Here's My Story

I came to know of allergy test, covering 52 allergens, from Pathlab sometime ago. I did one nearly 6 years ago , covering 35 allergens. The former cost RM 1,200. My usual doctor's clinic quoted a staggering RM 1,500! So when my sister highligted that Klinik Dr Yeoh, clinic that I go to if I am in Butterworth and I'm sick, charged RM 560, I took up that offer. While waiting for the results, Ban and I brought mum to her first follow-up appointment at Bagan Specialist Centre and we saw a poster for allergy test covering 107 allergens for RM 380 (it's now RM 416). Meh. Here's the result:   Nothing! Not even mild, unlike previously. Ban suggested that I go for the 107 allergens test. My sister agreed. So I would be doing that together with my mum .

A week after the first appointment , my sister brought my mum to see Dr Ling, the skin specialist, for a follow-up. During that week, her condition improved significantly: hardly any redness, still itchy but not as bad. In short, 1. Doctor is happy with the progress and think that we are on the right track. 2. She still diagnosed mum with fungal infection and not allergy. Normal recovery time is about 3 months. 3. Itchiness partly due to dry skin and so need to use moisturiser. 4. Follow-up in 3 weeks time. As discussed beforehand, my sister requested for test of 107 allergens. Privately, we still think that mum has developed allergy towards prawns. Coincidentally, later mum had Penang Hokkien Mee (which is prawn based and has prawns) and developed rashes. I would be bringing mum to the next appointment and hopefully I'll remember to ask the doctor for the result of the swab test. We're puzzled as to why the doctor didn't voluntarily tell us about it.  

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The appointment was a week after discharged from hospital. It involved blood test and then consultation with doctor. For no strong reason other than wanting to trim a little the time spent, I asked Ban to drive us, despite the hospital being a mere 20-min away (normally I wouldn't want to involve him for such short non-strenuous appointment). I am grateful that he agreed because it went on much longer than expected. What happened was that after "recovering" for a few days, unexpectedly mum developed the itchy rashes again two days before the appointment date and condition worsened (there was discharge) around her groin area the next day. The doctor was quite alarmed by this. His initial guess was that she was allergic to prawns (she had it prior to reappearance of the rashes) despite not being the case previously. The summary is that mum could be allergic to prawns all the while but it reaches critical mass only now. Anyway, he decided to defer to his skin sp...

During CNY, my sister's family spent time at her in-laws place in Penang island. They invited mum to join them and I was glad that mum decided to go. However, when she was there, she had an allergic reaction: rashes, redness and itches over her body. She suspected it was the bar of soap. Mum had a history of contact dermatitis, the most serious were her fingers turning nearly black. Sister brought her to a 24-hour clinic for treatment. Was given antihistamine and calomine lotion. The next morning, my sister was helping to apply the lotion on mum when she suddenly collapsed on her bed, with hands pointing up (elbows on bed) and shaking. Mum didn't respond to sister's calling until a minute later when this seizure-like moment was over. Scary. After some discussion, my sister brought her back to the clinic. They said although it's possible that this is a side effect of antihistamine, it's rare and even more so for the one they prescribed i.e. chlorphenamine. However, i...

After the trip to Peranakan Mansion , we didn't really want to dine at another peranakan restaurant the next day but  we were sort of clueless on what to have. Fortunately, later, I remember that Ban wanted pie ti and so we searched online for restaurants that served pie ti. After some discussion, we settled on Nancy's Kitchen.   Pie ti was beautifully plated. Visually attractive. It was delicious and crunchy. The unusual addition of a tiny bit of tomato puree enhanced its flavour. Highly recommended. I passed my commendation to the staff manning the cashier. Chap chai was good. Tasted similar Peranakan Mansion's but the latter was better plated. Chak Bek was quite nice. Salty sourish. We were surprised at its servicing size (there was only one size): it was about two third the size of the chap chai. Fyi the chap chai was of small serving too.   For one dinner outing, I wanted something that had substantial amount of vegetables. So, we asked for recommendation from the ho...