national cancer centre

didn't know that cgh actually makes appointment for its patients to visit the national cancer centre for consultations. they actually send my 二舅there accompanied by a nurse for his appointment. My mum and i went along to see what the oncologist have to say.

after evaluating 二舅's case. the oncologist decided against chemotherapy as he thinks that 二舅will not be able to withstand the toll the treatment will take on his body. he's concerned that chemo will hugely compromise 二舅's immunity system making him highly susceptible to infections.

next, we had to see the radio-oncologist who decided on a 7-week course of radiotherapy that has a 40% chance of eradicating the tumour in 二舅's throat. the treatment will only start next month after some prep work such as getting a face mask done. meanwhile 二舅will continue with his liquid diet since the therapy will also impair his swallowing ability in the short term.

and that's how we spent almost the entire day at the centre.

journey to the east

another visit to cgh to see my 二舅. he has been warded for 2 weeks already and put in isolation in bed 1 at ward 36 'cos they suspect that he might be suffering from tuberculosis. his difficulty in swallowing has been attributed to malignant tumours in his throat.

we had to put on n95 masks to see him in his room. according to the instructions at the door, we even need to be gowned and gloved but we didn't bother with it except to sanitise our hands with care before and after visiting him.

the nurse came in after a while to feed him. i was asked to explain to 二舅 that she will change the feeding tube after the feed as the current one is meant for 2 weeks only. so my mum and i waited... and waited...

the nurse gave up and undrew the curtain seeking our help to tell 二舅 to swallow [in teochew] when she's inserting the feeding tube through his nostril. i think the gag reflex somehow interfered with the insertion and the tube kept looping out into his mouth instead of getting into his stomach. not a pretty sight.

then she got 二舅 to sit up after several failed attempts on the right nostril and decided to insert the new tube onto the same [left] nostril. with much retching and our promptings of "吞", sections of the tube were painstakingly inserted until the nurse estimated that it has reached the stomach. she confirmed that by aspirating some fluid with a syringe.

finally some relief for my 二舅.

you can see how it's done here.

masked

this is not the latest fashion. but it's the first time ever that i've donned a mask all thanks to the global pandemic of h1n1. so it's a momentous occasion worthy of some digital pixels. :P

had went to visit my 二舅 at cgh. i heard he was hospitalised 'cos he wasn't eating well and had trouble swallowing. as usual, since he was just warded today, they have to run tests on him before we know what's ailing him.

he looks fine except for the tube in his nostril meant for tube feeding. hope he gets well soon.

cheers!

lunch @ vienna

yup, we're having lunch again at the vienna international seafood and teppanyaki buffet restaurant at united square. no points for guessing that it's an early celebration of fathers' day since my dad likes the food there.

well, i thought it'll be another ho-hum lunch since we've been there so many times and truth be told, i would rather try some other place because the menu have largely remained the same over the years. but it was not meant to be...

estee after coming back from the restroom started to feel unwell and break out in cold sweat. my mum had to bring out her shawl for her and we let her rest at her seat while we continue to stuff ourselves with food.

then she started to feel nauseous and we had to scramble for a plastic carrier for her to umm... deposit her lunch. and she went on to put up a rather prolonged act of regurgitation.

although i couldn't smell anything, the sight of swirling brown fluids in the bag made me lose all my appetite. we ended our lunch abruptly since she doesn't seem to be feeling better.

you can see what i had gorged on earlier here.

lunch @ sushi tei

had late lunch at the sushi tei at west coast plaza for an early mothers' day celebration since wilson just returned from his vietnam business trip this afternoon. and i have a wedding dinner to attend tonight.

first time eating at this branch. standards are consistent. no complaints. yummy as usual.

lunch @ 自然海鲜

i suggested having lunch here to celebrate mum's birthday. it's crowded as expected since it's 人日, luckily i made reservations.

we had 鱼生 in addition to their signature tofu and beancurd prawn dishes. overall, mum and dad were satisfied with the dishes. dad quite like the pork ribs which is very tender although the vegetable with mixed waxed meats which mum wanted to try didn't turn out well. the preserved meats were a bit tough.

the 干炒海鲜拉面 was a good alternative to the usual noodles to round up the meal. a pity we didn't have room for desserts.

dinner @ vienna

went down to meet sl & janet & family. they had already checked into the rooms at swissotel. yeah, we're all very serious with our standard chartered runs. hehe... ;)

after dropping off my bags in the room, i joined my folks at vienna at united square for buffet dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. jan and wilson were rather late. somehow, estee and myself find the buffet spread kind of disappointing. i think we're getting tired of this place.

i did my carbo-loading by eating the sushi, maki and steamed savoury rice in bamboo. the maguro wasn't good tonight. had sake and tako sashimi and 5 oysters. estee complained that the oysters were not fat and big.

i also had a few servings of 芋泥 and cakes, all fuelled up for my half marathon tomorrow. :)

family outing

don't know what possess estee to organise a family dinner and bowling session today.

i couldn't make it for the early dinner since i've already made my bella appointment much earlier and i wasn't inclined to change it at the last minute.

i joined them after a quick bite of my favourite 云吞面 at the marina square food court but i didn't play since my hip is still hurting. i didn't know how i manage to do that but i highly suspect it's due to my unergonomic use of my laptop on my bed. :P

in the end, only estee, wilson and jan bowled while mum, dad and i watched on. the bowling ball went left and right initially eluding the 10 pins. hehe... told estee to practise on the wii at home but she didn't listen to my advice.

their game improved slightly for the 2nd game. for the record, wilson was the winner for both games.

then it was desserts at swensen's, estee and wilson had supper too... :)

wedding dinner

left for the hotel at about 3:30pm. kind of tired since i didn't get to catch a nap. hoping to catch one later in the hotel room. :)

by the time wilson brought us to room 4160, it was already past 4:00pm. after we were settled in the room, wilson brought mum up to his bridal suite for her make-up to be done while dad stole some shut-eye in the room.

the tape that i brought from home wasn't sticky enough to secure the safety pins onto the corsages. had to go downstairs to buy another. estee came along because she needed to look for a salon to style her hair.

the one at the hotel wasn't available till 5:30pm which will be too late since the solemnisation was scheduled at 6:30pm. after finding the tape at mph at the basement, i accompanied estee to look for another salon.

there are no other salons in raffles city. the next nearest, hairworks is at citylink. thankfully, she didn't have to wait to have her hair done.

i left for the hotel to get a shower and steal a much needed 40 winks. bought some buns at the new bakery at the basement extension to last me till dinner.

once estee was back in the hotel room, there was a flurry of activities as all of us got ready for the night. when estee and i arrived at the function room, we realised that there was a confusion with the corsages. duh!

and wilson's corsage came loose! arghh... but the banquet staff managed to pin it back on for him.

the solemnisation ceremony at clarke room was a short and simple one. both fathers witnessed the ceremony. many of jan's relatives attended the ceremony while we didn't informed ours since it was rather early.

after some photo-taking, all of us proceeded to canning ballroom to prepare to receive the guests. estee, qijin, sharon and i helped out at the reception. that meant i didn't have any opportunities to mingle nor take pictures with the guests. sigh... :(

the rest of the evening went on like clockwork. the 1st entrance, cake-cutting. 2nd entrance, champagne-pouring followed by toasting onstage with noisy "yam sengs". and finally the photo-taking table by table.

the general feedback for the banquet was good. i enjoyed the dinner too. managed to go around to take some pictures for my parents as well as play with the little ones.

wilson & jan

the much-awaited day for my family [especially my parents] had finally arrived.

i was woken up by my mum at around 9:00am. told her it's still early since the first guests were only expected at 10:30am. trust her to be so "kan cheong".

furthermore, my brother has yet to leave with his entourage of "brothers". apparently, the make-up artist for the bride was late.

when it was time to leave, he appeared in the room with the corsage and a safety pin to ask me to put the 2 together and pin it onto his suit. gosh! how last-minute, right?

with the corsage properly secured, the groom and his party left to fetch the bride. about 10 minutes later, the house phone rang... wilson's on the line. guess what?

he forgot the bridal bouquet!!!

fortunately, the 'convoy' was still in the carpark and i just needed to bring the flowers down for him. all this drama even before i had time to wash up!

went for prata breakfast with my maternal 4th aunt and her hubby. when i returned, many relatives from both sides of the family had already arrived.

had a quick change of clothes before i began my assigned task for the day which was to prepare the bird's nest tea for the tea ceremony. that kept me occupied throughout so i wasn't able to take any photos which explains the not-so-good quality of the pictures. haha... :P

death: part i

my paternal grandma passed away on mother’s day when i was in primary 3. that was my first experience with death.

it was sudden and totally unexpected as she had always been in good health. the entire clan was present as it was one of the usual sunday gatherings that we always had at our grandparents’ place.

my grandma had not been feeling well for a few days since the exhumation of my great-grandmother’s grave. it had been so long ago that i was too young to remember if she had passed away before or after we had reached her place.

she had checked the almanac on hindsight only to find that she shouldn’t have gone for the exhumation as it was taboo for women to engage in such activities on that day. a gp was brought in to certify her death while she laid on her bed in the bedroom.

after that, it was a week of colourful, traditional chinese funereal rites and rituals.

and then, there was this one night where the whole clan cramped into my grandparents’ tiny flat because my grandma’s spirit was supposed to be back for one last look of her loved ones.

an elaborate feast including chinese wine was laid out for the ghost constables, niu tou and ma mian so that they can eat their fill and hopefully get drunk, giving my grandma more time to see us.

no sightings by me though.

dinner @ 338, amk ave 1

my brother is buying the family dinner tonight. because of the free dinner, i skipped my regular saturday yoga class by serena. :P hehe…

it’s situated at the coffee shop at block 338 and takes up practically the whole place. there’s only 1 other chicken rice stall and the drinks stall. this “zhi char” place specialises in crabs cooked in 5 main styles. namely: chilli, black pepper, curry, butter and cereal.

we tried 1 cooked in black pepper and another steamed. my dad always insist on having steamed crabs because that’s the best according to him.

the black pepper crab was nice and peppery-hot unlike some other places which can be quite sweet with too much sugar added. the steamed crab came with lots of steamed egg white and shredded ginger. overall, the crabs were meaty and fresh.

the other dishes that we had were good enough. overall, a good place for dinner when you have the craving for crabs.

yummy.