Solace in Running

Recently, I found tranquility and peace of mind in running.

Previous excuses I used to give to myself when I was too LAZY to run were:

• I much rather spend that time with Aiden.
• The treadmill is in the guest room.
• I cannot bear leaving Aiden at home alone while I drive to the clubhouse for a run at the gym.
• I'm tired from a long day at work. I'll do it tomorrow.

However, after being saddled with so many issues surrounding Hubby's surgery, slowly but surely I felt like I was going to crack. Crack from the pressure, the sheer exhaustion, juggling family and work priorities, all of this while still having to put up a smile at the end of the day and reassure everyone that everything will be alright.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not forcing myself to be all smiles, all day, everyday. I am naturally born like that. Friends close to me know that I usually keep all these pent up emotions and sweep them under the carpet until one day it goes kaboom and you see me crash.

But somehow, I found solace in running. One day, I just slipped on my running shoes and started running towards the hills of Cahaya SPK. The hills are actually part of Precinct 1 - where the bungalow lots are. Not even a single house has been built except for one under construction. Previously some of us would run up daily but then when security became an issue, it became such a taboo to run there. But the day I started running, I guess I just didn't care. I just needed to get away.

InsyaAllah, everything will be okay...

A Week In IJN

So if you guys are wondering whether the surgery was successful or not, guess what? Our surgery date was postponed - not once, but twice! So the most recent date we were promised is this week! It was very frustrating emotionally for us. Imagine, preparing yourselves mentally for such a major surgery only to find out that you have to wait some more. Worse, I had to inform family members, especially mine who had taken leave and planned to drive down from Ipoh to be with me during the surgery. Not to mention the distress Aiden had to go through everytime we drop him off at my aunt's house or the unpacking and repacking we had to do. I sincerely hope there is a silver lining amidst all of these chaos.

We were actually already on the way to IJN when we received the call telling us about the postponement. But in the end they told us to proceed to IJN anyway because Hubby had to do a minor procedure called a cardiac catheterization to measure his lung pressure.

Apart from this postponement issue (in which our cardiologist advised us to be patient and to put up with the surgeon's schedule since in the end, it is his hands that we want to do the repair), all my previous experiences with IJN has been fabulous. Okay, there is this one lady at the admission counter who was a bit kerek but then again she meets all kinds of Tom, Dick and Harry daily so I guess she's forgivable. And IJN impressed me again with their new wing of the hospital - the elevators, the interior designing, the rooms (the deluxe rooms even have wood laminated floors!), the food and most importantly the ensuites! Since my entitlement for every admission is a first class single standard room, this was extended to Hubby as well and I have to say, the rooms are even better than the ones in Gleneagles!

Sorry for the poor picture, the lighting was bad and I desperately need an iPhone upgrade. Anyway this is the single standard room. I even had a pull down bed for myself! Ample chairs in the room with a flat screen TV.

My bed is right beside the ensuite. No complaints there as I definitely appreciate the bed rather than having to resort to a foldable beach chair. Even Prince Court provides a sofa bed, so to have a bed with fresh sheets daily is definitely comfortable!

Cheerful stickers in the room. The only downside is the television channels. Don't expect to get Astro around here. You only get local TV, and even then the reception isn't that great. You can also choose to buy a card which will get you a day of unlimited selected movies. Will probably try that our next trip here.

The room in the morning, very bright and sunny! Was a bit jakun with the soap they provided with the in-room sink. You step on an inflatable bubble on the floor to dispense the foam soap. Very hygienic, I must say.

See how my pull-down bed magically hides itself into the cabinet? Designed to match the wardrobe right beside it.

Toilet looks brand new and clean, with new tiling and a solid surface sink.

Nice eh?

Colourful mosaics for the shower, similar to what you would normally see in a modern kitchen backsplash! And the shower curtain in blue.

Nurses wheeling Hubby out for his minor surgery. Very professional and attentive nurses. Each shift they will assign one nurse to one patient so whenever you press the call bell, the same nurse will attend to you. She is also expected to know your case as well, so she knows which doctor to call and your medication dosage.

Three meals are provided per day with morning break and supper drinks. They provide a menu which is changed daily, and you are required to pre-order one day before. They can also prepare meals for a single person who is taking care of the patient, at a pre-determined price. I must say, the food is quite tasty although the portions are quite small. Dinner timing is also not suitable for us as they serve it at 6pm, so by 9pm Hubby is hungry again. Thank god my aunt's place is close by, so whenever I send Aiden to her house at night, I have my dinner and tapau dinner for Hubby as well.

The nurses' counter.

The walkway to the wards.

Funny story, Aiden was on the bed while Hubby was outside talking to the doctor when a Malay lady opened the door and walked into our room exclaiming "Ini ke yang sakit?" (Is this the one who is sick - referring to Aiden.) I had to quickly clarify that Aiden wasn't sick, and she actually gave a sigh of relief then walked out. I guess she was genuinely concerned that a small toddler would have heart problems.

We, on the other hand, are so used to seeing toddlers and babies at IJN that we don't even bat an eye when one walks in front of us. This is because, everytime Hubby has an appointment in IJN, he always meets with a Paediatric Cardiologist as Hubby's heart condition is a congenital one (he was born with it). All the nurses at the Paediatric Department knows him because he is usually the only adult patient around there. Just last week we saw this tiny tiny baby in an incubator being wheeled into the cardiologist room. The baby was probably quarter the size of Aiden (who was Alhamdulillah, a healthy 4.1kg baby). It breaks my heart everytime I see something like see this and usually I would say a quick prayer of thanks that Aiden was born healthy.

Six hours after the minor surgery, Hubby was allowed to stand up, and we were shocked when he started bleeding from the incision at his groin on the right. Turned out that the nurses did not plaster the area well! And Hubby also had to stay on a few days because he developed hematoma (internal bleeding) at the incision at his groin on the left, which is quite normal since they had to puncture his artery to insert the catheter. So he was sent to do an ultrasound to check whether there was any active bleeding. Thankfully there was none so we were finally allowed to go home on Tuesday afternoon. That's 5 days in the hospital - excluding the weekend as we opted for home leave.

Back home, we were greeted with my family members who came all the way from Ipoh. I guess my Dad panicked when he heard that Hubby was bleeding so the whole gang came down to visit us.

Hubby was so happy to have a home-cooked lunch for a change!

My Dad's first visit since we moved house!

And since we had so many visitors, SIL and I baked pastries for tea. Silly me wrote Aiden's name on the pastry but of course after it was baked it didn't show!

So tomorrow we're checking into IJN again, and hopefully the surgery runs as planned. Please join us in praying for a successful surgery. And thanks for all the words of encouragement that you have left in my previous post. I sincerely appreciate each and everyone of them.

Wordless Wednesday - Quintet

Happy Father's Day

Reminiscing a Father's Day we had last year which was celebrated in Singapore. It was quite a special occasion because it was also Hubby's first Father's Day!

Hubby's first Father's Day ;)

I helped Aiden scribble a short message to Daddy but in turn he demanded for the pen and ended up drawing all over the card. Priceless!

In return, Hubby made for us one of the most scrumptious turkey ham sandwiches ever. Or maybe it was just scrumptious because someone else made it?

Memories like this are precious, aren't they?

And June Comes Rolling In...

And so June rolls in and it is finally time for Hubby's surgery. Remember this post last year?

Well all the tests have been conducted and the date has been set. Hubby will undergo open heart surgery at the end of this week. Alhamdulillah, our niat to have a sembahyang hajat was completed last week and our annual leaves are now approved. Hubby will be off for two months while the Dutch Oil Company has kindly granted me half pay leave for 2weeks and the remaining as annual leave. I would prefer not to share in public on why he will be having this surgery (although I can safely say it is definitely not because of his coronary artery), but am happy to share why, if you're willing to ask.

We are currently still preparing ourselves mentally. InsyaAllah all will be well and I am praying for a succesful surgery.

On a lighter note, it looks like Hubby will merasmikan our guest room downstairs. When we bought the house I envisaged the room to be a confinement room for our next baby. I had enough of being confined in the master bedroom upstairs while my in-laws 'kidnap' the baby from my arms and then hear peals of laughter and joy coming from our living hall downstairs. So I was determined to be downstairs to be part of the action the next time around. Little did I know that Hubby would beat me to it as a recovery room post surgery.

In preparation, we spent last weekend making the room ready. This was how the room looked before:

Yes, that's a treadmill in the room.

It was a bit inappropriate to have a treadmill in a recovery room so we have dragged the treadmill to the living hall, in front of the TV. No more excuses not to exercise!

However, we still felt like the room was a bit bare, there wasn't even a side table for Hubby to store his belongings, what more his medicine. Furthermore, Hubby was definitely going to have to sleep on the bed alone. No way are we taking chances with Aiden yang tidur buas to sleep in the same bed with his Daddy. He might just kick his Daddy's chest accidentally! So we thought a sofa bed would be a nice touch. Aiden and I can sleep on the sofa bed, and in the future when a new baby comes along, the new baby and I can occupy the bed while Hubby and Aiden sleep on the sofa bed. Although convincing Aiden to sleep on the sofa bed is a completely different hurdle we have to tackle. I'll cross the bridge when I get there!

So last weekend we finally made our purchases. A side table and a sofa bed, both from Ikea. It was not easy to look for a side table and a sofa bed which is of suitable size. Especially the sofa bed, since it has to fit in the nook at the far right of the room. Anyway, this is how the room looks like now. Apologies for the poor photo quality - when is the iPhone 5 coming again? *grin*

The living hall carpet is now demoted into a guest room carpet.

All ready for the recovering patient.

Thanks for all your well wishes and doa so far. We appreciate every single one of them and would like to request for you to not stop mendoakan for the well being of our family.

Take care!