Beach Xmas at 1U

Better get on with these posts before December is over!  SE was keen to check out Xmas deco at the malls.  Deco didn't seem to be up very early this year - think there wasn't any yet a month before.  Anyway we checked out 1 Utama first as they are usually creative on the theme.

It was apparently 'A Beach Xmas' this time i.e. an Auttralian one.  We didn't like this that much.

Beach huts

More beach huts

The new wing area was better.  Then again, I always like plants.  There was an area with pampas grass...

Pampas grass behind us

Deco on the Xmas trees was a bit unique - I recognise banksia.  I don't know what the others are but I guess they are other native Australian plants.  

Mummy says this is an Aussie Xmas tree

I guess this theme is lost on many Malaysians.
 

Specialist #1

2 October 2023

After considering various doctors together with their working hours, I selected one at UMSC.  This doctor has Saturday clinic hours which I thought would be good to avoid missing work/school.  UMSC is also the hospital hubby had his surgery back in 2021 and has been returning for check-ups.  Hubby wasn't keen after checking her credentials.  Anyway decided to go for it.

Waiting

When we got in, doc asked what the problem was.  She then asked various questions about our lifestyle.  She requested me to leave the room and asked SE about her school, any problems she was facing.  SE replied that everything was fine.  I went into the room again and doc said for a first session, she wouldn't go further.  We finished in under an hour and doc said to see her again in a month.

Hmmm.  Nothing much achieved.  No urgency either if next visit was only in a month's time. 

I thought SE put it quite well:  This visit is the most useless.

 

Panic

This is a painful topic which I'd been hoping will go away by itself, but it's obvious now that it will not.  I will delay the posts to blunt the sensitivity.

23 September 2023

Back in June 2023, I took SE to a doctor to check why her weight was so low.  She was given an all-clear.  However since then, and despite our efforts to push it up, her weight gradually meandered downwards from 28kg in June to 25kg in September.  In a panic at a sudden half-kg drop one weekend (weighing takes place on weekends as the scales are at home and not our apartment), I took her to our neighbourhood paediatrician.

Blood being taken from a skinny arm

This doctor is a caring one whom we'd taken the girls to as babies and toddlers.  I only didn't go to her this round as hers is a stand-alone clinic and I'd preferred a medical centre with access to more facilities.

Her prognosis:  No good.  Doc took time to check SE and concluded she was suffering from anorexia.  She had the symptoms of malnutrition, was emaciated (this one is obvious to the eye), lacked energy, had 'lanugo hair' on her abdomen which is apparently a sign of an eating disorder.

Doc took the trouble to call me that night when the blood test results were out.  It was past 11pm and I was about to go to sleep with the girls.  We spoke for over 20 minutes.  Doc advised to see a specialist urgently and ended by saying that she will be thinking of us.

My poor, poor girl.  Anorexia is an adult-sized problem and she is just a kid.

In case she reads this:  This journey will be a tough one, you have to walk it yourself, but Mummy will be beside you every step of the way.

Quick one

 Just realised I only had 1 blog post in November.  Quick catch-up:

1. End-September, I was officially out of the project I was in.  Almost everyone in the team was envious of my escape haha.  There were various tasks the bosses insisted I had to finish though.  Oh well, that's over now.

2. I was sad to hear of Nancy's passing.  I traced back and found we had been commenting on each other's blog since 2015.   That's a long 9 years... feeling as though I have lost a friend even though we have never met.  My comment on her last blog post has disappeared but she won't disappear from my memory.

3. I have been going through a very trying period at home.  I didn't blog about it because it was (and is) ongoing and sensitive.  But I shall as I want to record this.  My goal is to be able to look back at it one day and say:

    Oh that was a terrible time.  

    I'm glad we are out of it already.  

    And we never want to go back.