Dad's Bypass

Well, it's done. The bypass started at approx 1pm on Monday 19th Nov, and finished 4 hours later at 5pm. He was still knocked out when we went in to see him, but it was a relief to know that everything went reasonably smoothly.

Mum and I have been at the hospital every day since then, during visiting hours - which are very limited for ICU... from 12.30pm to 1.30pm and from 6pm to 8pm, and only two people at a time. Dad has been slowly and steadily improving, but is not an easy patient. He is somewhat doped with all the meds, and he is not used to being, literally, 'confined' for so long. He said today it was a bit like being in a prison. They put the respirator mask on him, and he pulls it off, he tugs off all the monitoring pads, can't keep his right arm (which is full of tubes for the meds) still, keeps fidgeting and moving, and it is very very difficult to get him to eat anything. He is also very itchy, as his body hair, which was shaved before the op, is growing back again! We've been trying to keep him cheerful, with stories of what my sis and her husband and their two boys are going through in India, and sometimes that helps, but because of the meds he finds it hard to concentrate. (Sis and family are in India, attending TJ's nieces wedding. This was planned long before the op, and Dad convinced her to go ahead with the trip, so she went. We've been sms'ing almost constantly, keeping each other updated with what is happening here and there, which is why I am able to keep Dad updated too).

Family and friends have been wonderful - the prayers, I am very sure, have played a large part in the relative smoothness of the overall op and the subsequent recovery. Brother taking time off from his clinic to drive up from Malacca on the day of the op and waiting patiently till it was all over and he could see Dad before he drove back home again. Husband, who was supposed to be in SG, coming back to KL with me on Sunday so that he could be there for the op and just be sure that Dad was OK before he headed back. And Suja was wonderful - being there with us on the first and second days, and taking the time and trouble to send Husband to the LRT on the first day, after the op, so that he could get to the airport in time to catch his flight back to SG. Many other visitors, who have also come and kept my Mum company in between visiting hours at the hospital. And so many who kept sending messages of prayer and good wishes. Thank you to ALL of you!

Tomorrow, if all goes well, Dad will be moved out of ICU to the High Dependency Unit (HDU), where he can, hopefully, start walking around and moving around and (best of all from his perspective) go and have a PRIVATE PEE!!! By next week, he should be in the General Ward. Have told him many many times that he HAS to get well and get into the General Ward, as my sis, and all Dad's 5 grandchildren, are waiting to be able to CALL HIM!

Please keep the prayers going, and thank you for them. They have made a world of difference.

Of holidays, and operations!

Well, this time I have to say that a lot has happened!

J&A arrived on 7th Nov, landing in Changi Airport at 6.30am. Picked them up, headed back to our apartment, then Husband headed off to the office, while J&A freshened themselves up... and then I dragged them out to Orchard Road area and we walked all the way up and down... I mean, you cant leave SG and say that you've never been to Orchard Road, right? Took them back home after that and they slept their way through to the evening, and dinner was a quiet evening at home eating the yummy chilli con carne that Husband had cooked the day before. Thursday was a public holiday (Deepavali), so I took Husband, J & A, for the DUCK TOUR!!! It's something I've been wanting to do for ages and ages, but Husband has always refused... and having J&A with us was the perfect excuse to go on the Duck Tour. It was interesting, sort of, and we did get to see a slightly different perspective of SG from the water! After the tour we went to Raffles Hotel, as J had a specific request from a friend to take a pic of the hotel for him. Then we wandered around for a while, and then went to meet up with some friends for dinner and drinks and Robertson Quay.

Friday Husband had to work in the morning, but was home by 1pm, and we packed up the car and headed to KL. Stopped halfway to have a drink, and introduced them to teh tarik, which J has now acquired a taste for. He is now wondering how to get teh tarik once they are back home in the UK! We also went to our favourite watering hole, Decanter, at D'sara Heights for dinner and drinks that evening. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Saturday was spent going around the KLCC environs, and then to Mont' Kiara to meet up with our contractor for something, and then to Basque Restaurant for dinner. Man, I got to say, the whole holiday ended up as one huge eating session! Sunday was grocery shopping in the morning, to get stuff for our family bbq in the evening, and we took the chance to wander around Bangsar Shopping Centre for a while... the rest of the day was peaceful at home, followed by bbq. Very nice food - nice cake done by another friend (THANKS MIN!!!), delicious salad made by sis, apple pie done by bro and his family, and bbq done by Husband. Wonderful!

From Monday to Thursday we were in Penang. Drove there (first time driving to Penang for us), stayed at the Golden Sands (very nice!), and took the time to do lots of touristy things - lounged by the pool in the morning, went wandering around town from Komtar to E&O Hotel, went to Kek Lok Si, took the Funicular Train up to Penang Hill, wandered down the Batu Ferringhi stretch of street bazaar, and, of course, ATE A LOT! Drove back to KL on Thursday, had a quiet evening, and then drove back to SG on Friday. Got back around 2pm, did the essential stuff, like laundry :-D, and then A and I met up with another friend, to do some shopping, then met up with our various 3 husbands at Boat Quay for a crab dinner. Phew, talk about EATING TOO MUCH! It was a great evening though.. and thanks to B & C for coming up with the dinner plan.

Today is J&A's last day in SG. We will probably go for a final eating session at our favourite hi-tea place (Shangri-La Hotel, Rose Veranda), and then let them get on with their packing. Have to take them to the airport by around 9.30pm. Will be sad to see them go, but they have enjoyed themselves so much they want to come back again, sooner rather than later!

Well, I can just hear you saying "that was the HOLIDAYS part... what about the 'operations'?"

My Dad is confirmed to be going for a bypass operation, at IJN (National Heart Institute) on Monday 19th November. So, fingers crossed, prayers going, that the op goes smoothly and that he recovers fast. I will be in KL at least till my sister comes back from her India trip (gone to attend TJ's nieces wedding, and it was not possible for her to get out of that commitment!). Either one of us needs to be around in case my Dad needs to go anywhere once he is out of the hospital... as he wont be able to drive himself for a while at least. The op is being done by a very good friend of my brother's (it does help to have so many doctors in the family!!), so we know he is in good hands.... but all your prayers, for the op to go smoothly, and for my Dad to recover fast, will be highly appreciated!

Till next time....

It's November already? Where did October go?

I can't believe how fast time goes! October has been a very busy month. Have been back and forth between SG and KL a lot - client meetings in KL call me back regularly, and in between the meetings I am in SG. It does get tiring - but at least going from KL to SG and vice versa is not as bad as travelling to some far-flung country where a flight between the two is your only travel option. Most of the time I take the Aeroline bus, and I must say that I think they ARE a great way to travel.

What has actually been happening? Well, apart from work, not a whole lot. The most critical thing that happened is that my Dad had to go into IJN (National Heart Institute) on Thursday... so I flew back from SG on Wednesday, took him to IJN on Thursday, and was at a client meeting on Friday. My Dad was supposed to have an angiogram on Friday, to check for any blockages in his blood vessels and, if any were found, to clear them and insert a stent. What ended up happening was that the first blockage the doctors found was so (literally) convoluted that there was no way for them to push the catheter through to clear the blockage. The catheter just would not bend enough. They tried with 3 different catheters before they gave up on that blockage. They then found another blockage which they could have cleared if they could have injected more dye into my Dad's blood system to show the blockage clearly. But in the process of trying to get into the first blockage they had already put so much dye in him, that any more dye injected could have affected his kidney functions.... so they had no choice but to pull out and terminate the procedure. The doctor told him after that only 1 in a 1000 patients or more, has such problems.. and those of you who know my Dad will know that he was tickled pink by that knowledge. He's going to have fun repeating that statistic to all his friends over the next few days!

Anyway, he has to go for his next appointment in a couple of weeks time, and they will then decide what to do - including the possibility of surgery to clear the blockage. Let's hope it does not come to that!

Apart from that, the other piece of news is that Husband's sister (A) and her husband (J) will be arriving for a holiday early in the morning on Wed 7th Nov! Their first holiday in Asia.. EVER! They arrive in SG, and we will be taking them around SG on Wed and Thur. Fri afternoon we will drive to KL, spend Sat and Sun in KL... including a family get together bbq on Sunday for them to be overwhelmed by my entire family! Mon 12th Nov we drive to Penang, where we will be till Thursday, which is when we head back to KL. Friday we drive back to SG, and they fly out to Aus on Sat evening... and then on Sunday 18th I have to head back to KL again, as I have meetings scheduled from 19-22 inclusive... Sigh... talk about busy running about. Mind you, I wish A and J could stay longer, as this is their first ever trip to this part of the world and it is just not enough to see everything.

That's it folks... have a good weekend, a good month, and a good life. Till next time....

September is almost over!!

Time is zipping by faster than I want it to!

Husband and I have made a few trips back and forth from KL to SG, bringing a few things back from KL each time - cushions, kitchen stuff, carpet, pillows, towels, clothes hangers (Yes, very important), more clothes for Husband, phone/fax, iron - AND we have hired some furniture from a furniture leasing place here in SG - big solid wood TV cabinet, highy polished nice wooden chest of drawers for bedroom, couple of bedside tables, even a stand fan, and we also bought a nice big standing full length mirror and leather captains chair from them too!! Leasing furniture is quite reasonable here, and there are a lot of places you can choose from. Anyway, the final result is a nice comfortable apartment for us in Singapore. It is bright, breezy, and we like it.

I've been back a few times to KL for meetings, and will be heading back to KL again this coming Saturday, and will be in KL for the whole week. Husband is driving up to KL on 4th Oct, and on 5th/6th Oct we are taking my parents off to Awana Kijal for a night - sort of a birthday present for my Dad whose birthday is on 29th Sept.

Today I get my nice new RED iPod Nano, 3rd Gen, 8GB. The red iPod cannot be bought from Apple shops, you have to order them online.... so I ordered last week, with engraving :-) , and Husband has confirmed that it has been delivered to his office today, and he will "try" and remember to bring it back home with him this evening. I have to sweet talk him into loading up 2000 songs (of my choice) onto the iPod this evening, so I have it with me when I head back to KL this Sat :-D

And, before I forget, this coming Saturday, 29th Sept, is my Dads' 74th birthday!! So, here's to a great father, who never seems to age, and who, despite some health problems, is almost as full of vim, verve and vigour as someone 30 or 40 years younger than him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY APPACHEN!

It's Sept already?

It has been more than a MONTH since my last post! Time is zipping by faster and faster than I can keep up. We've been busy getting things sorted out with Husband working in SG (again!).

I was in SG for work from 6-9 Aug, and from 13-17 Aug. We were staying in the Oriental Hotel which, I must admit, is still my favourite of all the hotels in SG - not because of anything specific about the hotel building itself (I mean, all hotels worth their name, all have great facilities), but because the PEOPLE at the Oriental are really great. They go out of their way to ensure that your stay with them is comfortable - they are friendly, courteous, helpful, and really very nice. Husband commented that after staying at the Riverview regularly for 6 months, they never ever remembered his name and kept asking for the same details every time he checked in... but even just the SECOND time we went to the Oriental they remembered us by name, and had all our details recorded so we didnt have to go through the whole check-in process!

Collected the keys for our condo in SG on Aug 15th - which was the first time Husband actually saw the place for himself! I am not sure what he was expecting but at least he agreed that it is a nice apartment. Our landlady has bought very nice sitting and dining room furniture, nice carpets and very nice beds with good mattresses!

We were on leave the whole week of 20th Aug - took an easy drive to Cherating, where we went to the Holiday Villa Eastern Pavilions. Let's just say that we checked out one day early to go back to KL. As usual, people are lovely and friendly, but the Pavilions themselves, if you are looking at it from the international tourist expectations perspective, left a LOT to be desired. Sent their main office in KL a LONG LONG email giving my feedback and, am sorry to say, have not had a SINGLE email from them in response - no email, no phone call, no nothing, not a single acknowledgement. Very disappointing for a hotel which is trying to present itself as "international standard". Next time, at the recommendation of my boss, we will check out Awana Kijal, but will definitely avoid all Holiday Villa hotels.

We drove back to SG on 24th Aug - as our landlady was having some furniture delivered on 25th, and the StarHub people were coming in on 25th as well, to set up our broadband access. I headed back to KL (Aeroline bus) on Monday 27th, had meetings on Tuesday 28th, and headed back to SG (Aeroline again) on Wednesday 29th, as I had meetings in SG on Thursday 30th. Had a busy Malaysian National Day on Friday 31st August, as I had to go do some shopping to get the nitty-gritty stuff for the apartment - bedsheets, kitchen stuff, etc. Husband also got his Emp Pass in SG during this week, so now he is not allowed to drive our Malaysian car in SG - so I am his chauffeur. We will take a hire car in SG from 17th Sept, otherwise it will be too difficult for Husband to get around for meetings, shipyard visits, etc - I cant drive him all the time as I will be back in KL on regular basis, and he can't rely on taxis for evenings and weekends and when he goes to way out places like the shipyard.

Am heading back to KL again on Sept 4th, as I have meetings in Cyberjaya on 5th and in KLIA on 6th, and then driving back to SG on Sept 6th after the KLIA meeting. On 7th Sept there is a get-together in the evening organised by the company that Husband used to work for in SG - used to be called Nortrans. It is kind of an "alumni" get-together - all the folks who used to work there (most of whom have kept in touch with each other, as they were a GREAT bunch of people) are meeting up to catch up for dinner and drinks. Definitely looking forward to that :-).

So, my friends in the hi-tea gang, let me know when you are ready for a visit to SG and I'll time myself to be here when you are here.

Till the next time, have a great life everyone.