Jo's ramblings: October 2007

An ex-colleague (Michelle Choo) I know from my early days in HLB informed that she ran out of options to care for her mother (Aunty Phang) in KL and had to arrange to place her in nursing home in Singapore. FYI, a few years earlier, Aunty Phang suffered a stroke which slurred her speech and slowed her mobility (e.g. walking around and general strength).

Michelle informed that it was financially draining for her as her brother hardly chipped in for their mother's care when Aunty Phang had bone replacement surgery (left thigh) last year after a fall. Michelle placed her Mom in a Cheras nursing home for 2-3months as she was unable to care for her after surgery.

And somehow due to her immobility, her right foot had sores which were not healing as she also suffers from diabetes. The foot sores gradually worsen and doctors advised Michelle to allow her Mom's foot to be amputated below the knee. However Michelle wanted to try to save it from being amputated by opting for the alternative, expensive hyperbaric chamber treatment. After 10 treatments, her foot still did not start healing. Thus Michelle and her Mom made the difficult decision to have Aunty Phang right leg to be amputated.

Note: Hyperbaric Chamber is a steel vessel in which atmospheric pressure can be raised or lowered by air compressors, used to provide high-oxygen environments for certain medical treatments and operations, etc.

Then in mid-2007 Michelle and her Aunt Anna managed to get her brother (a SG-an) admit AuntyPhang to Econ Medicare (an SG nursing home). Sice then, Michelle had been shuttling back and forth, visiting her Mom on monthly basis and calling up on alternate days to speak to and motivate her Mom. While her Aunt Anna tries to visit on weekly basis.

However for Oct'07-Nov'07 due to work commitments Michelle is unable to make trips down to SG and her Aunt Anna had to attend to her son, who recently had knee surgery (football injury). Michelle asked me to drop in to visit her Mom when possible to keep her spirits up. I managed to visit once on 9Oct after work.

It was my 1st time to a nursing home in SG and the condition was good as compared to MY. I managed to arrive @ Econ (along CCK Rd) about 8pm from Toa Payoh HDB Hub, with Kiwi fruits and 'char siew pau' in my backpack ;) Gosh, it was an hour's bus ride and I changed buses near Raffles Town Club bus stop.

It was a long time (about 3-4 years) since I've met Aunty Phang and I hoped that she could recognise me!

When I approached Aunty Phang's bed, she was resting facing away from my direction but when she felt my presence next to her bed, she turned and her face lit up :)

As her speech was a bit difficult for me to understand, she signalled that she wanted to sit in her wheelchair. It was a new experience for me to fix up the wheelchair and moving/carrying a person from bed to wheelchair. Thank goodness there were other visitors around to help smoothen the process of moving Aunty Phang.

Then I de-skinned and cut the Kiwi and also gave her half a 'char siew pau'-on Michelle's instructions. I stayed for a short chat and made a short call to Michelle. I think Aunty Phang felt my vibes that I wanted to leave (approx. 8:35pm), she graciously said that she wanted to sleep. I asked the night nurse for help to move Aunty Phang back to her bed and left.

Hope that I can visit Aunty Phang sometime soon...

Food on company's tab ;)

After my 1st Sector meeting(i.e. divisional meeting) in Capitol Building near Cityhall MRT, we were all treated to a sumptious buffet spread @ the newly opened One° 15 Marina Club @ Sentosa Island. It's an exclusive place whereby members only admission rule applies. Our Sector Head is a member and that was our ticket (i think there was about 65 of us) into the Latitude restaurant which faced anchored yatchs.

Anyways, back to the food...below are the 2 photos that I managed to take before I was 'lost' in Alaskan crab claws and salmon sashimi (others were not worth mentioning). It's a tad pricey (@S$58++) for the spread and the weather was extremely hot and humid.