Life to live and explore

Stockings to prevent pulmonary embolism

Few months ago, I was hospitalized for a gynecologic surgery. The gynecologist Dr Eugene removed some cysts on the ovary and had done a biopsy on a hard cell found on the left ovary. The lab investigation on the biopsy cast doubt of malignancy. Dr Eugene followed up by scheduling me for a series of tests. Though the episode turned out to be a cancer scare, it’s good that the doubt is cleared!

The gynecologist Dr Eugene is a very careful and dedicated doctor. He came to checked on me right after the surgery. The next morning, he also came to ensure there is no blood clot, water detention and other complications. The nurses  encouraged me to wear the TED Stockings during recovery to avoid the danger of pulmonary embolism. They said pulmonary embolism can be significantly reduced through the use of this stockings.

Though fully recovered now and don’t wear this specially made stockings anymore,  I still wear the normal stocking  in the house as the floor feel so cold when you don’t after being used to wear stockings. :-)

Exercise routine for backache

My friend PL was here few weeks ago. She has the same backache problems due to spine degeneration. She shared with me some exercise routine that her physio therapist taught her. She has been doing the exercises for the past couple of months. and her backache problem has improved a lot since then.

The exercises look like some of the pilates exercises. They are not too difficult to follow. I have been doing them for the past three weeks, not everyday, but whenever I remembered. My backache problem hasn’t been bothering much lately, may be the exercises are really helpful!!

Acupuncture has helped relieve pain

Mom has gone for five sessions of acupuncture for her leg pain caused by extruded disc that pressed against the nerves, she says it has helped to relieve pains tremendously.

She is doing so much better now. She couldn’t walk without her left leg in pain. Last two days she was able to walk around and even do some housework as she feels better. Though being told by the doctors to rest more, she still gets up at 6.00 a.m and start buzzing around the house. That’s mom.

acupunchure for extruded disc problem

The MRI scan showed that mom has an extruded disc between two bones (L5 and S1) and that’s the culprit for all the leg pains she has been suffering in the last few weeks. Since she didn’t want to go for a surgery, we went to see an acupuncturist last Saturday.

Mom thinks the acupuncture session really helps to relieve the pains, so we  have since gone back there for the third session today. Hopefully this non evasive method works and saves mom from going for a surgery!

Credit cards are useful in emergency situation like this

In the past, we did not like credit cards and would pay cash whenever we could. But the recent incidents had us rethink the usefulness of credit cards during an emergency situation like this. When I was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled surgery, a credit card was handy to pay for the security deposit i.e. didn’t have to carry a bunch of cash around.

Being uninsured and the surgery turned out to be more complicated than expected, the cost actually was twice of what we we were told earlier. Again, credit cards came in handy to settle the unexpected medical bills and we were able to settle the bills a month later.

If we were not able to settle the total sum of the bills, we may be able to find a 0 balance transfer credit card to save on interest. It’s probably not going to be difficult to find one that has good offers among the top ten credit cards!

Mom’s MRI shows disc between L5 and S1 extruded

Mom’s leg pain has not improved over the last week, so she agrees to see the orthopedic today. The orthopedic recommended going for MRI.

The MRI showed the disc between L5 and S1 has extruded and pressed against the nerves. It is quite bad and the only way to repair such condition is going for a surgery according to the orthopedic.

Mom is not keen to go for surgery. So would bring her to try some alternative medicine in the next few weeks i.e. acupuncture, Chinese herbals and Chiropractic .

Aging parents and their ailments

Most of my friends who are in their late 30s to 40s have aging parents dealing with deteriorating health. While it’s fortunate to have healthy parents, mom’s recent ailment with pain of her leg really alarms us, that they are not young anymore.

Dad was recently diagnosed with mild hypertension and gout, he has to take medications to keep them under control. Fortunately the problems have not been too serious, he was able to get off the medication once the blood pressure and uric acid level went normal.

My friend’s mom recently had a bypass and is recovering from the heart surgery. Many of us are quite ignorant about heart attack risk and wouldn’t know what to do during a sudden cardiac arrest. You may want to check out www.insidecardiacarrest.com, where St. Jude Medical has put up information you need to know about the risk factor, warning signs and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest.

Mom’s leg pain still persists

Mom’s leg pain still persists, not better or worse. She is still taking the medication from the orthopedic. Her next appointment is on next Friday, 30th May 2008.

She may have to go for a MRI scan of her spine to help diagnose the root cause of the pain. According to Dr Y, there are several possibilities for this kind of pain.

She is getting impatient, wants to see another alternative medicine practitioner tomorrow. I am wary of all this alternative practitioners that she has been seeing, the ways they explained the problem just do not sound very convincing to me. In fact, all of them have been saying different things !

Visit to the orthopedic’s office

We left the house at 8.30 a.m this morning to visit the orthopedic, wanted to be early so mom can be the first few patients and no need to wait so long. Mom is an impatient person, she might just decide not to wait if the line gets too long. ;-)

Mom was the second patient, so it was pretty fast. The doctor came in around 9.45 a.m, and by 10.30 am, we were out of the doctor’s office.

Dr Y did some tests and he suspected that mom has problem with her spine, either it’s pressing against some nerves or there are growth on the spine. He prescribed a 10-day medication for mom and asked her to go back after 10 days. If the condition hasn’t improved, mom needs to go for a MRI to diagnose the problem.

She agreed to see an orthopedic

After having pain on her left leg for more than 10 days, on Saturday mom finally couldn’t stand the pain and agreed to see an orthopedic. We managed to get an appointment to see Dr Y, our friend who is an orthopedic on Tuesday 2oth May 2008.

She is concerned about the medical cost, so I have to bluff her about the cost of seeing an orthopedic!

Mom’s left leg in pain

Mom has been complaining about pain on her left leg for more than two weeks. She only feels the pain when she moves, and no pain when she is stationary. From the way she describes the pain, it doesn’t sound like it is a simple problem with her leg.

We wanted to bring her to see an orthopedic. But, she refused to, she kept going back to the general practitioner who prescribed her pain killers. (shaking head)

How exciting, the scale moves positively

Today’s a quite day at home. Dad has gone to work early in the morning and mom has gone to visit our aunt. At about 9.00 a.m, after finishing all the leftover assignments from last night and found no more $$$ to grab, I decided to put on the sneakers and took a walk in the neighborhood. Unless you have home gyms, breathing the fume from motor vehicles while you walking down the street can be so unhealthy. However, since the sun has already risen and it was getting quite warm, so I just walked around the wooded area and did some stretching.

There is a need to get into an exercise routine to help to boast the metabolism rate. By reducing the intake of carbohydrate and start a little exercise regime since a week ago, the weighing scale has been reflecting some positive changes! That’s exciting, isn’t it?

Help me to control the PCOS

Really have to learn to not getting stressed up and emotionally flare up by the actions or rather inactions of the big boy. As getting upset is bad for the PCOS.

I prayed and asked for god’s strength, everything seems not going right.

It’s rather stressful right now. I couldn’t go on a diet that helps me to control the symptoms of PCOS because I am stuck here with my parents, with the big boy still “looking’ for an apartment. Mom cooks too much refined and processed food, way too salty to my taste and bad for people with PCOS. I can feel the water retention problem is coming back! When I cook healthy meals, they just refused to eat and complained the food is too plain. The weight problem caused by PCOS is not something that can be solved by taking diet pills, it needs a constant watching what you eat and avoid certain food that can worsen the symptoms.

Hurray, there is no cancer !

Picked up the second pathologist’s report from Dr Nonis’s office. Thank god it’s just a cancer scare that keep me busy for three weeks, nothing suggests there is any malignancy in the second pathologist’s report.

As a person who rode on this roller coaster ride, only the hands of the divine power could have turned the direction to such an outcome. Who will expect the first pathologist’s report to be faulty in a first place?! I am thankful to god for a caring doctor like Dr Eugene who looks into the best interest of his patient. It might not be a common practice, but he was willing to go out of his way to get the slides for me to send to another pathologist at another hospital for second opinion!!

Nervous about what the pathologist says

The nurse from Dr Nonis’s office called and said the pathologist’s report is ready for collection. Dad’s working today, so we would go to collect the report tomorrow morning.

Get a little nervous about the outcome. If the second pathologist comes out with the same suspicion of cancer like the first pathologist, then we have to decide whether to go or not to go for a second surgery to remove the ovary.

Good news, good news

What thought to be a simple laparoscopy surgery to remove cysts on the ovaries has now developed into something else! After seeing the lab report and the biopsy 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 have to take three doses of the blue pills 12 hours before the scan to avoid allergic reaction.

So the CT Scan was done this afternoon. 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!

Bad news, bad news

The wounds were healing well, I was moving around doing some simple house chores during the week when I was staying with my sisters after the surgery. I even cooked dinners for my sisters and helped my brother to clean up his messy room and laundry that piled up everywhere.

So we planned to go home right after after seeing the doctor this morning. 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 vending machine?!

Discharged from the hospital and the recovery

I had to stay at the hospital for two nights instead of one night. 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.

The wounds were painful in the first two days, 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!

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.

What happened in the operating theater

Finally was wheeled out of the freezing operating theater and back to the ward. I was half awake but was feeling so cold, the nurses wrapped me with a few blankets, but I was still shivering. I remembered asking my sisters what was the time and they told me it was about 10.30 p.m.

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, skin problems and weight gain that I have in recent years. The weight gain is due to hay wired hormone that slow down the metabolism rate. Not sure whether diet pill or fat burner like Apidexin would help, but the doctor said there is known medication for it.

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.

The surgery took longer than expected

At about 5.00 p.m on the 3rd of April, after I took a shower, the nurses started to put me on drip (fasted since 10.30 a.m!), they also started prepare me for the surgery. Since my sisters were still at work, the nurse kept my purse and personal belongings. She listed out everything and applied labels with my names and ID numbers on them.

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.

First day at the hospital

Took a cab to the hospital about 8.45 a.m. The gynecologist who is going to operate on me came at about 10 a.m, he drew the blood samples for lab investigation and told the nurse to give me two packets of medicine for clearing the vowel. The nurse asked me to start fasting after taking the solutions meant to facilitate bowel movement.

A woman who had just gone through a mastectomy and chemotherapy came in at about 10.30 a.m. She looked alright, but was vomiting everything that went in. She slept off and on and we got to talk in between her sleeps. We also watched the soaps on the TV to kill time. Of course there is no home theater seating and sound system, we lied on the bed, watching the 14″ TV in the ward.

The anesthetist came in the late afternoon and asked a few questions. The gynecologist came in the same time, he told me that my surgery would be at about 6.00p.m, after another small surgery that he was going to do on the same day. Well, I was under the impression that I was the only patient scheduled on that day and the operation is at 4-5.00 p.m. Anyway, it didn’t bother me much at that time.

At 5.00 p.m, I would have been fasted for closed to 7 hours, the nurse started to put me on drips and my activities of the last one and half hours before I was wheeled into the operating theater were confined to the bathroom and the bed. :-)

Going for a surgery

Will be leaving for PJ today, going to stay at my sister’s place for a night and check in the hospital on the 3rd of April for a laparoscopic surgery to remove the ovarian cysts.

The surgery is scheduled to be in the evening, but I have to be at the hospital at 9.00 a.m, to prepare the bowel and go on a fast after 10.30 a.m. Have to stay at the hospital for one night and then will stay at my sister’s place till the 5th, before coming back here.

Is this happened so often or just coincident?

My friend Jo called, I learned that she is going for a hysterectomy next week. Jo is in her early 50, she has gone through her menopause. Few months ago, she had to rush to the hospital to do a D&C due to some sudden unusual heavy discharge.

Ever since I discovered that the ovarian cyst is coming back, suddenly seems like everyone I talk to has something gone wrong with her reproductive system. Don’t know whether it’s a coincidence or what, suddenly I know at least half a dozen people who had found ovarian cyst and went through laparoscopy surgery!!

Friend’s mother has lung cancer

SL’s mother was diagnosed with fourth stage lung cancer. The fiercely independent woman decided not to go through chemotherapy or radiotherapy, but seeking alternative treatment. She is going through the all organic natural remedy to fight cancer.

She is still doing fine right now despite of the pain she often suffers. SL and her siblings have gotten her a maid, but she still cooks and washes around the house. She is also active in the Church. Outwardly, it’s hard to tell that she is a cancer patient and the doctor has diagnosed that her days are numbered. You really see courage and hope in her.

My friend said her mom was always so thrifty, she didn’t take the opportunity to enjoy her time or go places with her husband since they retired about 5 years ago. Even if her children wanted to pay for a vacation to the Outer Banks for them, she didn’t want to go because she didn’t want her children to spend their hard earned money!

Second blood test

I called the physician’s office yesterday, the second blood test showing the thyroxine is within the accepted level, though it borderlines the lower limit.

The physician says there is no need to go on medication yet, but should monitor the development more closely. In fact, I haven’t felt the same tiredness this week, hopefully it’s gone.

Health Screening

Spent whole day at the hospital today. Have decided to go for a health screening to find out what’s wrong with all the fatigue that I am experiencing this two weeks. The health screening package included physical examination, blood and urine tests, ECG and some cancer markers.

The laboratory assistant had to poke at a few places to draw the blood, it took him a while to find the veins because they weren’t visible. The laboratory results should be out in 2-3 days, but the physician would be away for a conference, so I would only see him again next Wednesday.

Since I am at the hospital, also went to see the gynecologist to do an ultra sound scan of the womb. Unfortunately, the ovarian cyst is getting much bigger than it used to be two years ago. I am in a dilemma now, should I go for a surgery? According to the doctor, the cyst has grown too big to go on a hormone therapy now. But, the doctor I saw last time didn’t even mention about hormone therapy!!

Honestly, I don’t really trust the doctors very much, they are all very money minded and may be hiding the truth from you so that they can make more money. I don’t want to cut myself up unnecessary if I can avoid. So, going to see another doctor for second opinion.

Stress is number one enemy

My friend MK is a 50 years old eye specialist, he was telling me this week alone he heard news about two of his classmates during medical school passed away and one just diagnosed to have cancer. I guess the doctors especially those work in highly stressful and competitive environment are neglecting their health a lot. MK said he is glad that he made the decision to move down to this small town 16 years ago.

Stress is really the number one enemy that cause a lot of health problems. I know that for a fact. Running a business and dealing with all the stress in the past three years are the roots of all the health issues that I am currently facing now. I have no choice but to let go of and learn to take things slower.

If you know that you are stressed and it’s affecting your health, you need to take a break, whether it’s going for Vegas vacations or just a break away from the vicious cycle of stressful routine. There is really nothing to gain when one losses her life/health.

Chronic tiredness

How I wished this extreme tiredness is just a phase and it will go away soon. I have been feeling so tired for the past few days. I thought it was because of sleep deprivation, but I just took three hours of nap yesterday, I am still feeling tired. It’s hard to believe that age is finally catching up with me. I shouldn’t complaint hubby slept too much and how I could function with less sleep than him. LOL

I wonder whether it has to do with lack of physical activities and being a carbohydrate junkie. I have wanted to start some exercise regime, but the will is there, the flesh is weak. Nope, my so called exercise regime is not about lifting weight nor body building with the help of prohormones, but to get out the pairs of tennis shoes and drag my lazy bums to get out of the door for a walk every morning.

Starting Fruit and vegetable juice fasting

Decided to do a fruit and juice fasting starting tomorrow. Bought all this vegetable and fruits just now. I have done this type of fast once last year around this time. The juice is quite tasty, it’s not yucky. I haven’t decided to do how many days. The fruits and vegetables I bought probably can last 3-4 days. So, will take one step at a time!

I shall write down the whole fasting process in this blog.

Disclaimer: I have consulted a nutrisionist before I embark on this fast. But, this is my journal and as I chronicle my fasting journey, it may not be taken as instruction of how to do it. Especially if you have certain medical conditions, you should always consult your physician or a nutritionist before you take on.

Allergies and Dairy Products

I have been sneezing like mad every morning for more than a month. This used to happen all the times few years back. I read somewhere that it could cause by all the antibiotic residue in the dairy products that trigger this allergy reaction. I stopped drinking creamy fresh milk and almost never have any dairy products for a while as an attempt to lose weight. It may not be the right way how to lose weight, but for the last couple of years, the frantic sneezing and sinus problem seem to go away. I wonder all this sneezing have to do with all the cheeses I have been eating lately?

Actually just learned from mum that I was not able to take formula milk when I was a baby. She had to give me rice milk and condensed milk. No wonder I have always have digestion or rather indigestion problem!!