10 things

A few months back, my husband and I were facing with the most unpredictable test from Allah the Almighty. My dear husband was hospitalised twice in 3 months due to his poor health condition. Maybe you would think, yeah well, other people got sick too, so what’s the fuss? Well, to us, what had happened to him was the thing that we never thought would occur to him, ever, especially at his age. We never thought that he would be hospitalised and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit – ICU.

It never occurred in our minds that he would be diagnosed with coronary heart disease.

Anyway, fast forward a few months he is now healthier than before, Alhamdulillah. The incident that happened to him would definitely need a major lifestyle and diet revamp. Though the progress in him I am seeing now is far than favourable (you know what I mean, honey), but I do hope and pray that on one fine day, he will be healthier-than-ever-disease-free-man. 

I learnt quite a few things from this episode of our lives.
 
1. That coronary heart disease is not sakit jantung. Well, yes the heart is actually in pain but bear in mind the root cause of the pain is not the heart. My husband’s heart was actually in good condition. When people heard how other people died because of heart attack, they would instantly said orang tu meninggal sebab sakit jantung. Well, to be clear, coronary heart disease refers to the failure of coronary circulation to supply adequate circulation to cardiac muscle and surrounding tissue. In simple words, the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart are blocked. When the blocked blood vessels are unable to supply the much needed blood and oxygen to the heart, this is where heart attack would happen. And what are blocked blood vessels? In short, it is a build up of cholesterol and other fat substances within the walls of the arteries, hence the blood and oxygen can’t make its way to the heart. It’s like where stream of water keep flowing through a blocked pipe and in the end the pipe burst. Faham murid-murid?

2. That hospital bills can get me a brand new car. Not that I need another one but what I am saying here is that private hospital bills are effin expensive! Luckily the bills were covered by my husband’s employer. Thank you ehem ehem. You know who you are.

3. That I am married to a famous guy that I myself didn’t even know he is famous. Yes, my husband was famous when he was at the hospital *rolling eyes*. There were visitors every single day. One of his colleagues asked for him at the reception counter, the receptionist said, ‘Oh, Cairil yang dari C*MB tu ye?’ I mean, you wouldn’t expect the receptionist to know/remember where do all the patients work, would you? 

4. That nurses make good money. My husband and I had a chat with this really nice nurse. We didn’t actually ask how much she makes but somehow the conversation turned from OT hours to boyfriend to car loan. Topic boyfriend tu suami punya kerja. Hihi. And this nurse whom has only worked for 2 years actually drove a Vios.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that out of disrespect to all the nurses. I mean, with their kind of jobscope, no wonder they can earn a lot. Can you clean up your patients, throw their stools, shave their pubic hair (for surgical reasons), attend to their needs every time they ring the bell even if it’s just getting the TV remote for them? CAN YOU? So nice nurses out there, I respect YOU.

5. That staying in a hospital even though you are not a patient can cost you bombs. Meals at their cafe are damn expensive I tell you. Normal lunch would cost me RM10, the cheapest. Normal lunch only consist of plain white rice with chicken and some veggies. In retrospect, I should have bought my lunch at Tee Em. :D

6. That I could be a fierce nurse. Suami saya cakap saya nurse yang garang. T.__T. Well, garang sebab sayang, paham? Dan isteri cum nurse akan jadi garang bilamana pesakit tu LUPA ATAU BUAT-BUAT LUPA MAKAN UBAT. Sila baca ayat tadi dalam nada keras dan tegas. Paham? But whatever, I take it as a compliment. I am a fierce nurse – fierce as in Tyra Banks “fierce”. Heee.

7. That seeing my husband in pain felt like..sigh.I can’t even describe it. I was calmed and composed whenever I accompanied my husband at the hospital. I had to be strong as I knew the last thing he needed was a non-stop weeping and sobbing wife. But seeing him being wheeled into the ICU after the surgery, I could not stop the tears running down my cheek. Cewah macam lirik lagu cinta balada. He was in absolute pain and there was nothing I could do but cried. Heh. Pretend gagah lalu kemudian cair.

8. That you are what you eat. A valuable lesson learnt was that you can eat anything BUT moderation is key. My husband and I love to eat. But we learnt it the hard way of not consuming too much of everything. You love nasi lemak, yes? Try to have it once a month. Roti canai? Try to swap it with capati. Yes capati is way much healthier than roti canai. I even want to try making capati on my own. I even want to be able to cook like Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Ray, the chef in Chef at Home, Anna Olson, Licence To Grill chef, the sultry lady chef in French Food at Home and Chef Wan. Phew. Berangan tak ingat. Anyway my point here is, I should eat more home cooked meals where I can decide how many salt/sugar should I put. You know what I mean? 

9. That working out should become a habit. I used to be so active in sports back then. I played netball, badminton, squash, volleyball and even tried swimming (but failed). Tapi tu semua cerita lama. Sekarang apa kau buat? Makanmakanmakan. I like to work out but I don't like running, jogging. Vontots agak berat maka rasa malas nak lari. But I LOVE aerobics, body combat and zumba. Thinking of joining bootcamp tapi errrkkk mak tak sanggup kot.

10. That things happened when you least expect it. Or when you never expect it at all. Life is just full of surprises. Be it good or bad. 

"His Command, when He intends anything, is only that He says to it, "Be' then (and there) it is - (Kun Fayakun)" - Verse 82.

Peace out

Liar liar, yes you

You know how GPS are meant to help you navigate your ways from one place to another, right? And whenever you want to go some place familiar, you slightly know the way to get there but yet you still use the GPS to help you, right? Do you know the feeling when you rely on the GPS but you still have doubts on it as it navigates you to routes that you think are not right? Do you know that GPS can make a fool out of you? I just knew. The hard way.


My husband and I were invited to a formal dinner at Renaissance Hotel. So us being quite clueless when it comes to navigating our ways in KL had to rely on the supposed-to-be-smart GPS. So from our house, our dear GPS, lets call it Gigi, brought us along the MEX route. Gigi then instructed us to exit the MEX and entered into Jalan Tun Razak. So then we passed by Jalan Tun Razak police station and we had to stop for traffic lights at a T-junction. At that point Gigi had instructed us to go further up straight through the KLCC underpass. OK, this was we were puzzled. And where we were being conned.


Me: Kenapa dia suruh pegi straight? Tu kan nak masuk parking KLCC?
Hubs: *blur blur* Eh ye ke? Rasanya bleh tembus keluar jalan lagi satu kot.


So off we went through the KLCC underpass as per Gigi’s order. From far I could see parking ticket machines. Bummer.


Me: Kan dah kata ni masuk parking KLCC. Apsal si Gigi ni suh masuk ikut sini?
Hubs: Laaa….bodoh betul la Gigi ni. ^&*(%$#)!!
Me: Takpe la takpe la..ishh dah la pakai autopay. Buang masa betul.


So then we managed to find an autopay machine nearby. I thought It would not cost us anything as the time taken from taking the parking ticket to literally inserting it back into the autopay machine was less than one minute. But hell no.


THE STUPID AUTOPAY MACHINE CHARGED US 4 FREAKING RINGGIT!


Ya, mari curse machine tu beramai ramai.


I didn’t get to check what was the parking rate on that day, not sure whether they charged us based on entry. But what happened was beyond absurd.


Of course then we managed to find the hotel right after we took our way out from the underpass.


But still, that can’t change the fact that we were conned by the GPS and autopay machine.
T_________________________T

Hey you!

OK so, it has been a while. A loooonnngggg while. Half a year, no? NOT! More than half a year! 7 months to be exact. A dear friend of mine said, dah setahun i dah tak update blog. OK, that is so overrated izzy. Baru je 7 bulan ok, bukan 12 bulan. Banyak beza tuh.

I guess now the blogger’s block phase is over. I got my momentum back. Yippee! Hari tu momentum pergi Siberia, ingatkan dia taknak balik balik dah..:P

What have I been up to for the past 7 months? Hurm..kerja, balik kampung, masuk hospital (eh, tu Cairil), tengok movie, pergi shopping, etc etc. Yes, as dull as it may sound, I happily live my life with my dear Cairil. Anyway, just let bygones be bygones, lets look forward to the future shall we?

And what do I look forward to in these coming months? A LOT.

1. I am so looking forward to our yearly vacation next week. Tak pergi jauh sangat, Singapore je. But then, since I will be going for a vacation with my loved ones – hubs, mak and abah, the place does not matter. It is a well deserved break. The last vacation I had was back in April 2010. Wow, setahun gap tu. I should make it more frequent.:)

2. I can’t wait to fully utilise my newly purchased oven. Hehe. I think I have develop a passion for cooking/baking although I don’t usually cook everyday. But googling for recipes and cooking blogs are my past time favourites. I have tried out a few recipes from the internet even the simple ones like Mi Sup – yes i googled that!, and also Kari Ikan Tanpa Santan..T__T. OK, bukan la I tak tau masak kari! Tapi since Cairil is a serial curry eater, takkan nak bagi dia makan kari pakai santan every week? So i found how to cook kari yang pekat dan meletup tanpa menggunakan santan. He loves it hingga ke titisan kari yang terakhir. Penanda aras yang menunjukkan kari I masak sedap giler ialah bila dia cakap nak menuntut ilmu dengan I. Muahahaha. Hah. Dah start merepek. OK back to err apa tadi? Utilise oven kan? Yes, as at to date, I have only used the oven only twice since Cairil bought it for me last Feb. Lepas ni nak masak apa pulak ye cik senah?

3. I am looking forward to get pregnant. Yes. There, I’ve said it. Yes people, we do want to have kids. Who doesn’t? Though I appreciate concerns from some people asking me, dah ada isi ke? bila lagi?, I can’t help but feel annoyed. As if lepas sebulan kahwin je, kau WAJIB pregnant. Well, I did get pregnant, but I had miscarriage. When I was pregnant, my hubs and I were still living separate cities. When it happened, all I could think of was that Allah knows best. Dah tertulis perjalanan hidup kami begitu, so be it. Now after almost 2 years being married, we get that question “dah pregnant ke” – always. Gosh. Even my parents tak pernah tanya soalan tu. Not even once. They are cool people. So people, if you want to be cool like my parents, stop asking me that question, will you? Hehe. Insya Allah, when the time comes, I will definitely let you know.

Such simple things that I look forward to in my simple life.

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.”

- Henry Van Dyke