Lipo @ Medan (Part 3 of 3)

The first week after liposuction was the hardest to get by, because the areas that went under knife would be so sore. On top of that, the whole body feel rather bloated up; not to mention the the amount of inconvenience that followed. No wonder many people, including myself, would experience bouts of regret and self-doubt for having had the procedure.

I had to wear the compression sleeves on my arms as often as 24/7 but they caused me to itch, I could only manage at most 12 hours a day. If I don't wear those damn compression sleeves, the edema of my arms would take a longer period to go off.

I had to clean and bandage my wounds which was really a hassle and instead of dressing the wounds for a week as recommended, I gave up after the next day upon returning to Singapore. On the third day, I just past band-aids over the wounds. After the fifth day, I can't even be bother with those band-aids, I just left the wounds exposed. Fortunately, the wounds healed up very well.

Then there were the bruises that I had to hide, so I had to wear something long-sleeves all the time whenever I was out. Once I wore my short-sleeves T to the nearby mall with Mr Hubby. He was rather uncomfortable being seen with me because he was afraid that someone might thought of him as a wife-basher. LOL!

(Picture of the bruises, taken on the 6th day post-lipo)

Fortunately, the bruises didn't take too long to go away, after that the scars were so tiny that they resembled some mosquito bites. I was already able to wear most of my clothes after the second week even though the arms still feel slightly swollen and rather numb at parts.

(Picture of a scar, taken on the 6th day post-lipo)

 
 

My jowl healed really good and the scars beside my ears were almost invisible but I hadn't really see any significant different to the shape of my face. Maybe there wasn't too much fat over those areas to begin with anyway. Waste my money to have it done!

 

(Picture of the bruises of my jowl, taken on the 6th day post-lipo)

After 19 grueling days, the results are finally beginning to show. I am starting to get compliments; some had assumed that I lost some weight, but actually the scale didn't move a bit at all. With the arms looking slimmer than before, it really felt fantastic.

I have to ditch the compression sleeves for body-stocking (it is stocking like material shaped like a long-sleeves blouse), because the itching was unbearable for me. So it might take me longer than 6 weeks to see the final result of my arms because I ain't very consistent in keeping the garment on.

To pay the price for a pair of better sculpted arms, it goes beyond just monetary. The muscles on both of my arms are still very tight, when I stretch my arms backward, I can't go any further than my neck! I certainly hope this is not permanent. There are still some lumpiness under the armpits which can be quite painful when massaged, however if I don't massage them, they might take forever to disappear.

Overall, I am quite satisfied and would be going back to have my back, flanks and upper abs revised. All thanks to my last doctor who did the Vaser Liposelection, he totally SUCKS. I really have to get those dents, bumps and waviness fixed so that I can one day put of my bikinis without feeling so self-conscious of my very uneven body.

*I would probably post the before and after pictures of my arms in another month or two when the results are more obvious.

Lipo @ Medan (Part 2 of 3)

On the second day of my arms' liposuction, this was the MOST traumatic day of the 4-days trip. I had my first post-lipo drainage and I almost died from it. Ok, not that serious but it was so goddamn painful that I cried. Jenny helped to wipe away my tears with a piece of tissue paper. The nurses teased me non-stop. They said I was so brave the day before, at surgery, and here I was totally reduced to tears being massaged.

But this wasn't any massage, all post-lipo drainage massage are murderous, regardless of where I had it. I remembered mine in Singapore was just so bad!

Many times, I had to yell, "STOP! STOP! STOP!" And the nurses had to cajole me to let them continued. I think I must had scared the rest of the patients with my cries and howls.

All breakfasts were complimentary, I had fried maggie mee which was surprisingly very delicious! Jenny would helped to "ta pao" lunch and dinner for all the patients. For dinner, I had the BEST ayam penyet ever! So yummy, I almost swallowed the bones!

I spent day 2 lazying around on the bed watching TV and DVDs, surfing net, yelling throughout my drainage massage, having facial and IPL done, as part of the 'Triple X' facial package that I signed up for SGD $198. The price was quite reasonable for a 2-hour facial, 1 IPL and 1 RF, but I didn't see any significant results post-treatment. I think those SK-II Facial Treatment Masks I have at home works better anytime.

That evening, there was came a knock on my door, I had expected it to be Dr Arthur but to my surprise.. actually it was more like SHOCK, Mr Hubby appeared at my room's door!! How on earth did that happened?? I had not give him the clinic's address, I merely told him that I would be in Medan for liposuction. I was like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! HOW DID YOU FIND ME?!"

I was grateful to have him taking time away from his work and flying into Medan to keep me company. But the words that came out of his mouth wasn't all too pleasing. What did he say? He said, "Wow! You look like you had just been ran over by a truck!"    -_-   There goes all your brownie points, my dear.

I didn't sleep well that night because I was beginning to swell up; the water retention was so bad that my fingers looked like some freaking sausages! I always curls up, sleeping in a foetal position, with my arms hurting, I just had to sleep on my back which I really hate. So that night, I had a hard time trying to find the best position to dreamland.

It was the third day, I could finally shower; my scalp was oozing out a ton of oil! YUCKS!! After smelling great again, Mr Hubby and I went to Sun Plaza, the most popular mall in Medan for lunch and some shopping. There wasn't much for us but we bought quite a number of things for our kids. I bought some local food from the store opposite the clinic, but they weren't really up to my expectation.

When we came back, Mr Hubby had a 2-hour body massage and I had RF treatment done on my face. I ordered the very yummy ayam penyet for Mr Hubby, while I had ayam soto for dinner. Then we packed up our bags and watched more DVDs before turning in.

We woke up early in the morning to catch our morning flight back to Singapore. The driver didn't turn up to fetch us to the airport as instructed, so Dr Arthur drove us to the airport personally. We thanked him and flew back safely to Singapore by Silkair.

Despite feeling really quite sore, I hugged and carried my kids the moment I reached home. It kills me to be away from them for so many days. I missed them terribly and I was feeling very guilty not being around especially when Leonitus fallen sick while I was in Medan.

My arms were very bruised and swollen; water retention of my armpits had reached new height, it was as though I had two water-beds wedged between those pits. I couldn't help but felt slightly depressed. However, these are all just too normal post-lipo, I just need to persist on.

(..... to be continued.)

Positive Parenting - Why some parents just won't do it?

Laetitia has been put on Singulair too, because she had caught the virus and is wheezing just as much as Leonitus. So with her already challenging personality, Singulair just made a much BIGGER monster out of her. Isn't parenting exciting or what!

When she accidentally dropped her cake at Leonitus' birthday bash yesterday, she burst into tears and was howling as though the world was coming to an end. Luckily, there was this 7 or 8 year old little boy, who is my cousin-in-law's son; he comforted Laetitia and tried to cheer her up by giving his own little charm (the ornament on the cupcake that Laetitia was really into collecting) to Laetitia.

I was very impressed. I praised the boy and turned to his mother, told her how proud she must be of her son. However, I was surprised by what this mother had to say, "Aiya, he is like that. Very 'kaypoh' (busybody) one." The boy was deflated like a balloon upon hearing those words. "She (referring to his mother) is always like that. Whenever I helped somebody, she will say that I am a 'kaypoh'." The boy pouted at his mother being unsupportive.

I found myself jumping to the boy's defence, "No. I certainly think that your son is really nice." I hadn't give a thought if I would be coming across as offensive to this mother. I turned to the boy and told him, "Remember this. Compassion is your strengthen. You must feel proud of yourself and carry on being who you are regardless of what other tells you." The boy nodded and let out a weak smile.

I seriously do not understand why some parents do what they do. Putting their own kid down in front of others when he was actually being good?!?! Don't tell me this is Asian parents' way of teaching humbleness, I find that absolutely MORONIC! And coming from that mother who is highly educated and holding a respectable job?! I simply had to sigh.

When they are good, just fucking tell them that they are good!! Reinforcing positiveness is such an easy parenting tool. I see parents choosing punitive methods and humiliation as a form of discipline over positive reinforcement. Why do they even go there?!

I am an anti-spanking mother. I never hit my children but that doesn't mean I am being permissive and my children can push me around. HELL NO!! I just don't see what canning, whacking and smacking can possibly do to teach a child the proper way to behave because hurting another person physically ain't proper either!

I hear you, some parents, saying that the only method of discipline they ever know is the cane. Why don't you just fucking go and buy a book on positive discipline and then just follow the methods!? The truth is: parents who hit their kids are just losers who cannot contain their own anger. They probably need anger management themselves!

There will be parents out there who thinks I am just this fortunate arse who has well-behaved children that is why I don't have to resort to spanking them. I can't tell you how wrong you are to even think in such a way.

So if you think you child is naughty, is wilful, is lazy, is stupid, then he/she WILL BE! That is self-fulfilling prophecy at its very best. Money Back Guarantee!! To have better behaved children, the parent must first have their paradigm shifted.

I choose to believe that my children are fundamentally good, but at times they misbehave. I choose to believe they have good characters and it is then my duty to help shape them further. And no, that doesn't require smacking at all.

I know... the pro-smacking parents are looking to gun me down after this entry. Like I would care!! No fuck!

Lipo @ Medan (Part 1 of 3)

My quest for a slimmer figure had brought me to Medan, Indonesia. My last Vaser Liposelection done at a local aesthetic clinic had left me very disappointed. My abs were poorly sculpted and there are multiple areas with dents and waves. And there was my lower back and flanks, which seemed totally untouched except for the two incisions scars.

Those were good enough reasons to not return to that same clinic and doctor when I want to lipo my arms. After reading about this doctor in Medan from some forum and seeing many of his works on the Internet, I decided to take a chance and flew over to a foreign land to continue my lipo quest.

I took a Silkair flight, but I should really be alright just taking a budget airline because the flight only took slight over a hour. The clinic's driver picked me up from Medan airport and drove me straight to the clinic where I was greeted by the Customer Service Officer, Jenny and two nurses at the reception area. The walls of the clinic were filled with various certificates and photos of the doctor with some famous plastic surgeons and even with the president of Singapore!

The clinic... should I really be calling it a clinic? It is a three-storey twin-building, very BIG; it is equipped with operating theatre, dance studio, facial spa, kitchen and as many as ten bedrooms in the building. I stayed in room number 2, while the doctor stayed at Rm #1. It sure felt like a VIP to stay next-door to the doctor. My room is air-conditioned, spacious and clean, it has a queen-sized bed, wardrobe, a dresser, TV, DVD player and wireless Internet connection. There were also two drawers full of DVDs at the hall but all the discs were pirated! The best feature in the clinic was the Skype phone which I can make as many calls to Singapore as I desired and it is absolutely free of charge.

After I put down my stuff, the nurses ushered me into the consultation room where I met Dr Arthur for the first time. My impression of him was, he is very chatty for a doctor and he is very frank, to the extend that it might come across to some as blunt.

I had intended to lipo my arms as well as to revise the work of my flanks and lower back, but Dr Arthur weren't keen to tackle so many areas at once. He told me he would rather concentrate on one area at a time so that the result would be good instead of trying to do too many and not achieve what I really would have wanted. So in  the end , I chose to do my arms and my jowl, as for my flanks and lower back I will have to save them for my next trip.

The consultation was detailed even though Dr Arthur spoke very fast, but it was alright for me because I wasn't new to liposuction anyway. After the consultation, IV drip was administrated, followed by some sedative; I could feel my heart rate and breathing slowed down. Then I was given a pill, the nurses told me it was a sleeping pill. The doctor marked and then painted the areas that needed to lipo with a brown liquid which I believe it was iodine.

Now I was ready for the op. The nurses placed pieces of gauze over my eyes and each time they lifted the gauze to check, my eyes were be opened, they will tell me to go to sleep, but I can't sleep. In fact, I believe I was awake throughout the op and was aware of most things that were going on but it wasn't frightening and I did not feel any pain. It was all kind of ... twilight.

The op lasted less than three hours and I was transferred to a recovering room for the next 5 hours, where I was strapped up to machines that monitor my heart rate and blood pressure. The nurses would come in frequently to measure my temperature. After lunch, I tried to catch some sleep but it wasn't too successful.

Finally I was allowed to go back to my room; I was all bandaged up. Jenny ordered some noodle for me for dinner but I was too tired to eat and I fell asleep at about 7pm.

Around 10pm, I heard knocks on my door, I dragged myself out of bed to open the door and was surprised to see Dr Arthur in his t-shirt and shorts. He told me that he just wanted to check on me because he came by earlier at 8pm but I didn't wake up then and he was a little worried.

After the doctor's visit, I fell asleep quite quickly and didn't wake up until 5am in the morning. And of course, I was starting to feel quite sore on those areas that I had lipo. I knew then that the toughest part of lipo had began.

(.... to be continued)

I Want to Trade In

I thought I was winning the battle before I left for Medan last Wednesday; Leonitus' cough seemed so much better. Then I phoned home on Thursday and received the bad news; he was running a temperature -- a rather high one too.

My mom and maid brought him to the paediatrician at Railway Mall because his regular paediatrician at Kidslink CCK wasn't open, but I really have no faith with the doctor there. As I predicted her medication were those very common ones and they weren't helping Leonitus at all.

Yesterday, I brought Leonitus to the Eu Yan Sang Clinic at Sembawang. After my last near success with TCM, I was really hoping for this alternative to work out well for him. To my surprise, the clinic is very modern; it even has a hip playroom for its young patients. My thought for EYS was really some 'atas' (high-end) shit for TCM, but the consultation plus medications were really cheap compared to a trip to the kids' paediatrician.

Somehow the words of the EYS's physician weren't too resounding. Actually, no, it provided me with nearly zero confidence. I could almost sniff out a huge sense of doubt she has with herself and TCM all together when she told me that I might want to go hand in hand along with Western medication because TCM's effect might not act quick enough for Leonitus. She said Leonitus's lungs are getting too congested.

Last night, Leonitus' temperature shot over 38 degree again and he was coughing throughout the night. He wheezed and fought for air. My heart just broke into millions of pieces seeing him suffered.

I took urgent leave this morning to bring Leonitus to Winston Ng of Kidslink after he coughed and threw up all his milk. He was already not eating well and now with all that vomitting  just how much more can he take?!

Dr Ng diagnosed him with Bronchiolitis AGAIN! This is the fourth time and Leonitus is barely one year old!! WTF!! Just what can I fucking do to keep him well?!

Now everything is back to square one. It is the antibiotic, the nebulizer, the Singulair, the Ventolin and all those Western medicines that made him and me crazy, that I had choose to stop back then, they are all back once more!

It's such a fucky feeling to watch your kids fall ill and you have absolutely NO POWER to make them feel any better. It's sickening to be this vulnerable. I hate it!

I, Cindy Cheong Shin Yih, is prepared to trade in 10 years of my life, in exchange for good health of my children. Any takers, God or Devil? I don't care, just fucking take my life and make Leonitus/ Laetitia well again!

UPDATE @ 6.30pm:
Laetitia came home from school with a fever; her nose is stuffy and things aren't looking too good for her too.

Crocodile, Monkey and Worm

These are what I have been feeding my son, Leonitus, these days.

Leonitus has been coughing for more than a month. He had tried the medication, the nebulizer, the inhaler but nothing seemed to keep him well past a week. His paediatrician recommended that I put him through a month of Singulair, a drug that helps prevent asthma.

As soon as Leonitus was on Singulair, I started to feel that he was a bit violent.. erm... different. No, he wasn't getting healthier but he was becoming more aggressive, easily irritable and some nights he would wake up screaming as if he had a terrible nightmare. His usual meekiness was almost gone overnight. It was quite scary.

So I had Singulair read up on its website and was shocked to discovered that those changes that I had experienced with Leonitus wasn't my imagination at all. They were indeed the side effects of this drug. Without hesitation, I stopped giving Singulair to Leonitus, even though this would means I am taking chance with my son's health.

And that put me at my wit's end so I turned to TCM. I stopped the liquid Ventolin and whatever Western cough elixir, I started giving Leonitus, Hou Zao San, a Chinese Herb, derived from parts of a monkey, in powder form.

I bought crocodile meat to cook together with brown rice, as porridge, or I would use a large chuck of crocodile meat to double-boil with some wolfberries, red dates as soup.

Then once a week, I would make tonic with Cordyceps, which are really some fungus that invade worms to form this very expensive TCM ingredient, in fact, it's more expensive than GOLD!

So the sample menu of Leonitus looks something like this:

Breakfast:
Milk and Monkey Powder


Lunch:
Crocodile Brown Rice Porridge


Tea:
Milk and Monkey Powder


Dinner:
Rice with Worm Soup


Supper:
Milk and Monkey Powder

Who would like to have some of the yummies above too?

Poisoned!

My first entry for 2011 and I am sorry that it had to begin this way.

We were poisoned!!

Food poisoning greeted us 5 hours after the midnight of 1st Jan 2011, claiming Laetitia as its first victim. It was a trip to KKH but fortunately she wasn't admitted because the vomiting stopped after the doctor squeezed a suppository into her ass.

Because we all ate the same food and she was the only one puking, so the doctor at KKH suspected Laetitia of having stomach flu.

On the same day, I started running to the loo too, but there was  no signs of vomiting in my case so I dismissed it as a coincidence.

Then last night, Mr Hubby started to have diarrhoea and then today he was doing the merlion act. Oh.. what a poor thing!

That's the three of us, all displaying symptoms of food poisoning. And what do we all have in common before this? We ate the food prepared by our neighbor on New Year's eve for dinner. My helper and Leonitus were spared because the two of them did not eat any of those food.

Meanwhile Laetitia is well and had went to school this morning. Mr Hubby is running a fever and weak all over. Me? Other than visiting the toilet many times yesterday and the day before; there is this rambling in my tummy, I felt slightly nauseous and just farted few seconds ago. Guess, all the daily consumption of yogurt is paying off for me this time.

Oh.. and there was this bit of funnies that came out of Laetitia from this unfortunate event.

As it was the first time Laetitia experienced diarrhoea after she mastered doing her business in the toilet bowl instead of diaper, it shocked her to see that her poo "exploded" out of her butt and fragmented into tiny bits instead of looking well-formed like normal days. Laetitia was in tear when she said, "Mommy! I broke my poo poo!! I broke my poo poo!!"

I really should be comforting her but it was so amusing, I just can't stop laughing.

Yes.. Yes.. It did wish for adversity in my last entry, but I hadn't expect my "wish" to come through that fucking quickly. Now, can I changed it and wish for striking the lottery instead? Damn!


Latest update as of 6pm:
Our helper had started vomiting and having diarrhoea too. Perhaps the doctor at KKH is right, it might not be food poisoning after all; then it had to be Gastroenteritis as diagnosed by Laetitia's doctor. And this is worst because the latter is CONTAGIOUS!!!