Bringing Deepavali Cheer & Lights

Our usual NGO that provides palliative cares, sent a message to my wife on the plight of a patient. This poor Indian lady who is suffering from the last stages of breast cancer was hospitalised for 8 months and got discharged yesterday. She must be very distraught to see no cure and went home sadly to see her home without any food. It just added more misery and hunger for her to see her 2 children not being able to celebrate Deepavali with the simplest meal together.

Normally I would easily extort all my close friends for cash donations but that would take days and weeks! My wife was quick and sprang into immediate action and got my generous sister to donate money right away with money transfer by clicking a button! At night, we hurried to the nearest supermarket  after getting a small food list from the cancer patient's young daughter. 

The humble and hungry daughter just requested for less than

5 items that is vegetables, condensed milk, coffee, potatoes etc

but we got them over 30 items instead!

That includes rice, eggs, milo, instant noodles, sugar, salt,

ketchup & chilly sauces, various curry powders, santan powders,

bisquits, bread, jam, margarine, cabbage, brinjals, long beans,

flours for muruku, tosai, chapati and many others!

We drove in the downpour to the patient's home in the middle of the night

at Shah Alam's isolated vicinity. I comforted her not to feel

sad and worried anymore as we will bring food from time to time.

The patient could only cry and opened both hands out to thank the

Gods for bringing her the joy and hope to live on. I believe that

one's sickness could sometimes heal when they have very positive

feelings and hope in them. I have seen several Stage 4 cancer patients

who managed to recover eventually when doctors gave them no

longer than 3 months to live. You can always help to provide

palliative care to someone close who might be suffering

from terminal illness. I'm confident that our blogger friend

Yannie is doing a great job to help her close friend

during her difficult time dealing with Stage 4 cancer.

Ganbatte Yannie!

 Anay & Letchumy would like to wish everyone a very

Happy Deepavali.

***

What Is Dementia?

I have been having wild thoughts which type of old age sickness and disease I would choose if given the chance to determine the way my own death should take place. Like many, I would want to die peacefully and painlessly during my sleep after having visited all the countries in my Bucket List. Ultimately, one's karma would determine his own fate until his last breaths.

As promised, I would share some information from the talk conducted by a university's 

professor about the Dementia which is a type of brain disease. My father suffered from

that disease for some 9 years and our whole family was in pain to watch him fade

away helplessly. My heart still aches sadly today as I prepared this blog post.

 The talk was held under a special canopy tent inside a housing suburbs

of Petaling Jaya. Many senior citizens turned up to hear the talk & almost everyone

had a friend or family member who is suffering from various brain diseases.

I took photos of all the projected blurry slides but I would only share a few

for the awareness sake only.

 Dementia was reported to have several types which includes Alzheimer's, 

Parkinson's and others.

 I have drawn up the above simple chart to show the difference at a glance.

- Alzheimer patients would often show mental deterioration and senility.

- Parkinson patients would often show their nervous system affecting their

general movement and mobility.

- Dementia is sadly a terrible disease that is a collective of BOTH the

Alzheimer & Parkinsons and many other unidentified brain diseases!

 The above world map shows that China has the HIGHEST number 

of Dementia patients today. The other small parts of SE Asia also have

the alarming ratio numbers when compared to USA or Europe and others!
Something is not right with the population around the SE Asian region.

This made everyone gasped and wondered what is the real cause?

Is it our food, diet, water, environment or hereditary diseases?

When the doctors conducted brain scans, they could easily detect the 

difference between the brain of a normal patient and an Alzheimer's patient. 

There are presence of Amyloidosis inside the Azheimer patient's brains.

( see the chart above)

This was the shocking revelation about the High Dangers of Aluminium usage 

in our daily lifestyle habits. The professor explained about the excessive use of

Aluminium baking foils which could easily contaminate our food. It is so thin, very light

and easily disperses the harmful aluminium substances out.

Now that got me paranoid to think of the Coke Tins and 100 Plus tin cans too.

I have switched to plastic bottles instead. Many websites have shared about

the dangers of aluminium usage. Check HERE

Say "NO" to the foils!

While there is no cure for such brain diseases yet, they advised 

on its prevention possibilities such as doing brain exercises and taking

daily supplements like Gingko Biloba and Virgin Coconut Oil.

*****

My father's Dementia - A Painful Truth

It has been exactly 2.5 months since my father passed away and it seems like many years have passed so swiftly. I have moved on with my life but with a heavy heart whenever my happiest memories flashed back to rekindle the good times. I am always thankful to my beloved parents for giving me the best upbringing any child could wish for. I want you all to be healthy always, so I will share this awareness post below.

I have been yearning to share with everyone on my personal experience, coping with both my parent's illnesses, on their final days until the funeral preparations. I am always thankful that my wife indirectly got me into becoming a volunteer at Hospis which taught me tremendously, the ways to provide palliative care to all the terminally ill patients who became my friends before they all passed away. These lessons eventually gave me the insight and strengths to provide the best support, care and comfort for both my beloved parents' final journey. Suddenly I became very loud and bold in the watsap chat with my older siblings on all the procedures and eventually went ahead to plan the exact details on how we should handle a dead body according to the Buddhist rites including the funeral arrangements.

My dashing father who swooned many ladies in town.

My late father was a very handsome and healthy man all his life. He worked with the forensics of the government's Chemistry Lab to handle all the very serious narcotic cases in the northern states of Malaysia. He became an expert in all liquid chemical stuffs after being sent to United Kingdom under the scholarship of the Colombo Plan. Naturally he was extremely fussy on his food consumption and preferred home cooked meals which meant healthier food. As a cheeky kid, I often had to sneak out and buy the 'dirty' hawker's fruit rojaks and iced waters which he often raged out on the toxic dyes and saccharine contained. My father was a better known public figure in my hometown for all his charitable contributions and fund raising projects, helping his closest allies like Honda's tycoon Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew and Datuk Seri Tan Hoay Eam, to build & manage the homes for the old folks and cerebral palsy handicapped children for many decades.

  

His earlier ballroom days with a partner during competitions.

At the same time, his greatest passion and love for dancing had created his legendary name in the whole ballroom dance circles after winning a Gold Medal from the Royal Ballroom Dancing School in London. He often waltzed and tangoed his nights away with my beloved mother during their retirement years. The famous E&O Hotel gave my parents the honour of a complimentary lifetime F&B coverage each time they patronized their dance floors. Later years, the Hollywood's movie producers were tipped off and approached my father to help out in their filming set of the famous "Anna & The King". He just had to coach the actors Chow Yuen Fatt to waltz beautifully with his partner, actress Jodie Foster in the sequel of the Thai King dancing inside his palace. My Thai-born mother who hailed from Bangkok's Samutprakan village, was a very staunch loyalist of the Thai Royalties, owing to her family's direct connections with the Grand Palace, therefore my father had to respect and decline the glamorous task to coach the 2 famous movie stars. This movie was naturally banned in Thailand.

When my father's age approached the mid 70s, his health was still strong but his brains started to slow down which showed signs of memory loss. He started to forget names, places and often drove the car alone in circles until he lost his way home. Visits to doctors finally confirmed that he had developed "Dementia" which was an alien word to me. I read up a lot about this and watched documentaries on these dementia patients. The doctors at Hospis had cautioned us to get prepared that my father would eventually suffer the worst when his brains could no longer send anymore signals to all his strong & able limbs. Fast forward to his advanced dementia stage, he could no longer remember how to bathe, use the toilet, wear his clothes, eat, walk and even talk! The worst scenario was he could no longer recognize all his children and family on most occasions, therefore he was often very frightened as he was completely confused, lost and drawn into his own world. The last stage would be, his brains could no longer signal his body to receive food and any liquid. His throat and lungs would often get stuck & choked until we had to admit him to the ICU several times to drain out everything. One doctor had warned me that he would eventually die of hunger as his body would reject everything including hospital's bottled drips! It was so painful to watch him slowly fading off even though he had no terminal sickness or whatsoever pain.

Before my poor father passed away eventually, my wife and I had attended a special talk by a university's professor about dementia to learn about its history, causes and preventive measures. I was very-very shocked that Aluminium is very harmful and directly damages the human's brain cells!!! My next blog topic will share the hazardous details of aluminium and Dementia's story. Stay tuned, be healthy and don't curse me please. LOL.

Warning: Food wrapped by Aluminium Foils.

****

Good Breakfast & Walk In Singapore

We always loved to visit Singapore anytime as this Lion City is very safe and spotlessly clean with neat looking boulevards that line up the trendiest homes and prominent landmark buildings. You could also marvel at the abundance of greens with plentiful of well trimmed old shady trees and forest reserves everywhere. No wonder the temperature was 36 DEGREES CELSIUS yet it was not hot at all. Our trip was quite a rush to visit 2 very sick uncles and meet up with my wife's childhood friends. Everyone was so nice and overfed us with so much delicious food until I put on 2 kilos in 2 days. No kidding! 

This beautiful couple, Steve & Samantha Hou are long time personnel heads attached to the Singapore's Carlton and Resort's World Hotels, so they know what exactly is fabulous breakfasts, lunch and dinner. They suggested that we must try the very famous New York's chic restaurant that has made its way across the Atlantic to Singapore. The chef husband & wife founders have won waves of US and International recognition, with New York Magazine voting twice for their Best Blueberry Pancakes.

Clinton St. Baking Company and Restaurant
31 Purvis Street, Singapore.
Tel: +65 66844845 | Hours: 8am to 6pm daily.

When 2 sweet & delicious couples meet up - All Smiles!

| 1. Brioche French Toast with Bananas & Pecans |

| 2. Spanish Scramble | 3. Coffee Latte | 4. Eggs Benedict |

| 5. Pancakes With Warm Maple Butter & Fresh Blueberries |

  

My yummilicious choice breakfast:

| Farmer's Plate |
Thank you very much Steve & Samantha - We Luv Ya!!

 We parted after our good & satisfying breakfast with juicy gossips.

We caught up with my wife's aunt and took the much needed

long walk to burn away all my belly fats.

 Purvis Street is lovely with the well preserved Chinese heritage

buildings.

 The Raffles Hotel Singapore at Beach Road.

 Pretty sidewalk along Raffles Hotel.

The majestic architecture of the Singapore Art Museum 

along Bras Basah Road.

Look at the huge & old beautiful tree standing outside

SOTA Singapore School Of The Arts,

facing Zubir Said Drive.

Our walk ended at the curio and chic shop at 

Plaza Singapura @ Orchard Road.

My Own Verdict:

500 Calories Burnt.

***

Tai Chi Tournament 2016 @ Johor Bahru

Do you remember my earlier post that my wife's leg was injured with snapped tendon last week? Oh well, nothing could stop her and she used her mind to force her limping leg to heal faster. We drove to JB over the long weekend and stayed there for 2 nights. It was both a relaxing and fun trip for me to watch the tournament which was held inside the foyer area of Plaza Sentosa.

There were over 250 participants from all over Malaysia & Singapore.

 I really enjoyed watching all the participants from young-age to senior-veteran 

categories who competed in various "Yang Style" categories.

My wife won a Silver Medal for her category in Tai Chi.

Honestly, I could not believe that she bagged a Silver!

If her leg was not injured, she might have clinched the

GOLD MEDAL! I am delighted and still in disbelief.

The event lasted 2 full days and some younger kids were so bored.

They gave me a shock when they started playing cards

like professional gamblers! Wakakakaka

In the afternoon, my wife competed in the Sabre Event and clinched the Bronze Medal!

Wow, I was delighted and very surprised again as there were so many

participants doing all their very best.

We ate the authentic Hunan's Chinese Dinner on both nights

as the restaurant is right below the hotel's building.

 As usual, I forgot to snap all the photos to share. It was my first time

eating Hunan styled dishes and they were very good esp the Fried Dates

with Toffee!! Yummy!

 |Photo 1 - Hunan Restaurant | Photo 2 - Fried Fish with Spicy Sauce | 

| Photo 3 - Spicy fried chicken | Photo 4 - Brinjal with Minced Meat |

| Photo 5 - Fried Dates with Toffee |

We headed to Singapore after the event as I wanted to visit my

father's brother who just had his cancer operation. My wife's uncle

also had a slipped disc which hurt his back so badly. I apologised to

Blogger Sharon 1000 times for not being able to find time to meet up

as my wife's friends had lined up to meet her. I could not meet

all my cousins and former classmates too.

The next visit to Singapore will be soon!

*****