Here's My Story

Taking care of a terminally ill patient is not easy. The caregiver needs to be familiar with the prescribed medicine help patient to manage their symptoms be with patient during consultation wtih doctors, especially if the patient forgets and/or misunderstands certain relevant information discuss with patient whenever options are available and help them implement the chosen options Surely you want to make life easier, not harder, for both of them, right? How can you do that? Well, for starter, respect their requests, if they're not harmful. Such requestions could be as follows: Call them if you want update; not the other way around. The caregiver already has their hands full helping the patient, on top of whatever personal stuff they have to do e.g. work, family, R&R. In addtion, in my dad's case, if you are going to suggest something major or convince him to change his mind, please involve the caregiver. Often times, he forgets important information or doesn...

Every Monday, Ban and I travel to Sungai Besi our a session of D&D 5e at the GM's (Game Master) house. It's far: takes about 1 hour 10 mins, but it was our idea because we it was our way to play with friends we usually have fun doing it. The third player, a mutual friend, is the key person because he's the source of jokes. At times, our game progressed so slowly because both GM and him were busy josting around but I couldn't complain much because my jaw was aching from all the laughing haha. Due to the timing, we decided to have dinner at a nearby shop. We weren't familiar with the shops there and so we made a point to drive around, taking note of possible eating places. On our first night, we chose Mek Siam...and haven't changed place since then haha. They served so many delicious meals. Their rice dishes, however, are an issue for us: too spicy, even when we asked for as less spiciness as possible. So, unfortunately, we had to avoid them despite them b...

Other improvements since the walk-in to consult PCU specialist are Intake of Oxynorm decreased from 7 to 5 Pain while transitioing to and fro lazy chair and car seat was less but still need assistance Swelling, predictably, did go down but only if lie down on the lazy chair Later, dad went for his appointment at Penaga govt clinic for follow-up on blood test. Upon inspecting the swollen legs, the doctor there prescribed  furosemide and 2 different antibiotics. On the same day, his constipation returned but fortunately, there was appointment with PCU the next day. PCU doctor said can continue furosemide and the antibiotics prescribed 4 tabs of bisacodyl to be taken at night if constipate for two consecutive days; forgo pump on the 2nd day of constipation continue all other medicine, with posssibility of increasing the dosage of the fentanyl patch because the current one was slightly lower than painkilling effect of 40gm Oxycontin (twice daily) He did constipate for a ...

The next appointment was 4 weeks after the last . However, towards the end of the third week, the pain in his legs spiked up and there were both hugely swollen.He had constipation for 3 straight mornings too. His left leg weakened further such that he wasn't able to get onto and off the lazy chair (where he rested and slept) unassisted. Basically, it was painful for him to transit from sitting to standing and vice versa. He couldn't wash past his thighs during bath. He needed help to wear pants too (he's now using sarong). For those days, he had to take Oxynorm 5 to 7 times a day. Hence, we both decided to do a walk-in, a week earlier than the appointment date, to first consult the PCU doctor and the oncologist if needed. The PCU doctor's main concern was to solve the constipation issue because it reduced the effectiveness of the painkiller. It was at this point, I asked and found out that dad didn't take as much fruits and vegetables as he used to and so that m...

Underlords is an auto-battler game: you place your units on the board and then they'll do whatever that's logical during the battle. I had thought it involved little skill but I was wrong. What you can control are (1) Your choice of units (2) Synergy among your units (most notably the alliance bonuses) (3) The composition of your build (4) Coin management (5) Actively strategising against your opponent (most notably via positioning and maybe denial of certain key units especially if you want them too) (6) When you want to level up (7) When you want to reroll (8) Choice of items (as loot from Neutral waves) I spent lots of time playing this game as well as watching videos and Twitch streams, and reading guides. I manage to pushed all the way to Lieutenant 5...and then just continued falling back to Lieutenant 2. The frustrating thing is that I don't know why I can't be in the top 3 more consistently, other than blaming rng, which is absurd. So I've recent...

Recently, the Singaporean actuary clinched an actuarial project awarded by a government agency.  This was after he had gathered a team (2 Indonesian actuaries and I) and we then sent a proposal to that agency with respect to the job scope they had given earlier. Problem came immediately: instead of an engagement letter or contract agreement as the legal binding document, the agency issued a purcahse order that merely stated item "purchased" was "Technical and organizational studies". This form was, in my opinion, supposed to be used to purchase goods e.g. 10 chairs, and unsuitable to be used to engage services. By not including or at least referring to job scope and our proposal, there is risk of potentially huge griefs in future due to conflicts/disagreements. Despite this... Qualified actuary #1: I'm apprehensive about this project but wth, let's have fun. Qualified actuary #2: You can do it! Let's relax and have fun. Unqualified...

One day, my IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) needed my attention: For the above and many refences obtained via a web search, it was highly likely that my hard disk was dying, especially since this event kept popping up everyday. This was the result shown by Crystal DiskInfo. Not good. The final nail in the diagnosis. So I had no choice but to replace the hard disk. I could have waited until it kaput completely but it might happen at an inconvenient time and also I don't like unplanned events. Although my laptop is already out of warranty, I was willing to pay Dell technician to solve this issue. Unfortunately, they no longer stocked such hard disk.They suggested that I shopped locally for an SSD compatible with my laptop. On hindsight, this doesn't make sense because WDC WD7500BPKX-75HPJT0 is a SATA hard disk, not a SSD. This sort of caused me problem later on. At Digital Mall, at the first shop I ventured in, I was dismayed to learn...

(continued from here ) Right before I underwent Xray (preparation of downsizing the tooth for crowning), I informed the dentist that I chose ceramic crown. Since it is a front tooth, aesthetic is more important than for the back right tooth. For decades, people had noticed the 'black' spot on this front tooth due to the root canal. Metal crown, as informed by the dentist, could harmless stain the tooth, which did happen to the back tooth. I was pleasantly surprised how painless it was, and was without anaesthesia, compared to previous crowning process. I'm guessing that the previous time, the back tooth was cracked and so it would be painful without anaesthesia during the surgery. I did need to take Ponstan previously! Since this is the lower tooth, the night/mouth guard didn't need to be adjusted. A temporary (toothless i.e. useless in incising food...or bite my fingernails haha) crown was made and adjusted a few times (it was too high), to be used for a week w...

I had my first root canal treatment decades ago when I was studying in Australia. It was on a front lower middle tooth. Perhaps it wasn't a standard recommendation then (or maybe not standard in Australia, even now) but in recent years, dentists had told me that usually root canal treatment is recommended at the same time as the treatment, not merely because of aesthetic reason but to protect the tooth from chipping. Mine did chip of a little over the years. I was quite concerned about the extend of the chipping and so on a recent trip to the government dental clinic to treat a separate tooth that was re-sensitised (too much sweet drinks and/or desserts while on a 5 nights trip to Singapore haha), I asked the dentist advice on crowning that tooth. She affirmed what all other dentists had told/advised me but, in response to my query, public dental clinics do not offer such service. So I made an appointment, via phone, at Ting Dental Clinic. I've been to this clinic maybe 3 t...

One of the best nasi lemak I had thus far, and its blue rice was one of the reasons. Curry chicken was quite good. Peanuts and ikan bilis are a must. I vaguely remember that it was priced reasonably. It was available at one of the stalls at this coffeeshop, situated at the junction of Jalan Hutton and Lorong Amoy on Penang island. Incidentally, another stall served one of the best char kuay teow too (it was the best for my char kuay teow-loving nephew and brother-in-law). My only complaint was its small portion. Another stall served delicious wantan noodle. The interesting bit was that the best noodle wasn't the wantan mee but hor fun instead. Surprising, right? Pan mee (both dry and soup), from a 4th stall, and the hokkien prawn noodle, from a 5th, are also recommended. The only one I would avoid is the chicken rice stall. Not that it was bad; it was mediocre but with 5 stalls with good/great food to choose from, why settle on mediocre, right?