured at NCC- Praise God for this)
At night Lim Shong came to fetch me to Pasir Ris to attend Karen's father's wake. ( Karen is Tian Teck's wife). His siblings advised me to be more tolerant and submissive to LG ---- I wonder if they would say the same thing to LG if there had been a reversal of roles???--- Will they be able to walk their talk if they had to experience it for themselves everything both of us have been through besides the physical agony, dreams dashed, hopes unfulfilled, a future that is unknown and unfamiliar...
27th Dec 2009 ( Sunday)
Siang Hwa and AiTin gave us some Xmas cake and it was sumptuous and timely as we were a little hungry after service. Lay Suan's brother-in-law gave us a sofa bed ( my prayer is heard again!-- knowing I cannot go out and select one without LG's nod of approval)I washed the coverlet of the new sofa bed and decided to hang it out to dry ( forgot what I promised in this blog a few days back- thinking I would bring it in before it was noticed). Of course I forgot about it as I wanted to clean the rear windscreen of the car and withdraw some cash for my in-law ( while waiting an eternity for Valerie to get ready- which is a rather stressful task).Consequently when LG pointed out to me on what I should have noticed when driving on the road and reminded me of the forgotten laundry, I was choked with tears. It was really so difficult to be constantly being picked on. I was beginning to feel so weary .......as the school term approaches and the many challenges I have to overcome including the multiple roles to play.
26th Dec 2009 ( Saturday)
Praise God, LG felt so much better today and was able to read the newspapers. It was a busy day for me. Went for a long walk with Lay Bin at Bukit Timah. Managed to pick two plants though I was actually looking for English Ivy ( Hedera Helix) which LG has gleaned from the papers is able to clean the air. Lunch was at Princess Terrace with my sisters and mother.After lunch we went shopping at Tangs and Lay Bin had a fruitful trip as her image consultant Shandy was available. It was quite fun to go shopping with my sisters, it's a pity we did not have more of such opportunities.After collecting LG's dinner, it was time to get ready for the Gatbsy wedding of the year at Shangrila"s Island ballroom.
Do you know I actually dreaded going to church on Xmas Day? A day of great joy and celebration for all christians. Tears will be streaming down my face when people are singing all the happy carols. There is a reason to be happy as they are all saved by the precious blood of Jesus amongst the many blessings they received from God, but I HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO BE GRATEFUL FOR THE TINIEST OF BLESSINGS. It is indeed very humbling. I must have been arrogant in the past….?
Everyone tells me that we are in this together including God but I think the problem is ME--- I just cannot seem to be doing things right in the house, with LG, Wilson and even Valerie.
Despite feeling a little giddy and the stomach being a little cranky, LG also made it to Asia Grand at Odeon Towers for tim sum lunch. It was a good lunch though he ate very very little. It was great to see Desmond, Shandy, Uncle Leong and Aunty Ah Thong - sort of felt a little uplifted after that.
24th Dec 2009( Thurs) Yesterday LG had diarrhoea a few times and was decidedly feeling under the weather.He also alerted me about a small lump in his leg somewhere below the knee. Today the lump seemed to have subsided( perhaps he must have bumped into something).When he left SGH on Monday his weight was 43 kg. I am positive he has lost some more as he is not eating very much simply because he is being overly careful on what he should consume.Though there is no diet restriction by the doctors, we are really not sure about eating out or buying in. Valerie and I had lunch at Swensens at Holland Village and decided to drop by an organic restaurant opposite called Buanalun where we a bought a zuchini carrot tea bread($9.90) for LG. He seemed to be overcome with extreme exhaustion, slept the whole day. He was also concerned about the heart rate but when I offered to go and buy a HRM ( heart rate monitor) he wanted me to do more HW first. We both know that all the chemo drugs that was pumped in had somehow weakened his heart further! We will have to continue to pray for Jesus to watch over him and heal him from all his ailments.
22nd Dec 2009
We both overslept this morning. Partly because the children sms-ed past 1 am about staying over and then changed their mind and came home past 3 am from the birthday party.There is as the usual frenzy of cleaning and washing tasks to be done when LG is home and so I hung out the quilt cover to dry. As the December wind was strong, the quilt cover came into contact with the metal grills on the air con ledge and so Boss LG took it in to wash again. While he was napping, I hung it out to dry at a slightly higher position which was qucikly dislodged by the wind and the whole bamboo pole was hanging precariously on the 22nd floor's air con ledge in a vertical position ( we are on the 23rd floor). The neighbours below were not in and I was of course reluctant to tell anyone. Of course it is impossible to keep it under wrap for long. LG woke up, much to his chargin mainly at my stupidity, he climbed onto the aircon ledge ( at the position in front of the condenser where there are no metal bars!) and tried to pull the bamboo stick up. I was flabbergasted. For someone with fainting spells, it was foolish but I had to remain massively optimistic for nothing I said would change his mind! Needless to say, there was an urgent prayer from my heart! Finally the bamboo stick was retrieved and the quilt cover was dislodged and Wilson and I collected it from the 21st floor. I decided that this will be the last time I hang anything out. The laundry will now remain indoor forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment