blast away!

what do cyclops, capt kirk, & ultraman have in common?








yeah, they blasted their enemies with laser. when we were kids, it was a cool to possess such powers & these fictional characters were hero-worshipped week in & week out with our patronage in front of the TV.

well, lasers have come a long way since & their role these days are more beneficial than destructive. remember LASIK? now, it's even used to blast kidney stones & resect prostates. the flavour of the month seems to be green-light laser..

the machine generating the laser is on the left while the patient(all draped up) is on the right...

because of the intense brightness, special protective glasses need to be worn during its use....

...even for the patient.

the claimed advantage for laser in prostate surgery is less incidence of complications, eg.bleeding, urinary retention, impotence, & a shorter hospital stay. the cost, however, is a different matter altogether.

i wonder if kids will rate laser any less, now that it's mostly used to heal rather than destroy.

light at the end of the tunnel

life really boils down to just 2 questions:

1) should i get a dog?


or, 2) should i have children?

no matter how long & treacherous your journey may seem....

no matter what situations life throws at you....

remember, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel!
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adam & eve weren't chinese!

this is an after-thought about the story on face-saving. i can now think of 2 reasons why our 1st parents were not chinese.

1st, when adam & eve realised they were naked, they covered themselves (not the faces) with leaves (gen 3:7);

2nd, & most convincing, if they were chinese, they would have ignored the fruit & eaten the snake instead!

burp!

face saving

"face saving" or not losing one's dignity & honour is important in self-preservation, especially so in chinese culture. this story illustrates the point:

An American, a Japanese & a Chinese went for a hike one day. It was very hot. They were sweating and exhausted.

When they came upon a small lake, they took off all their clothes and jumped into the water, since it was fairly secluded. Feeling refreshed, the trio decided to pick a few berries while enjoying their freedom.

As they were crossing an open area, suddenly a group of ladies from town appeared. Unable to get to their clothes in time, the American and the Japanese quickly used their hands to cover their privates. But the Chinese covered his face while they ran for cover.

After the ladies had left and the men got their clothes back on, the American and the Japanese asked the Chinese why he covered his face rather than his private part.

The Chinese replied, "I don't know about you, but in my country, it's the face that people recognize."

the good, the bad & the ugly

the good.....

(the new wireless modem/router)

the bad....

(the old spoilt one)

& the UGLY...

perkhidmatan? what service when you can't give technical advice over the phone? the 1st time i called when the laptop couldn't log on, the streamyx guy said there was a "port upgrade" in my area but i got a bit suspicious when he couldn't tell me how long it will take before the line could be used.

after 2 days, i called again & this time the lady checked out the connection by asking me to type out a few things on the PC (ping ..something ..something) & telling her the responses on the screen, from which she concluded that the line was intact but she'll get a technician to make a house call anyway. the technician came the same day & promptly diagnosed that my modem was not functioning. if only i had spoken to the lady the 1st time, then i wouldn't have seen the ugly side of streamyx.

husband of the year

5th prize:



4th prize:



3rd prize:



runner-up:



AND, the champion husband of the year:

look, this guy is a true romantic - he's even holding her hand!

Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 peter 3:7

1st impression

Ah Chong grew up in Kota Lama, a town located on the East Coast of Malaysia, and then moved away to Kuala Lumpur to do his law degree. After graduating, he decided to go back to Kota Lama, because he could be a big man there and he really wanted to impress everyone. So he returned and opened his new law office.

The first day, he saw a man coming up the sidewalk. He decided to make a big impression on this new client when he arrived. As the man came to the door Ah Chong picked up the phone. He motioned the man in, all the while talking.

"No. Absolutely no! You tell those clowns in Kuala Lumpur that I won't settle this case for less than one million ringgit. Yes. The Appeals Court has agreed to hear that case next week. I'll be handling the primary argument and the other members of my team will provide support. Okay, tell the State Prosecutor that I'll meet with him next week to discuss the details."

This sort of conversation went on for almost five minutes. All the while the man sat patiently as Ah Chong rattled instructions. Finally, he puts down the phone and turned to the man. "I'm sorry for the delay, but as you can see, I'm very busy. What can I do for you?"
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The man replied, "I'm from Telekom. I've come to connect your line"

do we see ourselves in the story above? the pastor once asked this of us: why do we buy things we don't need with money we don't have, to impress people we don't even like?

**thanks YO for the email**

99 club

once upon a time, there lived a king who, despite his wealth, was neither happy nor contented. one day, he came across a servant who was singing happily as he worked. this fascinated the king - why was he, the supreme ruler of the land, so unhappy & gloomy, while this lowly servant had so much joy in his heart?

so he asked the servant,"why are you so happy?", to which the servant replied,"your majesty,
although i am just a lowly servant, my family don't need too much - just a roof over our heads & food to fill our tummies."

later that day, the king sought the counsel of his most trusted advisor. after hearing the king's woes & the servant's story, he concluded,"your majesty, i believe the servant has not been made part of the 99 club." the king asked,"the 99 club? what exactly is that?" the advisor replied,"your majesty, to truly know what the 99 club is, just put 99 gold coins in a bag & leave it at the servant's doorstep."

when the servant saw the bag, he took it into the house. when he opened it, he shouted for joy - there were so many gold coins & he started to count them. after several counts, he was convinced that there were 99 coins. he wondered what could have happened to the last coin, for no one would have left just 99 coins. he looked everywhere but the last coin remained elusive. finally, exhausted, he decided that would have to work very hard to earn the 100th coin to complete his collection.

from that day on, the servant's life changed. he was overworked & grumpy, & criticised his family for not helping him get the last coin. he also stopped singing while he worked. witnessing this drastic transformation, the king was puzzled. the advisor then told him that the servant has finally joined the 99 club.

we can be happy with little in our lives, but the moment we are given something better or bigger, we want even more! we lose sleep, happiness, & we hurt people close to us. this is the price we pay for our growing greed & desires. that's what joining the 99 club is all about!
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Tim 6:7-9

**thanks, YO, for the email**

queue jumping

it's that time again....the govt has released another 1.6b units of ASM to the public. i still remember the last time the units were sold in april. i walked into the bank at about 10am & had to wait for about an hour before my turn came.

this time, i asked my wife to go around 9am when the bank opened & take a queue number. the crowd this time was bigger & apparently people had already queued up way before it opened. wife's number was #35 & when i went over to the bank at 10.30am, (#22 then attended to) i had to wait another hour before my turn came.

i noted a few things as i waited:
1) people who know people working for the bank get earlier numbers;
2) people will do anything to jump queue, including making friends with others ahead of them with the hope that they may also purchase at the earlier time;
3) as this was a cash transaction, courier bags became the new wallets for keeping wads of currency.

as i told a fellow brother who waited with me, whatever will be, will be, & there're always other opportunities to purchase the units.

2 vs 1

we had dinner at this newly-relocated posh-looking restaurant & when the bill came, i was surprised there was neither govt tax nor service charge imposed. because we really enjoyed the meal & the service was prompt, i casually removed a couple of ringgit notes from the wallet while the waiter was verifying my credit card at the counter.

the conversation that ensued went something like this:

daughter: papa, are you leaving tips?
me: yeah
d: why?
m: because there's no service charge in the bill & i think the waiters deserve something for their hard work
wife: how do you know they will get the money? anyway, the restaurant would have factored their salaries into the price of the meal.
m: it's customary to put all the tips into a common collection & at end of day it's to be divided amongst the workers. it's just a little extra for them, like how people tip hotel workers & taxi drivers for a job well done.
d: these are difficult times, so maybe you should just leave rm1
m: ha ha, ONE RINGGIT! might as well don't tip.
d & w: (almost in unison) that's what we're trying to tell you!

maybe they have a point, so i relented, but they've not met my ex-classmate simon who worked at a pub while waiting for the HSC results many years ago. he used to tell me how hard the work was, running around with the orders & drinks;however, he said something i never forgot,"....but the tips made it worthwhile!" incidentally, i'm happy that he, now a senior manager with a listed developer, doesn't need to depend on loose change.

so, simon, thanks for the tip! (pun definitely intended)

silver, part 2

16 July, 1984

starry-eyed & full of ideals,
looking forward to new life ahead,
i took the 1st steps, full of zeal,
& people say, i've got it made.

after 5 years toil, to some no big deal,
after countless tests, real & mock,
just to gain that licence to heal,
& the right to be addressed as Doc.

the moment of reckoning is here,
the test of the pie is in the eating,
1st posting, dealt with kids without fear,
but it's the mothers that send me reeling!

2nd posting, faced with diabetes & hypertension,
the 3rd with tummy aches & bowel obstruction,
end of housemanship met with trepidation,
still, it's time for that much-needed promotion.

years fly by & i wonder about my skill,,
hippocates meant it to be a calling to heal,
to the young nurses, it's a licence to thrill,
it could well be a ticket to the next meal.

i thank God for the chance to be,
compassionate, patient & a little wary,
though now a tad blurry-eyed, & quite weary,
but i must trudge on to live out my destiny.

So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. eccles 3:22

(ha ha, i chuckled at my own feeble attempt to write sentences that rhyme!)

silver

by current standards, 25 years is a long time to stay married, happily at that, too.

but not when you see (& feel) the love that binds the lives of SY & his wife SY (yes, they have the same initials, & all their 4 children also have been given the same SY initials!). they hosted a dinner to celebrate this occasion, during which they renewed the same marriage vows they recited to each other 25 years ago.

the one part that touched me the most was when the younger daughter stood up to speak of her parents - how much she & her siblings are loved & that when she eventually marries, she hoped she would have as much love as her parents have for each other.

to me, nothing speaks more strongly of a man & his wife's love than a glowing tribute from their own children. no one present last nite doubts that this God-loving couple would stay married till their golden anniversary & beyond. SY sang this song After All These Years in dedication to his wife:


"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." matt 19:5,6

do seat belts really save lives?

we've all been brainwashed into thinking that wearing seat belts when travelling in a motor vehicle saves lives, right? actually, that's only partly true.

remember when wearing crash helmets was made compulsory for motorcyclists? there may be less deaths on the road but some of those that survive end up with serious injuries that leave permanent damage & disability.

so, similarly, we now have an emerging group of patients who suffer seat belt injuries (read here)

mdm T was a front seat passenger in a car that was involved in a non-fatal accident 3 weeks ago. she developed abdominal pain & was admitted to hosptial for suspected intra-abdominal injury. a CT scan revealed a mesenteric tear, ie. damage to blood vessels supplying the bowel, & she underwent surgery to remove part of the small bowel that was injured.

2 weeks after that, she had to undergo another surgery & more damaged bowel was resected. she will not be able to eat normally for several weeks till the remaining bowel recover from the trauma.

i just have one question: since the government made it compulsory to wear seat belts, can we sue the govt if we sustain injuries as a result of compliance to the ruling?

in litigation-conscious USA, they actually have lawyers that deal specifically with seat belt injuries!!(read here & here)

great white shark

i was amused with this letter posted on malaysiatoday where the writer lamented his & his friends' experiences in dealing with lawyers; so distressed was he & his friends that he resorted to equate lawyers' behaviour to that of a marine predator.

he wrote, "I would reckon lawyers are a desperate lot as they want to be seen living in luxurious houses, driving around in expensive cars and dining in expensive hotels. This has been a trend set by the senior lawyers and therefore any junior lawyer develops the same character devoid of any decency or conduct."

actually, you could replace "lawyers" in the above paragraph with doctors/accountants/politicians & that statement would still hold true. for example, it is well-known in local circles that a private hospital in ipoh has been derisively nicknamed Great White Shark.

it is no urban legend that some doctors would do anything, & i mean ANYTHING, to make that fast buck from their distraught patients. in fact, they are also not averse to making a quick buck at the expense of their colleagues, too. (hmm, why do i suddenly feel like the masked man in Breaking the Magicians Code??)

the writer concluded with this impassioned plea, "Please don't live your life by charging excessive and unconscionable fees from the already distressed clients whose only purpose of seeking your services is to secure some justice from courts."

it is a timely reminder for everyone in every profession who sometimes has their clients/customers at their mercy. it is not against the law to want to prosper, accumulate wealth & possess much. perhaps the fault lies with the instruments/ways we use to achieve that objective. perhaps, it's also timely to recall of the words of the prophet, directed appropriately to the Jews still in exile in Babylon:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "
Jer 29:11

favour from the Lord

i'm on-call this weekend, & although i dread weekend calls, it's part of the job. left for the hospital at 9am today & had to skip church service (as well as holy communion).

at 10.30am, the boy phoned to say that he's just outside the OT & he's got a surprise for me...

how nice - lunch!



...& the main (& only course) happens to be freshly-baked shepherd's pie...


which didn't last very long....(burp!)

i don't often blog about my wife but today, she deserves praise...
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from the LORD. prov 18:22

even better is this....

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. prov 31:30

who are the real killers?

DOCTORS:
(1) the number of physicians in the US is 700,000

(2) accidental deaths caused by physicians per year is 120,000

(3) accidental deaths per physician is 0.171

**statistics courtesy of US dept of health & human services**

GUNS-OWNERS:
(1) the number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000
(yes, that's 80 million!!)

(2) the number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500

(3) the number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.000188

**statistics courtesy of FBI**

so, statistically, doctors are about 900 times more dangerous than gun owners!!

so REMEMBER : guns don't kill people, doctors do!

FACT : not everyone has a gun but almost everyone has at least one doctor....

ACTION : we must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!

however, out of concern for the public at large, i withheld statistics on LAWYERS for fear that the shock would cause people to panic & seek medical attention!!


**disclaimer** i received this email from a colleague but can't verify its authenicity**

check out more statistics on gun violence here and medical errors here.

you reap what you sow, except.....

Bernie Madoff has just been sentenced to 150 years in prison for his ponzi fraud.

former south korean president Roh Moo Hyun committed suicide last month on allegations (ie. not proven) of corruption.

japanese prime ministers Shinzo Abe & Yasuo Fukuda resigned in 2007 & 2008 respectively for poor performance.

& yet, we are still waiting for someone to take responsibility for bank negara's RM30b forex losses, & scandals involving Perwaja, MAS, PKFZ,....the list goes on....

it's so cliche...but malaysia boleh la!

kampung folks in the Big City

when we go to the Big City, we try out things that our "village" doesn't offer, like....

(1) teppanyaki...

which we enjoyed very much....


(2) ice-cream from new zealand & watching ice skating...

(3) super-sized bookstores &......


(4) new fast-food restaurants....


yes, we don't have all these back home but at the same time, we also don't miss paying toll, searching for parking, & getting caught in grid-lock traffic.

life goes on...

my father is back at the nursing home. the caring .....


& the clowning continues....

sports injury

my brother recently had surgery on his foot called repair of the archilles tendon, as a result of a badminton-induced injury. he had to put on a foot cast for 6 weeks after that.

my colleague is having severe backache (hopefully not a slipped disc), probably from playing too much badminton (at least 3 time s a week). he hasn't come to work for 3 days. my other colleague, a self-proclaimed worldly-wise sage, attributed these injuries to not warming up enough before competing on the court as well as age catching up. he could be right on both counts.
i myself have stopped playing badminton years ago (for fear of archilles tendon injury) as well as jogging (knee injury). so i just go for brisk walks & the occasional aerobics session at the park. i think there are just a few things in life you can't fight & win - like, income tax, bosses & Father Time. the sooner we realise that, the easier we accept our inadequacies.

speaking of Father Time, it seems my father's time is not up yet - he's just been discharged after 3 weeks in hospital & is now recuperating at the nursing home. thanks again for the prayers & words of encouragement.

farewell lunch

5 nurses recruited from India will be going home next month & it's customary to give them a lunch treat as a gesture of appreciation.

much like foreign maids, they come to fill a huge gap left by our locals who are seeking their fortunes elsewhere. but the similarities with the maids doesn't end there. most that come to malaysia couldn't make the cut in s'pore, hongkong or the middle east, so they generally fall short of the standard that i've come to expect from expatriates.

having worked in a foreign country myself, i can identify with them. they uproot themselves from their loved ones & go through all the hassle/inconveniences of living amidst people of different cultures, ideologies & whims. some adapt so well, they exend their 2-year contracts, while for others, the heat (not the weather) is too unbearable, so they cut short their stay & contract.

anyway, these 5 nurses had stayed on the full 2 years. it seems that having worked in malaysia is somewhat a status symbol in india & that can only enhance their worth to prospective employers & spouses!! to these 5, we hope you had enjoyed your stay here & that, unlike your indonesian sisters, we didn't treat you too badly. i'm sure you savoured our food but i bet you liked the your salaries even more. (heh heh)

bon voyage, ladies!

fatherly advice

my daughter made this card for me. simple as it may be, i appreciate it was created from the heart. in return, for some reason i now thought baffling, i gave her this piece of advice :

"when you grow up, don't marry someone like me, if possible.
instead, marry someone like your brother,
who loves God, loves people, & who will love you endlessly."

she just smiled & gave me a hug.

the decision

after discussing with my family & then with Dr L, we all agree that father will not have a quality of life we would all like him to have - he will be bedridden, unable to care for himself & for most times, not know what's going on around him. just a couple of steps short of being vegetative.

since, being the eldest, i was given charge to make all decisions regarding father, i sought counsel from the prophets & they spoke to me thus :

This is what the LORD Almighty says:
'Administer true justice;
show mercy and compassion to one another.'
zech 7:9

He has showed you, O man, what is good
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. micah 6:8

so i explained to the family that father will continue to have basic nursing care, including cleaning, feeding & his regular parkinson's medication. any other requirement will be assessed on its merits but there certainly will be no more invasive intervention, eg. resuscitation, ventilatory support.

as expected, they all agreed.

so, this is our decision : to act justly & to love mercy.

may God see us through.....

playing God

doctors are often accused of deciding which patients should have proper treatment for their medical problems while others are denied it, because of the lack of staff (usually doctors & nurses), hospital beds or medical equipment, esp if this decision was made without discussing the issues with the patient or the family.

this is often a dilemma in the ICU where adequate staffing is a perennial problem which subsequently affect the number of available beds.

today i played God but not based on the above reasons. my father has been on the ionotrope (heart-pumping medication, remember?) dopamine for 11 days & his blood pressure has been hovering around 110/60, which is lowish for him. after discussing with the attending physician Dr L, he concurred that my father should start having the dopamine gradually reduced & eventually stopped, irrespective of how the BP would react.

that was 5 hours ago & his BP has gone down to about 90/50. my sister arrived from KL this afternoon & my brother will be here tomorrow. maybe he's just waiting for my brother to turn up. after all, the last time we all got together was chinese new year 2008.

nevertheless, we all agreed he has suffered enough - 8 years with delibitating parkinson's disease, a broken hip & a serious chest infection.

yeah, the old man is running the home stretch. may he find Home soon....

education

as the debate on the use/importance of English in schools continues with no end in sight, many parents aren't taking any chances. hundreds thronged the Sunway Convention Centre last saturday waiting to pick up their kids while the latter sat for the Asean Scholarship selection test. it invites students to apply for entry into their Sec 1 & 3, & pre-U programs.

my daughter has an older school friend who applied last year & successfully entered Sec 3 this year. so she took it upon herself to follow the friend's footsteps - she applied online & prepared the required documents. my only role in the whole process was to send her to the post office to post the documents & fetched her back from the test centre. (she got a lift to Sunway from this same friend whose brother is applying for Sec 1). wife & i didn't give her our "overwhelming support", in the sense that, we weren't totally convinced she was ready to live out on her own in a foreign land. well, maybe for the pre-U....

it's obvious this isn't a 2-bit scholarship test that we are all too familiar with. it's a whole day session which tests on English (includes writing an impromptu essay), Maths & General Ability. if the student get past this, then there's still the final interview to contend with.

from the parents' perpective, the final objective is presumably to do pre-U & then at least gain entry into the Univ of Singapore (ranked #30 in the world in 2008, & for comparison, outranked ALL aussie varsities except Australian National Univ at #16, & Univ of Malaya is #230, read here)

the issue of patriotism doesn't arise at all here. this is our kids & the govt has messed about the education system far too often & for too long (& let's not get started on the quota system) NOT to give them an alternative.

seriously, is there a parent who is satisfied with the way public schools are currently managed & who wouldn't provide the kids the opportunity to do better?

not me. (or, is it not I?)


(test over)

thanks.

thanks to all who have sent messages of encouragement & interceded in prayer on behalf of my father. he is still in ICU & recovery has been slow. he does not need any respiratory assistance now but is still dependent on inotropic (literally, heart pumping) support.

every cloud has a silver lining, they say. of the many things i learned from this difficult period, the one that stood out is my son's care & concern for his grandpa. he wants to visit everyday & has lots of questions to ask at the bedside. at the end of each visit, he will offer a prayer for him, & for the other patients, doctors & nurses.

i ask for nothing more.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them. psalm 127:4,5

a setback

just when we thought my father's recovery from hip surgery was going smoothly, within a week our optimism grounded to a screeching halt.

1st, the hip screw which had held the hip fracture in place.....

loosened quite a bit....


he could have tried to stand up & put pressure on the hip before it recovered fully. because of this, it's back to square 1 & another 6 weeks of non-weight bearing, ie. not allowed to stand on the affected leg.

the carers at the nursing home then resorted to feeding him in bed for fear of aggravating the hip. last week, he apparently choked on his food. although he recovered, some food may have lodged in his right lung resulting in an infection....
(Friday)

(Sunday)

so currently he is in ICU on multiple medication & respiratory support. it's a strange feeling. after treating so many patients in ICU, i'm dealing now with someone i've known all my life. will it be easier? will my clinical decisions be biased because of this relationship? & will i make a decision which i wouldn't normally do for someone else?

i may have taken the easy way out. i asked my colleague, whose clinical acumen i have the highest respect for, to manage the treatment & reassured him i will not interfere with his decisions.

my brother in Christ, JL, sent me this verse when he heard the news:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. phil 4:6,7

amen.

spelling bee

just heard from the news that a 13-yr-old indian-american has won this year's US spelling bee competition. (read here)

the winning word? Laodicean.

which according to websters dictionary, refers to one indifferent to religion, caring little or nothing about the matter, like the Christians of that church, mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (rev 3: 14 -16)

which, please reprimand me if i'm wrong, also aptly describes the general state of christian believers these days. myself included.

a spoonful of birthday cake

we celebrated the boy's birthday during our CG recently. amidst playing with his friends...


anticipation of the cake....


a Ben 10 one at that....


& posing with his friends.......


i think this spoonful meant the most.....


happy birthday, boy!

tourism India-style

this promotion says it all.....

Spell It Right

my daughter's school participated at the state-level competition today & i lent support by being there. this was sponsored by RHB bank & New Straits Times as part of their corporate social responsibility. RHB provided the financial backing, to the tune of RM 2m for the whole competition i was told, while NST organised the event & provided personnel & logistic support.

personally, i did not think that the overall standard of english the students exhibited was good - it was mediocre at best. even the quiz master wavered in the pronunciation of certain words!

as each student was given a different word to spell, a fairer assessment of the students' ability would be to give the same word to each group & allow them to write it down instead. after all, i did overhear some mothers mention,"how come my daughter got the difficult words one?"

anyway, all was not in vain as i learned a few words myself, eg. menhir, elegy & gossamer, none of which, by the way, was spelt correctly.

& as a delayed birthday treat, my daughter had an over-rated, over-priced cup of....

why cigarettes are bad.

mr H, a 61-year-old ex-rubber tapper used to work from sunrise till late afternoon tapping, collecting & selling latex in his smallholding business. he looked after his family well, so well that he has 2 - wives & respective families, that is. although no stranger to hard labour, his only vice seemed to be smoking 2 packs a day of them bad boys for the last 40 years. well, this has come back to haunt him. it's called chronic obstructive airway disease, or COAD for short.

13 years ago, he was admitted to hospital for breathing difficulty & the chest xray revealed...

...an infection in the right lung. the infective process compounded by damage due to years of smoking resulted in mr H suffering from recurrent chest ailments. each time he recovered with a course of antibiotics, bronchodilators & steroids but this recent attack 3 weeks back must have been the last straw.

although the chest xray actually looked better than previous ones, he didn't improve with the usual medications, & needed to be put on a ventilator...

- he was persistently out of breath, as if he had just completed long-distance running.

efforts to take him off the ventilator proved futile, so the next step was to create a little hole in his windpipe (tracheostomy)...

which helps him breathe easier & facilitate nursing care as well. with this, he took a whole week to improve & even then, it was with a little help from this BIPAP device...

...a compact piece of equipment that bridges the recovery process between total dependence on a ventilator & being able to breath without aid.

today, he's breathing on his own with the tracheostomy tube still in place. he will be transferred to a hospital-based nursing home where the tube will eventually be removed.

3 weeks in ICU with a barrage of tests, procedures & medication, i hope the bill doesn't trigger another attack....