Tomophobia, Darren's Birthday II & Legoland I

I love the brand new layout of my online photo album, Photobucket. Now it's so much faster and easier to upload and load photos. :D
Will urge everyone to upload their photos to some kind of online album in case your hard disk or computer fails.

Simba bought me the Sims 3 and one of its expansion packs (The Supernatural Edition) after his friend mentioned about wanting to play it the other day. Lol.


Tomorrow is the day of one significant stage of my life, the day of THE SURGERY. It's weird how people developed a fear for the surgery a week before the surgery while I am having that kind of fear now, the day before my surgery. I visited my best friend, Google, again to ask him about how I can overcome my fear of surgery. He told me that the term for surgical fear is known as Tomophobia (another new word learnt!) and people suffering from Tomophobia are afraid of the following reasons:

1. Being cut open while still being alive
2. Being unconscious throughout the procedure
3. The pain and complications post-surgery
4. Death after surgery

I was afraid of point no 4 few weeks ago and after I saw the anaesthetist and asked her about it, I think I fear point no 1 the most.

Saw from an online article: You are 40 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to die from anaesthesia related procedures. And you are more likely to recover faster if you remain calm before and after the surgery.

My younger bro went for a minor surgery when he was in Primary School and was awarded the Bravery Award by the hospital as he was composed throughout the whole thing. Wow! But you know women are generally more afraid of surgery than men.

I also went to watch Youtube videos on the whole procedure lol. I am so brave to see such real life videos~ Perhaps cos now opening up the mouse's body have made me alot more courageous than before.

Jun Wen has bought me some magazines and fiction books to read for my stay in the hospital!

The nurse called last Friday to remind me of the time of operation, not to eat or drink anything after 12 midnight today, not to bring more than $20 cash, not to bring my mobile phone (sad), and not to wear jewellery and contact lens.

Have already packed for the hospital stay so yup surgery let's go!



--- Darren's 25th Part II

On our round 2 of Shi Xing's birthday, we went to Kim Gary at Vivo for some nice dinner. The odd thing is our birthday boy was working late and we celebrated his birthday without him. Lol.







Most of my friends ordered a set that comes with a soup.





A special drink ordered by Ying. :D







Joe and I always go for drinks that will keep us wide awake. So coffee or tea only. Lol
Love those HK milk tea.







My spicy chicken wings noodles. Yums!






And time for attendance taking again.






Miao's boyfriend loves to disturb her alot! Their relationship must be a fun one!











Can u guess what's the hidden message in this photo? So are they trying to extort money from someone or just plain confused?





My friends who have recently joined the workforce. They left quite an impression on me when they turned up in formal attire on a weekday. Our boys have grown up to be men! :D
TW looking flirtatious with his gangnam style pose lol. I can't understand why TW likes the dance so much or why the gangnam style is such a laughter remedy for Jun Wen.




Ying and I outside the soup spoon while waiting for Miao and Wan to get a cake from Swensens in the hope to surprise our birthday boy!
All of us noticed Ying's injured arm once we met up with her and she had to repeat the cause of her injury again and again lol.




Afterwards it was time for drinks at The Lobby in St James.
TW found a nice cozy area that belonged to us, that is, if we exclude a couple kissing in one secluded corner. Lol.





TW was still exhibiting his Gangnam style pose! It is already in his genes!









While waiting for our birthday boy. He was outside eating his dinner at the kopitiam, accompanied by his brothers from our clique lol. Poor Shi Xing was starving at work on his birthday.




After satisfying his hunger, he was ready for some birthday cake and wishes.
The 2 fingers covering part of his face was initially thought to be a new-in pose until I discovered that he was covering his pimple. Lol. This is one nice shot that looks like it has been enhanced with some photo effects. And proud to be the one contributing to his Profile Pic on Facebook.





The Swensens birthday cake. :D





Our shared tower of beer.





The bar was totes dark and so were the photos taken by my camera. And you would need a more stable pair of hands to aid in a clear picture. I am so deficient in that hence the blur photo.




Nice shot of Joe with his gunshot pose.
Poster boy isn't he!






Let's toast!
I really love the effect of this photo almost the people in it unintentionally appeared in it. They were actually trying to avoid appearing in my photo so that the focus would be on the beers not them but were too slow. But it almost looked like we were playing some swirl games, games to swirl not the beers but ourselves. Lol.





Blow the candles and make a wish~





My girls of a lifetime!
:D



---- Legoland Part I

The long awaited Legoland day trip is finally here! Everyone is so hyped up that day which made the trip a success. :D
I can't walk really well but everyone accommodated to my walking speed, making me really touched. Thanks dears!





We were all separated in the bus since we were the last to arrive as our breakfast was not a pleasant one at Golden Mile Junction. We went to NaNa, a Thai restaurant, for some breakfast but the waiters don't really understand English and got our orders mixed up and some orders never came. One of these orders was mine and I ate Simba's since my eating speed isn't as fast as his and we were in a rush to head towards the tour bus. But since my order didn't come later on, Simba was so hungry and I got really worried. After another reminder, the food came but again it was the wrong dish, but we were in too much hurry to mind and Simba ate it up in 3 minutes. Lol.

Cute him and I! Someone in my clique mentioned that he looked like a Buddha.






When too many shots frustrate him.




Our cute admission ticks and our passports.
The passport covers were bought by me for them in Kukup and I gave Simba the leftover one which is so girlish!
I wonder how the immigration officer thought of him.




The boys at the entrance of Legoland!
Yea we are so here! After kids from our tour bus got down the bus, they were so ecstatic and chanted "LEGOLAND! LEGOLAND!" And Simba chanted with them omg.






The couple at Legoland




The girls at Legoland~





Arrived earlier than expected so while waiting for Legoland to open its gates we went to stroll along the path outside shops.




One of the first Lego statue we saw. Ying said she looked alot like me. Amazing how this can be pieced together using minute blocks of Lego. Very impressively done.












Was only asking Simba to pose with the Lego Octopus but Joe his best bud wanted to be in the photo.






And Calvin too wanted to join as best buds forever.





Cute robots are so in sync with the elated us!





Our first stop: Kingdoms.






Compelled Mao Mao to step on the grass and be friends with the musically talented owl.





Our first roller coaster ride there was the Dino ride!





Ying didn't go for it so she took a photo of us from outside the ride entrance. I wasn't aware of it aiya!
The ride was not enjoyable for me and I was burying my face into Simba's arms the whole time. I am so cowardly when it comes to thrilling rides!







The daredevils, Mao, Miao, Wan, Jun Wen and Calvin went ahead to take on more challenging rides while the rest of us walked around and took interesting photos!
Like this photo cos I stood less awkwardly than I usually do. Lol.






At the souvenir shop, Joe couldn't help but took a pink sword to show off his wu shu skills. Lol.



 


He pierced the sword into the poor dragon's heart, leaving its owner so despaired and heartbroken.














:D
That's all for now and see ya for Legoland Part II soon!

Kukup III + Darren's Bday I

Just last Wednesday, I was tested for ECG and was diagnosed with an abnormal one. I got pretty emotional about it and wrote an impulsive entry which I deleted soon after. It was only a few days back that I got the ultrasound results back and was so relieved when the heart specialist told me I have a perfectly normal heart!


So here is the then emo post:


"My surgery would most probably be delayed. :(
I went to see the anaesthetist yesterday and she was quite sure that I was ready for the surgery until she saw my ECG (Electrocardiogram) results.

I cleared my doubts on General Anaesthesia with her by pointing out that some of my friends commented about some people not waking up from GA. She assured me that young patients with no medical history usually wake up from anaesthesia and those who did not are generally older patients who have heart problems. She persuaded me to go ahead with GA instead of LA (Local Anaesthesia) as LA doesn't work for some patients and runs the risk (1/200,000) of being injected into one of the nerves at the end of the spinal cord which in turn causes paralysis. (OMG!) And usually young patients like me in their first surgery would be very nervous and being awake the whole time would be firstly uncomfortable since they would have to sit upright, painful if the dose isn't enough, and mostly terrifying since they would watch the surgeon operate on them. And the worst part is that the surgeon's performance might be affected by the patient's anxiety.

In conclusion GA is safe for young patients since the anaesthetist on duty would be monitoring the patient's condition throughout the surgery and half an hour post surgery when the patient is moved to a special care room. 

I told her about the heart murmur I had when I was young, but she told me not to worry about it since she didn't hear these murmurs after examining me.

And after all that was said, I went to have my ECG taken and the bad news came. A normal ECG is composed of a P wave, a QRS complex and a T wave. My recorded trace has all of these except that the T wave is a trough instead of a crest. :( 

The anaesthetist had to send me to the cardiologist in National Heart Centre before my surgery to be 100% sure that my heart is going to accept anaesthesia. She said, "It could be nothing but it is something that we must look out for." I spent the night sleeping well and thinking that it could be really nothing.

It was until my cardiologist told me earlier on that I could be suffering from either a blockage in the artery which is highly impossible or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (a condition in which a part of the heart muscles are thicker than other parts, making it harder for the heart to pump blood or fill with blood.) that I became really paranoid. However, he has seen cases of normal people born with abnormal ECG. I asked him if cases of healthy people with abnormal ECG is common and his reply was, "It's not COMMON common, but it's not uncommon." So what I deduce from how he phrase himself was that there is a high chance of me contracting Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a type of heart failure. I let the tears flow freely while waiting for payment to be done at the cashier's.

It's scary how you can discover one medical condition after another. I have consulted the orthopaedic specialist, the orthopaedic surgeon, the physiotherapist and now the cardiologist. 
Life is kind of hard in 2012.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy can be controlled with regular medication and regular exercises but differ in individuals. It may worsen very quickly or slowly. People with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are at higher risk for sudden death than the normal population. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a well-known cause of sudden death in athletes. Almost half of deaths in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy happen during or just after the patient has done some type of physical activity. 

It is an inherited disease (Dad has a hole in his heart but maybe he didn't know he has this) so if I am really diagnosed with it my brothers have to go for ECG examinations too. There is a 50% chance of offsprings having it if the parent has it."



Was feeling hopeful about my upcoming surgery after this false alarm!



My kitchen looks totally fabulous now after the revamp! It's a total successful face-lift! You are invited to take a good look at it when you drop by my house. (I had the before-and-after photos of it but I left it with CS to take photos of mice for our research as I will be on hospitalization leave next week. Post them up soon!)

Finally down to my last entry on Kukup!

Blogging about short getaways triggered the desire in me to make more similar retreats by travelling to other places. Can't wait for the bad leg to recover! :)


Before bedtime, the guys played a game of Shadow Hunter with our newfound friend, a Thai from another lab. I was sleeping soundly on the sofa while they were engaging themselves with it.




Always thankful that Jun Wen can make friends so quickly and accept everyone for who they are. This is no wonder Tuck Wei and all love him for eternity.












The next morning.
All the local delights including you tiao and my favourite ondeh ondeh were served by hardworking local guides early in the morning.






Nasi Lemak wrapped in Pandan leaves which are in turn wrapped in newspapers.  What lied in the Pandan leaves came as a surprise - it was only some peanuts, ikan bilis with rice.





Hard boiled eggs can never be lacking in a lovely morning hearty breakfast. 




Old school way of putting forks and spoons in a cup. Lol.
I like NESCAFE packeted coffee and love the green one (forgot the flavor) most! :D  






After breakfast, Simba and I scouted the area for our usual photo-taking sessions, which in particular, was his way of saying goodbye to the foreign place. (Yes, we were going to head back to Singapore that day.)








We reached that spot where CS and Jonathan sat on to enjoy the breezy wind and look emo, hence the copycat would try to exaggerate and look emo too.
He kind of lost it though.





He then instruct me to capture a shot which conveys the message that he would jump into the waters after saying the last goodbye. Lol. This "prefect" picture was perfected after a couple of shots, after he felt satisfied with his professional acting skills.





The chalet we had our vacation in.




The chalet can hold a maximum capacity of 24 people since it has 3 rooms with 8 beds in each. Been sometime since I last saw double-decker beds.




An abandoned something.
My colleagues told me what it was but I couldn't really remember what it is for although I knew it was something related to what they did in their childhood.


Then it was almost time to return home and our last tour in Kukup was to visit the kelong farm. 




This boy was a rather rude but adorable tour guide. The way he put on a stern face and spitted out some harsh words as he spoke was really astonishing but cute. 
He swiftly got hold of the crab by casting a small net over it and grab it skilfully, while giving us a brief description of it.






A zoom-in on the food that the fishes in the pond feed on. You just have to put bits of food near the edge of the wooden bar and not worry about those fishes in the pond having no food to eat as they would slam the water around them to propel food on the bar into the pond with much precision.






This cute little girl was posing with the crab and just as we thought she was so bold, the crab moved a little, frightening her! Her immediate reaction was to throw it back into the pond. Lol. Heard some other tourists commenting that the crab is such a poor thing since it would be thrown into the pond plenty of times a day depending on the number of times tourists come by.

--- End of my Kukup experience!




Time to go onto an entry on Shi Xing's birthday!
He suggested going to Magic of Chong Qing Hot Pot at Tanglin Shopping Centre as he went to have buffet there a few times and love the food!
You may just have the urge of going to a nice steamboat buffet after viewing the following photos. I love steamboat buffets but it is such a pity now that I'm trying hard to lose some weight but it's all worth the sacrifice when I can fit in a dream wedding gown few years down the road. Lol.









Magic sauce to eliminate the spiciness of the Ma La food.
 


Ling and Calvin sat opposite me so steam from the steamboat interrupted us, making this photo so misty and dreamy.
The rest thought that this resembles a drama's DVD cover!








The already cooked food were yummy too.. :D




The dessert that was condemned by me lol.



And then.. What's a birthday without friends?
Presenting to you my friends of 10-12 years.. Omg.. Am I old or what? 












And what's a birthday without a sincere gift? We took pains in arriving at a conclusion of which color and design of a cardholder to buy for him.
Thanks Calvin for handing the present to him for us!



And went to buffet dinner at Riverwalk Tandoor on a Friday! :D You must be thinking that I am not honouring my promise to lose weight but I need to clarify that Jun Wen chose this buffet for dinner! He is not in favour of my determination of losing weight and hence the sabotage once a week. His thinking was that we were trying so hard to eat less every other day and so we should feast once a week. (I am never gonna lose more weight this way!)




Him deciding what to scoop for us. The buffet is easy on our wallets as it costs much lesser than our usual buffets but of course it doesn't have as many varieties and you get really full after trying out all the curries. Lol.











The ultimate dish Naan that makes me wanna go back to the restaurant next time!
They left such unforgettable taste in me, so much so that we ordered one more plate of them.











A plate of curry and vegs.




A plate of all kinds of meat with a variety of colors. Sinful sinful.











Not long after, we were so full from the curry. And it's dessert time! 
Look at those people behind me and you would find that they are all Indians! We were one of the few Chinese there.


 

The sweet dessert.



Blog again soon. I will be too bored in the hospital and blogging will surely keep me occupied.