Surgery again

First a chronicle of the surgery drama:

Jan 4:  Original date of surgery

Jan 5:  Date doc requested hubby to present himself for appointment.  Turned out he had somehow forgotten that 4 Jan was hubby's surgery date, and wondered why his calendar was free that day!  But he said it was just as well as he wouldn't be available after that anyway.  New date Feb 10, after CNY.

Feb 4: Hospital called, surgery had to be postponed due to a malfunctioning machine.  New date Feb 15 

Feb 9:  Hubby develops a bad cough.  Kept visiting GPs and pharmacies to get meds 

Feb 12:  Cleared to proceed for surgery.  Hubby starts taking the pre-surgery medication 

Feb 13:  Doc called, surgery had to be postponed due to malfunctioning machine (we will never know if it's the same one!)  New date Mar 1.

Pretty fed-up by then heh.  Roller-coaster emotions must have been awful for hubby.  Each time I also had to reset the preparations for the kids to stay to my parents' place.

Feb 28: Finally, went to the hospital as scheduled.  Getting a room took ages.  We were planted in the admissions area from 930am to 6pm  - tests proceeded as usual for hubby.  Someone would come to take him for a test then bring him back to admissions.  Repeat for the rest of the tests. The blood test was at the Patients Lounge on 9/F Menara Timur - which was a blessing as hubby then knew where to find food and snacks!  The chairs were way more comfortable too.  

Wait wait wait

Mar 1: Hubby was taken to the operating theatre in next morning.  At 330pm upon waking up, unlike the previous time, hubby was able to move his right arm (as well as leg).  So relieved!  

Warning that the next picture is not for the faint-hearted... long cut to remove the tumours.  The faint perpendicular (much shorter) scar is from the previous surgery.

Long cut

Story to be continued.

Dark cloud

We ended 2024 on a high note. But there is actually a dark cloud hanging over us.  This concerns hubby's health.  He had an operation for a brain tumour 3 years ago where he walked into the hospital like a normal person and struggled to walk out, with a non-functioning right arm.  Today, he has regained movement although he says it's as though there are weights strapped to that arm.  He walks, although the legs get tired more quickly.  He has various pains and aches which weren't previously there.  Where he was frequently out of the house going to work, to the gym, to drinking sessions with friends... now he is mostly home watching TV.  Still, he has adapted and seems as fine as the situation permits.

The cloud came last October. During a routine MRI brain scan, the doctor found out new tumours had grown.  There were in fact 2 near the site of the old tumour and one starting at the site itself.  We were shocked - assumed/hoped it would be years before we would need to worry again.  And now there were multiple tumours which were already quite large.

The plan is to have surgery again to remove the tumours. Then have frequent MRI scans to check for new tumours. If any are detected, use radiotherapy to shrink them.

Oh the anxiety, the whys and what-ifs.  Still, we must face this.  One step at a time.  

Photobooks

Around every year end, I would get busy on a photobook.  This would contain our photos throughout that year.  I start from pictures which made it into this blog since they would be the ones I liked best.  I arrange them into the book pages in general chronological sequence and add/subtract photos to fit.  The cover must be a photo of ALL of us.  This makes me consciously ensure we take such photos else the bulk of photos would contain 1,2 or 3 of us.  Arranging the book takes me ages.  Definitely a labour of love!

One book a year

I fished out all the photobooks recently.  Timing-wise, I'd started the first book with photos from my time working in the UK (hubby came over twice to visit and travel), our honeymoon East Europe trip and later holiday trips nearer home.  JE appeared towards the end of that book, and SE on the very last page.  

Content with kids start here

The first two books were big and expensive.  Later on I noticed offers given on certain book types - some years the small type was FOC, only had to pay for postage - and took advantage of those.  That's why the books aren't the same size nor shape heh.

Two giant books

My editing skills improved with time.  There were some errors in the initial books.  The first book was missing some 'where' and 'when' of the photos.  I started putting the year on the cover only after the 5th book.

The latest book just arrived.  Photos are much sharper, attesting to technology improvements (we upgraded to iPhone 14/15 recently).  Made use of technology to remove 'extra' people in some photos too.

Latest book

Job done, and done well.   Happy!  :)

Muzium Negara visit

For my recent assignment, the route back from the client office took me past the national museum.  Each time, I'd plan to take the girls there since they had never been and they might learn something.  Finally went there this school holidays.  Entrance was only RM2 for adults (parking however cost us RM11).

 

Told JE to make the visit worth the ticket price heh.  There was a special snake display in conjuction with the snake year which I steered clear of.  There were 4 sections in the museum - early history (of humankind - interesting enough), Malay kingdoms (Parameswara and so on - hope the girls remembered something that would help them for their Sejarah/history lessons), colonial era (occupation by the Portugese, Dutch and so on - ditto for the girls) and Malaysia today (political and least interesting section for me).

I was walking around with SE so got more pictures of her compared to of JE.

Are these real? How did they get here from sunken ships?

Asked her to pose with this historic 'meeting' and got this...

Oi why got Caveman era person here??

I can also proclaim 'Merdeka!'

 

Overall I thought it was average:  Most of the exhibits were clearly replicas.  There was room for more exhibits, more details.  After all, this is our 'national' museum.  Erm it was rather warm as well when we visited.

What I liked it:  Exhibits had both Malay and English write-ups with decent language standards.  At least people can learn language if not history heh.  

For lunch I saw a good selection of dishes for 'nasi campur'/mixed rice.  But the others were more interested in the cafe so we had coffee, pies and cake instead.  Hmmff think the 'nasi campur' would have tasted better.  

Then we messed around with the stilts provided in the open area.

Whoa this is hard

Let me try!

I totally forgot about the impressive murals at the front.  Just took this last picture before leaving.

Yep we were here

Then we drove to the nearby National monument.

And now this, folks, is our Tugu Negara

 Not bad for a 'patriotic' day eh?  

Rest of CNY

What else did we do for CNY... there was a potluck at my parents' place as usual.

Let's eat

Close-up of the food... dishes were all home-cooked (none by me personally heh.  The ones I brought were cooked by my helper)

Finally a lunch at Hee Lai Ton restaurant with hubby's side...

Huat ah!

I count 5 'lou sang' sessions for myself this year, not bad.  :)

Day1 CNY

As usual, we dress up and take pictures.  This year we all somehow had blue outfits.

Happy CNY from us

JE:  Always gets a new CNY outfit as she would have outgrown the one for the previous year.  This year, she selected a red cheongsam.  It arrived and fitted fine.  But there was something about the sleeves and material which she didn't like.  Good thing Shopee allowed returns!  Her second selection was a blue cheongsam.

SE:  Was supposed to wear JE's red CNY outfit from 2 years ago, but she forgot to bring it home.  Luckily JE's blue cheongsam from 1 year ago fit her fine. 

Hubby:  Happened to have a blue shirt bought from China or something.

Me: Decided to wear my blue-green outfit from last year.  After all, what are the odds haha.  CNY outfits would be red, oh, 90% of the time?

Blue for the sky!

And ocean!

Hehe that was fun.  Next year I suppose we revert to red.

CNY eve

This year we made our usual peanut cookies and seaweed crackers.  We had a good stock of bought goodies but I thought that we should make SOMETHING for CNY.

Cookies in the making

For the first time ever, half the cookies got burnt and the rest didn't taste good.  JE said there wasn't enough peanut taste, I tasted too much baking soda.  Oh well at least all the problems were with ONE thing.  The seaweed crackers were perfectly fine.

We had two CNY eve get-togethers, lunch with hubby's side...

Kong hei fatt choy!

And dinner with mine. :)  Unlike last year, we had enough time to prepare.  Steamboat tasted good!  Next year we should reduce the fishballs and add on meat items though.

Kiong hee huat chye!

The kiddos have been using this small table for years.  

Kid's table

After dinner they started the gambling session and didn't want to go back home haha.

Don't call the police ok?

We remembered to take a group photo...

Happy new year!

SE's Graduation from Primary

SE has finished Primary school. :)  As usual, for me that evoked memories of when she was just a tiny baby.  How she has grown, sniff.  The move from a Chinese-medium school to this mostly-English medium private school, was definitely a good one.  She went from not being able to follow lessons to actually acing some of her subjects.

The graduation event was not quite as grand as her graduation from kindy.  Which was fine with us lah. 

With the Papa

With the Mummy

Lining up to get scroll

Getting my scroll and awards

All done!

She received additional awards for being second in class, as well as in Moral and Mandarin.  Well done my little one!

Other doings in 2024

 Last catch-up post for 2024.  Went over to Midvalley for the 'Winter Forest' Xmas deco.

Snow bunny at the back

Owl at the back

I'd expected photo 'booths' at the Gardens section like there were previously.  But deco was rather simple this time.

White trees

My brother turned 50 and decided to have a grand makan for the whole family.  Which is always a nice thing. :)

Happy birthday!

And we come to the final day of the year.  Our helper cooked up 'special food'.  With the grated cabbage I told her SE enjoyed so much in Japan.

Last dinner of 2024

For me, it was a tough year with many worries due to SE's eating disorder.  I am thankful that work-wise it was easy, which allowed me to spend more time with the family.  We managed to have fun - holidays at Sunway, Melaka, Sekinchan, Ipoh and of course culminating in our great Japan trip.  Another blessing this year, both kiddos are doing well at school - advancing to near the top of their respective classes.  

Now to face 2025.

Quick trip to Genting

The day we arrived back home was the day we were supposed to go up to Genting for 4d3n.  :)  Genting was booked way earlier but took a backseat in the planning for Japan. We decided to skip the first day.  We drove up the next day, only to find the good rooms hubby had booked had already been released.  Oh well.  Made do with FWH rooms where you get a pack of bedsheets/pillowcases/duvet cover to  make your own bed.  Haha first time have to do 'work' at a hotel!  At least we still had accommodation, much better than having to travel back home immediately.

Then... there was a water interruption the second night.  Another first at a hotel!  Managed to take a quick shower with the help of water taken from the water dispenser.

At Palsaik Korean BBQ - meats were good

To my surprise the kids did NOT want to go to the arcades. Phew.  I was always tired tagging along supervising them while they tried out various games.  Then the next day, they did NOT get the day pass for rides, only paid for a few selected rides.  Now this kind of Genting holiday is much more palatable for me!

Take this scary ride!

Had a buffet breakfast at the re-opened Coffee Terrace the morning before going back.  Hmm it's not so good already - my favourite yam kuih was no longer there, coffee from the machine was no longer available, a bowl of margarine was provided for toast instead of butter.  Won't bother with this place next time. 

Japan trip epilogue

Whew it's been a month since Japan. What a trip!  I still think back to various parts of it.  Guess it's mostly me as I was the one invested in the planning and execution.  I tried asking the others where they would go if we could return - JE didn't have an answer, SE said hmm the pig cafe.  Hubby started a litany of complaints that we didn't stop to rest enough, we walked too long... whereupon I said oi, think better don't ask you anything haha.  For me, while I would love to BE there, there isn't any place I would want to re-visit either.  Maybe the Kyoto bamboo forest since it looked like there was way more to see, together with the kimono experience we missed.  But to go all the way back for that... nah not for now.

Well I agree we did push ourselves a fair bit. I'd originally planned to make a stop at mid-morning and teatime for hubby to rest, and SE to have a snack.  That generally didn't work out as we started the day pretty late and it being winter, the days were short. There also didn't seem to be many places to have a coffee break. 

Some things learnt from this first overseas trip with both kids:

1. The 20kg checked-in baggage we bought on the outward trip via AirAsia, and 25kg return was good enough.  Of course each person also had the 7kg hand-carry allowance, plus another small bag.  We cannot carry more anyway.   We actually utilised less... might even consider reducing checked baggage in future!   

2. No need to pay for seat selection upfront.  Do web check-in early to get the seat assignments, then change seats if needed.  We managed to get seats together.   

3. Ten days for the trip was a good duration.  Longer would be tiring.

4. Be conscientious about taking vitamin C and definitely bring medicines along.  Falling sick made this trip a bit tough.  

5. Involve the kids more in the planning of the trip. 

We are tired but happy

A final photo.  While we were searching for JE's Smiski figures, saw this shop with a fake burger filling up most of the floor area.  Wonder why, when it wasn't relevant to what the shop was selling! 

Huge burger, I will eat you

All right.  Really sayonara this time.  :)

More on Japan eats

A bit more which couldn't fit into the main posts.  

The only food we bought and couldn't finish was this dango in soy sauce.  The chewy balls were fine but the sauce tasted too strong.  

NO to this dango

Japan people must have a sweet tooth.  There was so much variety of ice-cream, pudding, cream-filled buns, mochi etc available.  

Creme brulee ice-cream

Finally, I was amused by the signs there.  No mistaking the main item sold by these shops.

 

Sushi!

Gyoza!

Crab!

Takoyaki!

Day 10-20/12 Tokyo - Ueno

The last day!  Our flight home was at midnight so we still had a full day to enjoy.  Our apartment was walking distance to Hamamatsucho station which had a direct monorail to the airport.

Leaving our home of 6 days

The plan was to place our luggage in lockers like we did in Kyoto.  We discovered that lockers in Tokyo are more expensive, smaller in size and harder to find heh.  We took ONE locker in Kyoto and FOUR in Tokyo when we only had one extra bag containing shopping.

Taking the top locker, here the bottom one and must find another two

Job done, now to jalan-jalan with just Piglet

Took the train to Ueno.    

No we didn't go to Ueno zoo

Spotted these fruit sandwiches which people on Facebook were hunting for.  Plenty at Ueno station heh.  Tried a strawberry one - nice, strawberries in cream as filling for the soft bread.  Shared one only since it didn't come cheap at 604yen/RM18.  

All kinds of fruit sandwiches

For lunch we walked around and ended up having chicken katsu with rice, takoyaki as a side.  

Lunch first

Then we stepped out into Ueno park.  This place would be glorious come spring.  The crowds would be full force for sakura season though, so visiting in early winter has its advantages.

In Ueno park

Panda creatures

Ameyoko street is supposed to be a good place to buy things at decent prices, but we didn't buy anything.

At Ameyoko street

Had dinner at one of the shops.  Indoors was full so we sat outside.  

Halfway through dinner hubby decided it was too cold and walked off.  Of all of us, he was the worst at withstanding cold while JE was the best.  We had hot beef soup (too salty), assorted meat skewers (too salty), ochazuke (yums) and soba (ok).

With food

With that, it was back to the station to retrieve our luggage and proceed to Haneda airport.  There was a bit of drama when I thought we were on the wrong train and decided to get off.  SE stepped out first... and the doors closed!  There was no emergency stop button.  I motioned her to stay as the train pulled away, and she nodded.  JE checked that it would be 20mins to the terminal.  Oh no... 20mins there and then 20mins back to SE?  Luckily there was a nearer stop.  We got off, managed to cross over to the opposite platform, boarded a train back.  And there was SE calmly standing towards the back, reading her isi karangan book (yep she brought this to Japan. On holiday).  Collected her and resumed our journey home.

Goodbye to Japan!