Daddy-O's Ramblings On Parenting & Pregnancy

Worried About Your Heart?

2009-06-14T17:04:00.012+08:00

Ever since I became a parent, I'm sleeping later and later. Of course I was never the "early to bed, early to rise" type of person since my uni days, but since my first child was born, it's getting worse.

His first few months were practically a nightmare. He was a VERY light sleeper and was very difficult to take care of as he pretty much woke up and started crying almost every half an hour. So me and my wife had to take turns looking after him and basically didn't get much sleep. As he grew older, he went to bed about 12am. Now he is sleeps earlier, but I pretty much only get to do my own stuff (work, leisure, etc) after the kids are asleep. Obviously sleeping late will take a toll on your health. Which was why this forwarded mail caught my attention, and I'm going to share it with you.

The email consist of 2 sections:-

Section 1: Natural Therapy For Heart Vein Opening

The 1st part is a natural therapy for heart vein opening. Not sure if it works, but since it's ingredients are all natural and are not life threatening, I decided to share it with you without doing any research. Feel free to try it and tell me if it works :) And also tell me about the taste too LOL! Well, here it is:

"Dear All,

Natural therapy for heart vein opening

Please pass it to your colleagues or friends.

For Heart Vein opening

1) Lemon juice 01 cup
2) Ginger juice 01 cup
3) Garlic juice 01 cup
4) Apple vinegar 01 cup

Mix all above and boil in light flame approximately half
hour, when it becomes 3 cups, take it out and keep it
for cooling. After cooling, mix 3 cups of natural honey
and keep it in bottle.

Every morning before breakfast use one Table spoon
regularly. Your blockage of Vein's will open
(No need any Angiography or By pass)"

Section 2: Sharing Of Experience

This is an email about a person who had a severe heart attack symptom and was rushed to the hospital. He was sharing about his experience but more importantly, his lifestyle, which is quite similar to mine, except the smoking part. He also shared the doctor's recommended lifestyle. So take a read and see if it's applicable to you.

This is e-mail received from a person working in a Software Company

Dear colleagues, I am working in Blore Software City ....... I wanted to share an incident of my life with you, hoping that it may be an eye opener to you so that you can live more years.

On 27^thOctober afternoon, I had severe heart attack symptom and I was rushed to the hospital.

After reaching to the hospital, the doctors prescribed a test called angiogram.. This test is basically to identify blood flow of heart arteries. When they finished the test they found a 94% block in the main artery, please see the image below with red circle.

At this point, I wanted to share my living style, which has caused this block in my heart arteries. Please see the below points of my life style, if any of these points are part of your life style then you are at risk, please change yourselves.

1. I was not doing any physical exercise for more than 10 years , not even walking 30 minutes a day for years.

2. My food timings are 11:00 AM Breakfast or no Breakfast, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Lunch and dinner at 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM.

3. Sleeping in very odd timings, going to bed between 12:00 AM and 3:00 AM. Waking up at between 9:00 AM and 10:30AM ........ Some times spending sleepless nights.

4. I used to eat heavily because of long gaps between lunch and dinner and I used to make sure that Non-Veg is available most of the time, there were times when I did survey on city hotels to find delicious Non-Veg dishes. I was never interested in vegetable and healthier food.

5. Above all I was chain smoker from years.

6. My father passed away due to heart problems, and the doctors say the heart problems are usually genetic.

Once they identified the major block they have done immediately a procedure called angioplasty along with 2 Stints, mean they will insert a foreign body into the heart arteries and open the blocked area of arteries. Please see the below image after the procedure.

I learnt from the doctors that 60% people will die before reaching the hospital,20% people will die in the process of recovering from heart attack and only 20% will survive .. In my case, I was very lucky to be part of the last 20%.

Doctors instructions:

1. Need to have physical exercise for minimum of 45 minutes daily.
2. Eat your food at perfect timings, like how you eat during your school days. Eat in small quantities more times and have lot of vegetables and boiled food, try to avoid fry items and oily food. Fish is good than other non-vegetarian food.
3. Sleep for 8 hours a day, this count should complete before sun rising.
4. Stop smoking.
5. Genetic problems, we cannot avoid but we can get away from it by having regular checkups.
6. Find a way to get relived from the stress.

So I urge you all to please avoid getting into this situation, it is in your hands to turn the situation up side down, by just planning / changing your life style, by following simple points above.
If you find it's useful you can forward this mail to your friends and loved ones.....

Like for all the things I received in the email, do take it with a pinch of salt, but in this case I really don't think there's any harm in knowing these information,whether you follow them or not LOL!

I'm working on changing my lifestyle, but with my 3rd child arriving.... Well, let's hope I'll be successful before it's too late :P

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Cord Blood Banking: Should I? With who?

2009-06-09T23:58:00.009+08:00

In my wife's previous pregnancies, we were struggling with the question of whether or not we should collect our babies' cord blood, and with which company should we bank it with. We didn't quite get to that part of choosing a company since we decided not to collect it at that point in time after doing some research online.

In the past, what I learned from my research are:

1. While it is very hard to determine the likelihood of the banked cord blood being used, we do know that the probability is very low. Some say is 1:1,000; some say is 1:2,700 and even 1:10,000. Therefore it is more of an insurance.

2. Some websites (such as those from public bodies) recommend that it is better to store it with public blood bank instead of private blood bank. The main advantage for that is that it's free, and your blood may actually be used to help someone else in need, since the probability of you or your family actually needing it is very low. Also, since the likelihood of using your blood is quite small, should you need it, chances are, it'll still be there for you to use. The problem with public cord blood bank is that it's not available everywhere and to everyone. For example, as far as I know, in Malaysia, there is only 1 public blood bank, which is our National Blood Centre (Pusat Darah Negara) and the donor has to deliver in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). Therefore if you are delivering in other hospitals, you won't be able to donate. Not sure if it is still the case now, feel free to call them and ask. You can go to this page directly to read about the cord blood services offered by our National Blood Centre or you can call and find out more. The number to call is +603 - 2693 3888. (Please note that the National Blood Centre website is in Bahasa Malaysia, not English)

3. The use of stem cells is still in the early stage of research, eventhough the potential is great (I believe).

4. The blood collected often is only enough to use it on a kid or a small adult. So when the time comes, it may not be enough for you to use.

5. That there is absolutely nothing wrong in storing your baby's cord blood in private blood bank, if you can afford it.

6. I absolutely hate those private blood bank's guilt and fear inducing advertisements to make parents feel like their baby's life is at stake if they don't store his/her cord blood, and that they can only be considered as "good" parents if they do so. What a load of rubbish! In my opinion, if you have limited resources ($$), I personally think that it is much more practical that you use that money to get a medical / insurance plan for you and your family first. But that's just me. Oh well, unfortunately, this is how the private blood banks make a living LOL! By playing on parents' fears and guilt, gently.

This time around, we felt that we are financially ready to store our 3rd child's cord blood. If you're still asking whether should you or should you not store your baby's cord blood, the answer is very simple:

"Bank your baby's cord blood if you can afford it, and if you believe in it's usefulness."

Our next question is which company should we store it with. Public banking is more or less out of question for us since we are not delivering our baby in HKL. There are currently 4 companies that I know that are offering private cord blood banking services in Malaysia. They are:

1. Stemlife Berhad
2. CryoCord Sdn. Bhd.
3. CellSafe International
4. StemTech International

There may be more. Please do let us know if you know of any other private cord blood bank operating in Malaysia.

When I was doing my research, I came across this blog that talks about one of the above companies being unscrupolous and unethical such as storing Hep B infected cord blood unit. I'm not going to say which company it is, but I strongly recommend reading it, especially the comments, they are very informative. By the time you reach the 50th comment (probably much earlier), you'd more or less figure out which company it's talking about LOL! Of course, always take such websites with a pinch of salt, and always do your own research. What they say may or may not be true. So read it, and decide for yourself what you want to do with that information. Anyway, the blog is called 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use Co. X.

When you are considering which company to use, one of the comments from the above website came out with a few questions to ask when you call these companies, which I think is very useful. The comment is reproduced below:

47. | August 10, 2007 at 2:08 am

hi june and madam tan,i dare not recomend u to any cord blood banks in particular.coz dun want u to think im solicitating for them.what u can do is, call up the other two co.firstly ask them,are they taking in Hep carrier baby’s sample?
secondly, do they take maternal blood?
thirdly,do they have a certified cleanroom?
once these questions are all a yes, then u can proceed asking them their pricing,promotions etc.
hope this help….oh btw,there are 2 more co. out there june. so go find out about it….

Now, the next step for us is to call these companies and interogate them LOL! At the moment, my gut feeling is leaning towards CryoCord Sdn. Bhd. since it ticks most of the boxes. I will definitely let you know of my findings and decision once I called up these companies.

Last but not least, I would recommend a few very good websites and articles for you to read. One of the excerpt that I really like is taken from the article "Private Cord Blood Banking - Some Salient Questions And Straight Answers" by Dr. Ng Soo Chin. He says:

"I have no problems with people storing cord blood for own use later. Neither have I had any qualms about private companies collecting storing cord blood stem cells. My concern is that as consumers the parents are not being presented with the whole truth and this is not acceptable from viewpoint of good clinical practice. I am also concerned about the ‘entrapment syndrome’—the private cord blood Co can present various reasons to up their fees in the future and I don’t think the consumers have very little to fight back. What if the company folds? Despite being claimed as a form of medical insurance, I agreed with Dr Mitchell Cairo (Pediatric oncologist and stem cell researcher) that insurance should have a definable pay-offs and not on theoretical considerations. Perhaps, parents should instead invest on educational or health insurance for the baby rather than on something nebulous as private cord blood banking!"

LOL! Now THAT's a thought! Anyway, some websites and articles for your viewing pleasures:

1. The Health Minister Speaks Up Against Cord Blood Storage Hype
2. Private Cord Blood Banking - Some Salient Questions And Straight Answers
3. Parents' Guide To Cord Blood Foundation - A very comprehensive guide to cord blood banking for international readers since it has information on many of the public and private blood banking companies through out the world, including Malaysia.
4. AABB website.

Well, that's all from me this time. Hope you find it useful. Will update y'all on my findings later. Do leave us a comment or email us if you have any additional information.

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Joke Of The Day!?

2009-05-29T03:21:00.005+08:00

Well, the last 2 weeks had been really hectic. My eldest son is having his exams, I'm sourcing for contractors for a small renovation work that has to follow a very tight schedule to prepare for my 3rd child's arrival in the beginning of August, of course taking into consideration the possibility of the baby arriving early; and to top it all off, me and both my sons were down with viral infection, again. Anyways I hope I can work on this little blog of mine with more consistency LOL!

Back to the topic at hand.

My eldest son loves telling jokes, kinda like his old man. Unfortunately, most of the time, his jokes are usually not really logical, and at best, not really funny, also kinda like his old man. But every once in a while, he would come up with something that's really good, of course these jokes are usually borrowed, but that's ok! Since most of the time we grown-up recycled jokes from other sources anyway. The joke goes kinda like these:

"Daddy, why do cows wear cow bells?" asked my 6 year old.

"I don't know, why?" answered me in my usual reply to his "Why" jokes.

"Because their "HORNS" don't work!!!" Get it?

It actually took me a second or two (I know, I'm slow) and I burst out laughing out loud! This is probably the funniest joke he has told till now. Then my wife told me something that put a frown back on my face almost immediately.

Apparently my son told this joke to his grandma and grandpa (my mom and dad). When he told my mom, my mom laughed as she thought it was funny. Then my son went upstairs to tell his grandpa, and soon after, he came back crying. So my wife attempted to sooth and also teach him the idea that sometimes, different people have different sense of humour. Just because we think something is funny does not mean others will find it funny, so it's perfectly fine if they don't laugh.

"But mom!" cried my son, "grandpa DID laugh, BUT IT WAS SO FAKE!"

THAT coming from a 6 year old. That was one of those few moments that I realised my life ain't gonna be the same (and easy) ever again. It wasn't too long ago that I documented a similar moment. Oh well, fun and challenging times ahead!

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Swine Flu A (H1N1) Virus Prevention & Treatment FAQ

2009-05-12T03:56:00.006+08:00

Here's the second part of the Swine Flu FAQ obtained from CDC website.

This part will have FAQ on prevention and treatment as well as dealing with contamination of the virus. Here is also the first time I heard about the "Swine Flu Parties" LOL! If you don't know what it is, read on and you'll find the answer. All I have to say is there are all sorts of people in this world LOL! Anyway, here goes:-

Prevention & Treatment

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?

There is no vaccine available right now to protect against this new H1N1 virus. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza.

Take these everyday steps to protect your health:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
Stay home if you are sick for 7 days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer. This is to keep from infecting others and spreading the virus further.

Other important actions that you can take are:

Follow public health advice regarding school closures, avoiding crowds and other social distancing measures.
Be prepared in case you get sick and need to stay home for a week or so; a supply of over-the-counter medicines, alcohol-based hand rubs, tissues and other related items might could be useful and help avoid the need to make trips out in public while you are sick and contagious.

What is the best way to keep from spreading the virus through coughing or sneezing?
If you are sick, limit your contact with other people as much as possible. If you are sick, stay home for 7 days after your symptoms begin or until you have been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Put your used tissue in the waste basket. Then, clean your hands, and do so every time you cough or sneeze.

What is the best technique for washing my hands to avoid getting the flu?
Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Wash with soap and water or clean with alcohol-based hand cleaner. CDC recommends that when you wash your hands -- with soap and warm water -- that you wash for 15 to 20 seconds. When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. You can find them in most supermarkets and drugstores. If using gel, rub your hands until the gel is dry. The gel doesn't need water to work; the alcohol in it kills the germs on your hands.

What should I do if I get sick?
If you live in areas where people have been identified with new H1N1 flu and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting or diarrhea, you should stay home and avoid contact with other people, except to seek medical care.

If you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, contact your health care provider or seek medical care. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed

If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care.

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

Fast breathing or trouble breathing
Bluish or gray skin color
Not drinking enough fluids
Severe or persistent vomiting
Not waking up or not interacting
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
Sudden dizziness
Confusion
Severe or persistent vomiting
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Are there medicines to treat infection with this new virus?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with the new H1N1 flu virus. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. During the current outbreak, the priority use for influenza antiviral drugs during is to treat severe influenza illness.

What is CDC’s recommendation regarding "swine flu parties"?
"Swine flu parties" are gatherings during which people have close contact with a person who has novel H1N1 flu in order to become infected with the virus. The intent of these parties is to become infected with what for many people has been a mild disease, in the hope of having natural immunity to the novel H1N1 flu virus that might circulate later and cause more severe disease.

CDC does not recommend "swine flu parties" as a way to protect against novel H1N1 flu in the future. While the disease seen in the current novel H1N1 flu outbreak has been mild for many people, it has been severe and even fatal for others. There is no way to predict with certainty what the outcome will be for an individual or, equally important, for others to whom the intentionally infected person may spread the virus.

CDC recommends that people with novel H1N1 flu avoid contact with others as much as possible. They should stay home from work or school for 7 days after the onset of illness or until at least 24 hours after symptoms have resolved, whichever is longer.

Contamination & Cleaning

How long can influenza virus remain viable on objects (such as books and doorknobs)?
Studies have shown that influenza virus can survive on environmental surfaces and can infect a person for up to 2-8 hours after being deposited on the surface.

What kills influenza virus?
Influenza virus is destroyed by heat (167-212°F [75-100°C]). In addition, several chemical germicides, including chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, detergents (soap), iodophors (iodine-based antiseptics), and alcohols are effective against human influenza viruses if used in proper concentration for a sufficient length of time. For example, wipes or gels with alcohol in them can be used to clean hands. The gels should be rubbed into hands until they are dry.

What surfaces are most likely to be sources of contamination?
Germs can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth. Droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person move through the air. Germs can be spread when a person touches respiratory droplets from another person on a surface like a desk, for example, and then touches their own eyes, mouth or nose before washing their hands.

How should waste disposal be handled to prevent the spread of influenza virus?
To prevent the spread of influenza virus, it is recommended that tissues and other disposable items used by an infected person be thrown in the trash. Additionally, persons should wash their hands with soap and water after touching used tissues and similar waste.

What household cleaning should be done to prevent the spread of influenza virus?
To prevent the spread of influenza virus it is important to keep surfaces (especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, kitchen counters and toys for children) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant according to directions on the product label.

How should linens, eating utensils and dishes of persons infected with influenza virus be handled?
Linens, eating utensils, and dishes belonging to those who are sick do not need to be cleaned separately, but importantly these items should not be shared without washing thoroughly first.
Linens (such as bed sheets and towels) should be washed by using household laundry soap and tumbled dry on a hot setting. Individuals should avoid “hugging” laundry prior to washing it to prevent contaminating themselves. Individuals should wash their hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub immediately after handling dirty laundry.

Eating utensils should be washed either in a dishwasher or by hand with water and soap.

Thus ends the two parts of the FAQ obtained from CDC. In the next post I will include a FAQ from a more local source that is more applicable to Malaysian.

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Swine Flu A (H1N1) Virus General FAQ

2009-05-11T02:39:00.006+08:00

I know, I know, I'm a little slow. Pretty much everyone who intends to write about the A(H1N1) virus would have written it by now. Unfortunately I had been busy with lots of things lately but hey, this is for my own use as well so it doesn't really matter :P

I'm basically getting these FAQ from the CDC page, but just in case if they ever take down the page for whatever reason, at least I will still have it for my own reference. I will be breaking this FAQ into 2 parts. The first part will be about the characteristics of the virus as well as what is CDC doing about this outbreak, and the second part will more on prevention and treatment as well as contamination and cleaning.

Before I go into the FAQ, here are some useful links:

1. Here is where I get the FAQ from.

2. If you want updates on the virus, you can visit CDC website which will be updated on a regular basis.

3. For local (Malaysia) updates, The Star website does have a Swine Flu Watch, but not sure how often they update it as the last time it was updated was on the 29th April 2009. It does provide some more locally related FAQs.

Anyway, here it is, the FAQ obtained from CDC:

Questions & Answers

H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and You*

May 8, 2009 12:00 AM ET

Novel H1N1 Flu

What is H1N1 (swine flu)?
H1N1 (referred to as “swine flu” early on) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. This new virus was first detected in people in the United States in April 2009. Other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have reported people sick with this new virus. This virus is spreading from person-to-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread.

Why is this new H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”?
This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and avian genes and human genes. Scientists call this a “quadruple reassortant” virus.

Novel H1N1 Flu in Humans

Are there human infections with this H1N1 virus in the U.S.?
Yes. Cases of human infection with this H1N1 influenza virus were first confirmed in the U.S. in Southern California and near Guadalupe County, Texas. The outbreak intensified rapidly from that time and more and more states have been reporting cases of illness from this virus. An updated case count of confirmed novel H1N1 flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/investigation.htm. CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.

Is this new H1N1 virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this new H1N1 virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it is not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of this virus in people?
The symptoms of this new H1N1 flu virus in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Also, like seasonal flu, severe illnesses and death has occurred as a result of illness associated with this virus.

How severe is illness associated with this new H1N1 virus?
It’s not known at this time how severe this virus will be in the general population. CDC is studying the medical histories of people who have been infected with this virus to determine whether some people may be at greater risk from infection, serious illness or hospitalization from the virus. In seasonal flu, there are certain people that are at higher risk of serious flu-related complications. This includes people 65 years and older, children younger than five years old, pregnant women, and people of any age with chronic medical conditions. It’s unknown at this time whether certain groups of people are at greater risk of serious flu-related complications from infection with this new virus. CDC also is conducting laboratory studies to see if certain people might have natural immunity to this virus, depending on their age.

How does this new H1N1 virus spread?
Spread of this H1N1 virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How long can an infected person spread this virus to others?
At the current time, CDC believes that this virus has the same properties in terms of spread as seasonal flu viruses. With seasonal flu, studies have shown that people may be contagious from one day before they develop symptoms to up to 7 days after they get sick. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods. CDC is studying the virus and its capabilities to try to learn more and will provide more information as it becomes available.

Exposures Not Thought to Spread New H1N1 Flu

Can I get infected with this new H1N1 virus from eating or preparing pork?
No. H1N1 viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get this new HIN1 virus from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.

Is there a risk from drinking water?
Tap water that has been treated by conventional disinfection processes does not likely pose a risk for transmission of influenza viruses. Current drinking water treatment regulations provide a high degree of protection from viruses. No research has been completed on the susceptibility of the novel H1N1 flu virus to conventional drinking water treatment processes. However, recent studies have demonstrated that free chlorine levels typically used in drinking water treatment are adequate to inactivate highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. It is likely that other influenza viruses such as novel H1N1 would also be similarly inactivated by chlorination. To date, there have been no documented human cases of influenza caused by exposure to influenza-contaminated drinking water.

Can the new H1N1 flu virus be spread through water in swimming pools, spas, water parks, interactive fountains, and other treated recreational water venues?
Influenza viruses infect the human upper respiratory tract. There has never been a documented case of influenza virus infection associated with water exposure. Recreational water that has been treated at CDC recommended disinfectant levels does not likely pose a risk for transmission of influenza viruses. No research has been completed on the susceptibility of the H1N1 influenza virus to chlorine and other disinfectants used in swimming pools, spas, water parks, interactive fountains, and other treated recreational venues. However, recent studies have demonstrated that free chlorine levels recommended by CDC (1–3 parts per million [ppm or mg/L] for pools and 2–5 ppm for spas) are adequate to disinfect avian influenza A (H5N1) virus. It is likely that other influenza viruses such as novel H1N1 virus would also be similarly disinfected by chlorine.

Can H1N1 influenza virus be spread at recreational water venues outside of the water?
Yes, recreational water venues are no different than any other group setting. The spread of this novel H1N1 flu is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

Response & Investigation

What is CDC doing in response to the outbreak?
CDC has implemented its emergency response. The agency’s goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by the new virus. CDC continues to issue new interim guidance for clinicians and public health professionals. In addition, CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) continues to send antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to all 50 states and U.S. territories to help them respond to the outbreak.

What epidemiological investigations are taking place in response to the recent outbreak?
CDC works very closely with state and local officials in areas where human cases of new H1N1 flu infections have been identified. In California and Texas, where EpiAid teams have been deployed, many epidemiological activities are taking place or planned including:

Active surveillance in the counties where infections in humans have been identified;
Studies of health care workers who were exposed to patients infected with the virus to see if they became infected;
Studies of households and other contacts of people who were confirmed to have been infected to see if they became infected;
Study of a public high school where three confirmed human cases of H1N1 flu occurred to see if anyone became infected and how much contact they had with a confirmed case; and
Study to see how long a person with the virus infection sheds the virus.

Who is in charge of medicine in the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) once it is deployed?
Local health officials have full control of SNS medicine once supplies are deployed to a city, state, or territory. Federal, state, and local community planners are working together to ensure that SNS medicines will be delivered to the affected area as soon as possible. Many cities, states, and territories have already received SNS supplies. After CDC sends medicine to a state or city, control and distribution of the supply is at the discretion of that state or local health department. Most states and cities also have their own medicines that they can access to treat infected persons.

*Note: Much of the information in this document is based on studies and past experience with seasonal (human) influenza. CDC believes the information applies to the new H1N1 (swine) viruses as well, but studies on this virus are ongoing to learn more about its characteristics. This document will be updated as new information becomes available.

For general information about swine influenza (not new H1N1 flu) see Background Information about Swine Influenza.

There you have it. First part of the FAQ. Will post 2nd part asap.

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A Crazy 14-Days.

2009-05-03T16:53:00.004+08:00

It has been a crazy 2 weeks for me,

An outbreak of a weird strain of the swine flu virus, which I'll write more in upcoming posts.

An almost 5 full days of crazy working hours and deadline up to 2am or 3am.

Crazy experimentation with my jailbroken iPhone 3G (fine, that's for my own enjoyment :P)

A crazily good business opportunity just presented (more like re-presented) itself.

A sudden onset of a crazy (crazy to us at least) eye allergic reaction in my 3 year old which scared the living daylights out of us. I shall elaborate more of this in this post.

Me, my wife, my 2 sons and my mom went shopping in the 1 Utama Shopping Centre on Saturday. While we were having lunch in one of the restaurant, I noticed my youngest son is rubbing his eyes again. I said again because it's not uncommon for him to do that as his eyes get itchy quite easily. While we try to stop him sometimes, we're not that worried about it, and the itch will usually go away after a while and it'll be ok. But that day it was different as his eyes were getting quite red so we were paying more attention to him and try to stop him from rubbing his eyes.

While I was shopping for some toys with my 6 year old, my wife suddenly called me on my mobile (she was sitting on a bench somewhere with my 3yo to take care of him) and said that there was something weird forming in his eyes, sort of like a blister of some sort. We were very worried and without hesitation, we decided to send him to a hospital as most of the clinics would be closed.

I was carrying him and we were walking very fast/running to my car, which was parked quite far away, and decided to bring him to the Emergency Ward of Damansara Specialist Hospital in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya.

When we finally get to see the doctor on duty (after registration and waiting for a while), the doctor's initial diagnosis was Membranous Conjunctivitis. When he learnt that it was a sudden onset, he ruled that out as viral and bacterial conjunctivitis usually take quite sometime to develop. He then picked up the phone and called one of the eye specialist and asked for advice. The thing I really like about this doctor is that he is calm and more importantly, admits openly that he doesn't know much about it. I totally forgotten to get his name as me and my wife were too worried to even think of getting the name of the doctor LOL!

Anyways, in conclusion, the doctor diagnosed it as an allergic reaction since it happened so suddenly. My son used to be allergic to dairy products and nuts. He is getting better now with the dairy products and we still won't let him take anything containing nuts. He must have touched something he is allergic to during lunch and accidentally rub his eyes with that hand. The doctor said that it may take about 3 days for it to totally recover. While we were hoping it to be sooner, it's not too bad.

We were given 4 different types of eye drops (1 of them contains steroid) and a bottle of antihistamine, which stops the itch. Putting the eye drops is a nightmare as my son was not very cooperative but since we had done this before we sort of know the trick. The trick is to put a drop at the inner corner of the eye when it is shut tight (due to crying), and then to try to open his eyes, either to convince him to do it, or we do it by force by gently spreading the eyelids open with fingers. Once it's opened, the eye drop will go in.

I did some research online and found something called Allergic Conjunctivitis. In other words, it's conjunctivitis that is caused by allergy. Good thing is this form of conjunctivitis is not contagious and should not take to long to recover. I'm still not sure if what my son has is an Allergic Conjunctivitis, since the doctor just said that it's an allergic reaction, but today is the 2nd day and he is already much better. The blister in the eye has subsided so we're happy.

Here are some sites that contains information on Conjunctivitis and Allergic Conjunctivitis which I hope you find it useful:-
1. Conjunctivitis from Dr. Greene

2. An article on Allergic Conjunctivitis by the University of Illinois At Chicago's Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

3. An article on Allergies of the eye by the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center.

So yeah, all in all, last 2 weeks had been really exciting and challenging for me :D. Well, live and learn.

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Can't Take This Sh*t No More!!? (A Remedy For Diarrhoea)

2009-04-22T02:16:00.006+08:00

Recently I just received another forwarded email about some kind of magical remedy for some kind of ailment. This time, it is for diarrhoea.

This caught my attention straight away because for most of my life, I've been having a very sensitive bowel. Having diarrhoea can sometimes be a daily event for me. Not only that, after becoming a parent, it's sometimes quite scary when your little ones have severe diarrhoea, not to mention the horror of cleaning them up after that, especially if you're using cloth nappy LOL! Of course, after we know for sure that something is not right, we will let them wear disposable for the rest of the day, but still, the smell is almost unbearable.

According to the email, the very simple, and more importantly, perfectly safe remedy, is rice water. My wife and I heard of it before but we didn't really take it seriously. Anyway I will copy and paste the whole email below. I will also include an article from Rehydration Project that was mentioned in the email. Hope you find these information useful.

"> > Subject: Fw: Diarrhoea

Drinking sugar dilute in water also makes a simple and quick remedy!

With recent case on the Geylang Serai food poisoning out break.. would like to share the info received from a friend pls read on it may be of help...

When someone gets diarrhoea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer.

The secret is in rice water.

This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it.

(My mother) knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore or a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.

Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water.

I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself.

I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable paediatrician teaches.. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?

Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten. Either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it. At some conference. After he had done clinical trials.

Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method.

Ah, so! I am impressed.

It is rice water and not rice, that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary.

This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice watersooner and cure himself or herself sooner.

When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine.

But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.

How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to
*http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2*

It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises."

You can visit the link above to read the article, or you can just read it here :P

"Rice water and diarrhoea

The advantage of using rice water is that rice is cooked daily in South East Asia.
WHO photograph by Dr Gramiccia

In South East Asia, rice is prepared in two ways - to produce either dry, cooked rice or, with extra water, rice porridge. This leaves a fluid (rice water) on top of the cooked rice grains.

Professor Wong Hock Boon, a paediatrician working in Singapore, has been using rice water to rehydrate babies for several years. If the babies are bottle-fed rice water is given exclusively for the first 24 hours of treatment - breastfeeding can continue as normal (1). Professor Wong and his colleagues have found that many babies who have not responded to other rehydration solutions respond well to rice water. If diarrhoea starts again with the re-introduction of milk, extra rice water is given with additional rice porridge. Older babies are sometimes given rice porridge alone.

The means by which rice water helps to stop diarrhoea are still being researched. One explanation could be that starch-like sugars tend to draw less fluid out of the body and into the gut compared with a similar amount of simple sugar such as glucose. Some babies with diarrhoea can digest starch more easily than simple sugars. The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B) is carrying out studies on the inclusion of locally available starches (such as rice starch) as the carbohydrate in oral rehydration solution.

As Professor Wong stresses, the advantage of using rice water is that rice is cooked daily in South East Asia. The rice water is boiled and does not have to be made up and kept in large quantities as is frequently the case with sugar-salt rehydration solutions.

If you would like more information about the use of rice water for rehydration, write to: Professor Wong Hock Boon, National University of Singapore, University Department of Paediatrics, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore.

For information on ICDDR, B's work on locally available starches, write to: Library and Publication Unit, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, G.P.O. Box 128, Dacca-2, Bangladesh.

(1) Wong H B 1981 Rice water in treatment of infantile gastroenteritis. The Lancet vol 2: 102-103."

Please Share: For those who have tried this method, or have heard of stories and testimonies, please do not hesitate to share with us.

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My Very Own iPhone 3G!! - [Random Ramblings]

2009-04-14T01:01:00.009+08:00

Yay!! Finally got my very own iPhone 3G!!

What you see when you open the box.

I know I'm a little slow, most people already bought their iPhone 3G a long long time ago. I wanted it a long time ago but unfortunately iPhone 3G (and the older generation) was not "officially" brought into Malaysia until about 1 or 2 months ago, and the "non-official" set was insanely expensive! I asked around before the official launch of iPhone 3G in Malaysia, and some are selling the iPhone 3G at RM4,000+ (about USD1,100). Since I heard so much about it's limitations, which I'll go into it in a bit, and with that crazy pricing, I immediately threw the idea of owning an iPhone 3G out of my mind. In fact, even when it was officially launched in Malaysia, I wasn't keen because all the limitations are still there.

The back of the iPhone 3G.

I was actually eyeing the HTC Touch Pro2 that was rumoured to be avaibable in the Asian region during summer (sometime in June) 2009. One of my friend was trying to talk some sense into me, saying the HTC Touch Pro2 will most likely going to cost about RM3,000 (about USD800) in Malaysia, I should consider getting an iPhone 3G, with contract, and will only cost about half that price. He also added that with the Version 3.0 OS, most of the limitations in the current version will be addressed and improved upon. I was a little skeptical so I did a little research on my own.

Clear iPhone 3G, blur box.

Blur iPhone 3G, clear box. But why did I put the box upside down?? Sigh.

The biggest problem doing research was the more I looked at the iPhone 3G, the more I wanted to get it! And when I looked at some of the things the OS 3.0 can do, it's very hard not to get excited. Cut the long story short, it didn't take very long for me to purchase my very first Apple product (next in line will be the Macbook Pro, LOL! Dream on!).

Some of the limitations of the current iPhone 3G that originally puts me off were:-

1. Can't forward SMS. Can be a major pain in the @$$ during festive seasons LOL! (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

2. No MMS. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

3. Can't do video call since it doesn't have a front mounted camera.

4. The QWERTY keyboard is painstakingly small making it really hard to SMS and chat (Thank God for Auto-correction!). It does get better after some practice. You can however use the landscape QWERTY keyboard when surfing the net with the Safari browser. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

5. Can't change the battery yourself and can't buy extra batteries. Which brings me to the next problem that really bugs me,

6. Very short battery life. With moderate mix usage, the battery can probably last for around 5 hours.

7. Bluetooth can only connect to handsfree headset. You can't listen to music through wireless stereo headphones (no A2DP), can't transfer files and can't transfer contacts. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

8. Camera is not the best, only 2MP and cannot record video.

9. Can't copy and paste. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

That's about all I can think off at the moment. Most of these limitations will no longer be an issue once the OS 3.0 is launched. It's rumoured to be launch sometime in the beginning or middle of June 2009 so it won't be long. In fact after using it for a few days, most of these limitations are actually quite bearable.

I'm sure by now you should realise that the pictures doesn't really have much to do with the article I'm writing, except, of course, that they are pictures of iPhone 3G.

Some of the features I really like are :-

1. The touch screen is just a bliss to use. Responsive and intuitive.

2. The 3G is quite fast, and wifi connectivity just gives us more options.

3. Some really great a useful 3rd party applications which I will cover in a while.

4. Beautiful and vibrant display.

5. Superb video and audio quality. Not surprising since it's an iPod.

6. Maps, Stocks, and Weather applications can be very useful.

Other accessories that came with the box.

Some 3rd party applications that one shoud have are :-

1. Facebook (Free) - this is useful if you use facebook to msg and keep in touch. If you want the access the full facebook and it's applications, you have to use the web browser.

2. Fring (Free) - A messenger type app allowing you to access your contacts from various sources such as MSN, Yahoo, Skype, ICQ, Google Talk etc. You can access them all with just one application. Very useful

3. Skype (Free) - You can also use Fring. Basically if you have Wifi, you can call your friends who have Skype on their phone or computer for free.

4. SnatchTest (Free) / Snatch (Pay) - Converts your iPhone into a mouse pad which allows you to control your laptop/computer's cursor by using your iPhone. It uses Wifi to connect and you can also use IP address to connect. Very useful for those who do a lot of presentations.

5. Dictionary.com (Free) - Pretty much self explainatory. Good thing is you don't even need to be connected to the internet.

These are only but a few useful applications. There are plenty more you can get from iTunes.

Well, that's about all I have to say about my iPhone 3G for now. I'll say more once I used the OS 3.0. All in all, I'm quite happy with the experience and have no regrets getting this little baby despite of all it's limitations.

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Jelly-licious, yum!

2009-04-08T02:41:00.008+08:00

My son 6th birthday just passed. For his birthday, we decided to celebrate twice with him. For both of these celebration, we decided to buy Jelly cake from Q Jelly Bakery Shop.

The first time was with his school friends at his kindergarten. It was a very short celebration because it was held during their 15 minutes snack break. I had to bring paper bowls, cutleries, serviettes, gifts for the 21 kids (excluding my son), kit kats, vitagens, and of course, the 3kg jelly cake in the shape of a train as seen below. Good thing was I didn't have to do anything, just took some photos, stood there looking pretty, and socialising a little with my son's friends. Kids nowadays are much more sociable. I remember when I was his age, when an adult spoke to me, I either nod my head, shake my head, or stare blankly back at him/her LOL! It is indeed a good thing to start confidence building at a young age :P

3kg Jelly Cake

The next celebration is to have it at home with daddy, mommy, cute little brother, grandfather, grandmother, and a few uncles (my brother in-laws). This time, I bought a smaller 2kg jelly cake in the shape of a house.

2kg Jelly Cake

The thickness is twice the 3kg cake.

The good things about jelly cakes are that not only do they taste good, they look REALLY nice. And according to them, it's quite safe as the cakes are absolutely preservative free and they used only US FDA approved colouring. To find out more, go and read the FAQ found on the website.

Before I go on, I must add that this website is not affiliated with Q Jelly Bakery Shop Sdn. Bhd. in any way.

If you're in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and want to go to the shop instead of shopping online, the address is :-

Q Jelly Bakery Shop Sdn. Bhd.
No. 15, Jalan Kenari, 18B, Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47170 Puchong, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-80761159 / 1179
Tue - Sun (10am to 9pm). Monday closed

Ikano Branch
LG03, Ikano Power Centre
Tel: 03-77221159 / 1179
Mon - Sun (10am to 9pm)

1 Utama Branch
LG311D, 1 Utama Shopping Centre
Mon - Sun (10am - 10pm)

While the jelly cake tastes really good, I don't think I can eat it all the time LOL! But if you want to go for the WOW! factor and something that tastes as good as it looks, why not give it a try? :P

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Lack Of Updates? Sorry Lor!!

2009-04-06T22:27:00.005+08:00

Very sorry for the lack of updates. Everybody's sick la.

My youngest son is sick.

My eldest son is sick.

I'm sick.

Updates will happen very soon. Very soon indeed.
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Parental Negligence Kills...

2009-03-31T21:38:00.011+08:00

We heard of children being kidnapped, raped, and murdered sometimes due to lack of supervision (such as Nurin Jazlin Jazimin case in 2007).

We heard of a father reverses his car over his own daughter.

We heard of parents forgotten and left their baby in the car seat, and the baby died due to heat.

We heard of children drowned, sometimes even under the parent's nose when they were distracted but for a few minutes.

Now, just a few days ago, we read about a baby boy less than a month old was starved to death due to parent's prolonged binge drinking with friends over a few days. Below is the news article taken from thestar.com.my.

"
Friday March 27, 2009
Baby dies, drunk parents forgot to feed him
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: A baby boy, less than a month old, starved to death after his parents allegedly forgot to feed him because they were too drunk.

The baby died in the intensive-care unit of Miri Hospital yesterday morning and a police report has been lodged.

Police now want to question the parents, in their early 30s from a longhouse in southern Sarawak, who came to Miri to work and were renting a house at a low-cost housing scheme near the Sarawak-Brunei Highway, some 12km north of the city centre.

Relatives found the baby unconscious in the house and rushed him to the hospital at about 3am on Wednesday.

Miri deputy OCPD Supt Ismail Paduka Idris confirmed that the baby died in the morning.

“We are investigating claims that the parents had indulged in a prolonged drinking spree and had neglected the baby.

“Initial investigations show that the baby might have been so severely neglected that he suffered fatal consequences.

“We want to find out whether this was due to carelessness,” Supt Ismail said.

The couple also have a three-year-old daughter."

The above are but only a few incidents about parental negligence that were being reported. There were probably countless of other incidents that were not reported.

The purpose I'm writing this article is not to express my anger nor to point my finger at them parents and starts the blame game rolling. Rather, it is as a wake up call. A reminder. Far be in from me to judge others as I'm not perfect myself.

For those who think that these parents are terrible, utterly irresponsible and therefore, should be punished for their act of negligence, you are absolutely right! But do not forget that no one is perfect. We are all messed up in our own ways. Some of us are even capable of doing the same thing, or possibly things worse than these (we just don't know it yet). I'm someone who believes that until you're lying on your death bed breathing the last few breath in this world, do not ever let words such as "I'll NEVER do such a thing" rolled off your tongue so easily without any serious consideration because you may find yourself committing the said "crime" someday down the road.

As a Christian, there are a few phrases in the Bible that speaks to me very strongly regarding these matters:-

1. In John 8:7, Jesus protecting the prostitute from the accusers, said "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

2. Matthew 7:3-5 "Why do you observe the splinter in you brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother, 'Let me take the splinter out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye."

3. And of course, in Luke 23:34, while Jesus was crucified on the cross, at one point, he said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

I believe in second chances because I believe in a God who believes in second chances. Of course there are some who has worn out their second chances, especially those who are aware of their mistakes yet remain unrepentant.

The above drunk parents will not be charged with any criminal offence as the police investigation revealed that it's a tragic mishap and there was no criminal intent on hurting the baby.

Were the parents irresponsible? - Extremely

Were they stupid? - Definitely, but hopefully not anymore

Could the tragedy be prevented? - TOTALLY

Did they want the baby to die? - I most certainly hope not

Do they deserve a second chance? - In my humble opinion, YES.

Did they deserve to be punish? - Yes, and trust me, they are really having it right now.

Personally, I hope this experience, and the second chance they get will mould them to be better parents. And I do think they are really suffering right now, unless they are totally heartless. Frankly, I believe only if you're a parent, you'd fully understand the feeling of guilt, fear, and regret that one will go through when we put our little ones through pain, suffering, and in some cases - death, whether on purpose or by accident. The experience will haunt them for life.

Like I said earlier, we're all messed up in our own way. Some of our mistakes are repairable, but unfortunatly, there are some mistakes you just can't do-over, but life goes on. Instead of pointing fingers, I'm just going to use the couple's story to teach, and remind myself of my duty as a parent and to pay more attention to my kids, and make sure that they are safe.... but of course have to try hard not to get over paranoid LOL! Otherwise I'd be putting my kids through a different kind of hell. The last thing you want is your children growing up with emotional and mental bondage fearing and thinking that the world is out to get them :P.

Arghhh! Living a balanced life, easier said than done LOL! No one and nothing is perfect, we just got to do our best according to our own abilities.

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Post-meal Acrobatics = Post-meal Clean-up

2009-03-26T02:30:00.007+08:00

Not too long ago... ok, fine, it may be a while ago, maybe 2 - 3 months back, I had a funny experience that brought back some memories. So why did I take so long to write about it, well, I always had some more important stuff to do or blog about and this story was always at the back of my mind, and now, I finally managed to pen it down. Well I'm not exactly penning it down but you get the idea :P.

I was at my friend's place practicing some songs for another friend's wedding, when we finished our practice and were just hanging around his house chatting, at one point the wife had to go out to fetch the daughter from the in-laws' place. While she was out, we're still hanging around and my friend's son didn't go out with mommy and was with us the whole time. We were chatting, and my friend was playing with his boy, throwing him up in the air, swinging him around, turning him upside down etc. The kid was obviously having a blast, but the dad was getting a little tired so we decided to take a sit and chill.

While we were chilling and talking, the kid was still sticking to his dad, hugging and going around his (rather big size) dad like an obstacle course, and suddenly, he became very quiet and looked really serious.

From my experience as a father, most of the time when a kid suddenly becomes very still and serious, it could only mean 2 things:-
1. He was shitting or already finished doing the deed.
or
2. He was about to throw up (vomit).

Well, it was the latter. The son threw up all over the dad, the couch and on the floor. We helped him a little bit and had to cut short our visit.

On the wedding day itself, I kinda brought it up and both the husband and the wife were there and we're having a good laugh, that was until I brought up the fact that the son vomitted because the dad was throwing him around after meal, than I heard the "shh! shh!" coming from my friend. Apparently while the wife was aware that the son threw up, she was not informed of the cause LOL!!

This kinda brought back some memories about my eldest son, who's going to be 6 years old in about a week's time. When he was younger, he really threw up a lot. When he was a few months old, after every feed, if he was to raised his legs and kicked the air, or when we raised his legs to change his diaper, most of the time, it would result in him vomitting, and the amount is really scary. He could vomit like 80% of the milk that he just drank. We were VERY worried at first, but since he was growing well despite of all the wasted milk, we slowly gotten used to it. And it wasn't until just recently his vomitting tendencies have reduced significantly.

So the moral of the story is :-
1. If you want to a have post-meal acrobatic fun with your kid(s), be prepared to do some post-meal cleaning up.
2. Don't hide important details from your wife. She will know about it anyway, so it's much better that you confess your sins with your own mouth rather than her finding it out from an outside source LOL!

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A Remedy For Nighttime Cough? Or Not? You Decide

2009-03-19T21:31:00.014+08:00

I came across an email making some pretty crazy claim about an unlikely remedy for nighttime cough. Obviously as a parent, my children's nighttime coughs can be worrying, so when I came across a claim like this, it's hard not to get curious about it. Some of you may have read about it, but anyway, here is the email I received:-

"How to stop cough in 5 minutes!!!
This is a must try....
We have all been kept awake by our own or someone else's cough. Try this and pass it on. The tip and not the cough. ANYTHING is! better than antibiotics. Even babies could benefit from this and the parents wouldn't worry about the safety of their child. And of course, it is harmless and free from any type of side-effects.
WOW! I was raised, and raised my kids with Vicks. How come I never knew this? I can't wait for my next cough. Amazing!
READ IT ALL. It works 100 percent of the time, although the scientists at the Canada

Research council (who discovered it) aren't sure why.

Treatment:

To stop night time coughing in a child (or an adult, as! we found out personally), put Vicks Vapor Rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime and then cover with socks.

Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about five minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. This works 100 percent of the time, and is more effective in children than
even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children, as compared to alter! native therapies like acupressure. I just happened to tune in to a.m. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs, so I listened. It was a surprising finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, and in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago, and it worked 100
percent! She said it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her. The coughing stopped in a few minutes, ! and believe me this was a deep (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds, uncontrollable cough and she slept cough-free for hours every night she used it.

If you have children or grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed. How to stop cough in 5 minutes!!! This is a must try..."

Well, I cut and pasted it word for word, even the mistakes LOL!

And me being me (as in cautious and sometimes paranoid), I decided to go online to do some research regarding this "amazing" claim. While I found out that there are a lot of people claiming this to be true and that it really works, there are a few articles that I came across that sort of put me back on the cautious mode.

The first article is "Avoid applying Vicks VapoRub to babies, pediatricians say" from CBCnews.ca. This is a very good article and I highly recommend people to read it before using the above method.

Then I came across a very interesting website, Snopes.com, which investigates rumors, urban legends, old wives tale etc. On the website, there was an entry on this claim and the status of the claim is Undetermined, ie, can't say if it's real or not. Interestingly, this website posted a statement by the National Research Council Canada (NRC) denying that they ever said that Vicks VapoRub can be used on the sole of the feet to counter nighttime coughs. Go and read the whole article here.

Which then lead me to the actual statement issued by NRC from their very own website, and it's titled "Foot Rub Cough Cure: Fact or Fiction?".

Conclusion:

In my opinion, if you have been using Vicks VapoRub for your children all these while and they don't show any signs of adverse reaction to it, there is no harm in giving this remedy a try. Who knows it might actually give you a peace of mind during those otherwise cough-full nights.

However, if you want to give this method a go but have not used Vicks VapoRub before, please read the above articles carefully and heed the warnings below:-

WARNING!
1. Always, always, always, read the label before use!
2. DO NOT use adult Vicks on children under 2 years of age! I believe they have products meant for babies.
3. Any problem, please consult your doctor.

For those who still want to give it a try, here's some pictures to guide you through the simple steps:-

First
Use Vicks VapoRub

Second

Apply generous amount at the sole of both feet.

Finally

Cover it with socks to prevent staining your bedsheet.

Please Share: If anyone tried this method before, or is planning to try it, please share with us and tell us if it actually works, or not. We thank you in advance. :P

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DHA Overdose?! Really?!

2009-03-12T23:49:00.017+08:00

No, not really. Depends. Well, read on.

One day, my 19 weeks pregnant wife asked me to go online to check how much DHA can a pregnant mother take safely. Is there such thing as DHA overdose? Since the DHA supplement we're taking is 300mg per tablet, she just want to be sure that it's not too much.

Well, what the wife wants, the wife gets (usually).

There's a short answer, and a long answer. Being a long-winded kinda guy, I'm gonna give you both LOL! Short answer are for those who just wants the quick answer to the question "Should I take DHA? And how much DHA is recommended?". In the Long Answer, I will give you more information and findings with regards to topic like "Why is DHA important?", "Why is Vitamin A dangerous?", "What kind of fish can I safely eat?" etc. Well, here goes.

Short Answer:-

Q: Can you overdose on DHA?
A: Depends on what it's made of. Some DHA is obtained from liver such as cod liver oil, which contain the Retinol form of Vitamin A, which should be avoided altogether by pregnant mothers since it's toxic. Pregnant mothers should avoid eating food that contains liver. If the DHA is obtain from the body of the fish, then it is safe, and you won't really overdose on that. Also if you're taking DHA supplement, make sure it is molecular distilled or obtained from originating algae. Otherwise it may contain dangerous environmental pollutants such as mercury, dioxins and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which can interfere with the development of the baby during pregnancy.

Q: How much DHA should I take?
A: According to Omega3FAQ.com, the National Institutes of Health and the International Society for the Study of Fats and Lipids recommends a minimum of 300 mg of DHA a day.This website recommends that if you don't think your DHA intake is sufficient, you can take 100mg of DHA supplement daily. Generally, if you are taking 2 - 3 servings of fatty fish per week, it should be sufficient. However, be very careful in choosing which fish to eat as some of them has high level of contaminant such as mercury and should be avoided altogther. Look for the title "What type of fish can I eat?" under the Long Answer.

Q: So should I take DHA supplement?
A: If you feel that you are not taking enough DHA, then it's a good idea to supplement, since DHA is particularly important to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. With regards to dosage, anywhere between 100mg to 300mg, depending on your normal diet, should be sufficient.

Thus ends the Short Answer.

Here comes the Long Answer.

Long Answer:-

Q: What is DHA?
A: Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an Omega-3 essential fatty acid. DHA is the fundamental building block of the brain.

Q: What are the benefits of DHA?
A: An excerpt taken from the article "The Omega-3 that should be on your mind" by Dr. David Perlmutter says this:
"It is essential that the fetus receive DHA while in the womb for optimal brain and eye development. Moreover, recent studies clearly show that infants who receive optimal levels of DHA in the womb and through nursing perform better on cognitive tests.

But DHA is not just baby food. Clinical studies show that in healthy adults, high consumption of DHA is associated with a reduced risk for developing Alzheimer's, dementia and age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness. Low levels of DHA in red blood cells are associated with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children, as well as cognitive decline in the elderly."

According to an article "DHA & Pregnancy: Should women take a DHA supplement while pregnant?", the author, Julie King, listed a few benefits of DHA to pregnant mothers:-
1. DHA & Children's IQ: Studies seems to proof that DHA helps to improve the development of the brain and might actually produce smarter babies.
2. DHA helps to prevent preterm labour: Research has shown that women who take DHA supplements during the last trimester of their pregnancy are more likely to carries their babies to term.
3. DHA & postpartum depression: studies have shown that women who have a higher intake of DHA in pregnancy are less likely to suffer from postpartum depression after giving birth.

The article also says that DHA is found naturally within breastmilk. It is also added to infant formulas because it is believed to be an essential nutrient that helps assist in the brain and eye development in babies and young children.

Read the full article here.

Q: How much DHA should I take?
A: National Institutes of Health and the International Society for the Study of Fats and Lipids recommends that healthy adults consume a minimum of 220 mg of DHA a day. The panel also recommends that pregnant and nursing women consume at least 300 mg of DHA a day.

Q: What are the sources of DHA.
A: Food that contains DHA are :-
- nuts
- seeds
- eggs
- soy beans
- tofu
- cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts
- Cold-water fish, such as mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, black cod, anchovies, and albacore tuna
- Cod liver oil (should be avoided by pregnant mothers as it contains vitamin A)
- Fatty / oily fish
- microalgae
- and of course, fish oil supplements

When you buy fish oil supplements, ensures the quality and purity of the product. Fish oil supplements that have gone through the process of molecular distillation is safer as it will not contain dangerous environmental pollutants such as dioxins, mercury, and PCBs which can interfere with the foetus's development. Another alternative is to go for "fish oil" supplement made of microalgae, which is where the fish got their source of DHA at the first place.

The omega-3 fatty acids found in plants such as whole grains nuts and seeds is ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid), but what you really need are long-chain omega3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA that are found in fatty acids. In theory, our body can convert ALA into the long-chain omega 3 fatty acids like EPA and DHA. However, it's extremely difficult for the body to do so. And, even when it does happen, the amounts produced are too small to have any significant effect. So fatty/oily fish is still the best sourse for DHA and EPA. HOWEVER not all fish are safe to be eaten. Which begs the next question.

Q: What type of fish can I eat?
A: According to The U.S. FDA and EPA:-
"By following these 3 recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, women and young children will receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish and be confident that they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of mercury.

1. DO NOT eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.

2. Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.

Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.

3. Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.

Follow these same recommendations when feeding fish and shellfish to your young child, but serve smaller portions."

You can read the full article by FDA and EPA here, which I highly recommend that you do so.

To get the mercury Levels in Commercial Fish and Shellfish compiled by FDA and EPA, click here.

You can also read the article "The Best Types of Fish for Health" by Mark Stibich, Ph.D. from About.com.

Q: Why should pregnant mothers avoid liver (including cod liver oil) altogether?
A: Vitamin A comes in two forms, animal based, which is retinol, and plant based which is betacarotene. Liver, and liver products such as pate, liver sausage, even cod liver oil, contains very high levels of the retinol form of vitamin A, which can be harmful to your developing baby, particularly in the first trimester. To read more on this subject, you can visit these 2 websites:-
1. Babycentre.co.uk
2. Bio-medicine.org

In conclusion:
Pregnant and nursing mothers should make it a point to take enough DHA. Eating the recommended amount of fatty fish together with DHA supplement of high quality and purity should give you the sufficient amount of DHA needed for you and your baby. As long as you follow the guidelines found in this post and in all the 3rd party articles provided here in, you should be pretty safe. Of course, feel free to search around for more information if you want and I'd appreciate if you share any interesting findings with me :).

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Can I Afford To Go Organic?

2009-03-08T23:53:00.015+08:00

Being a parent, obviously one of the more important things in life is your children's health, and one of the question that my wife and I have been struggling with for quite a while is whether to go organic or not. If you look at the health benefits of organic food, such as:-
1. Lower pesticide residue
2. Higher nutrient level
3. Very good for children (as they are still developing)
4. Absence of potentially harmful food additives
5. Generally a better health outcome;
I should go organic. There's only one reason that's stopping us from going all out for organic food, which is this:-

5 apples for RM23.36, RM2.59 for 100gram.

Proof of Quality :)

Yes, what's stopping me from going all out is the price. Organic products (at least in Malaysia) usually cost 3x to 4x more than normal products. I can normally buy 5 apples from our usual wet market fruit stall for only RM5.00 but I need to pay close to RM24.00 for 5 organically grown apples. But I have to say, they taste extremely sweet and good, no doubt about that.

But regardless of what most organic food advocates argue, that you shouldn't put a price on quality of life, paying 4x more for something when your pay stays the same is extremely difficult for some, and near impossible to those who are in the lower income group. Putting the blame on cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, etc. and saying that in order to afford organic food, people just need to change their lifestyle, ie stop smoking, drinking, buying branded clothes, are just downright ignorant, shallow, self-righteous and arrogant. Why? Because they sounded as if quitting substance abuse and changing lifestyle are like changing clothes, and heck, some of us are not even using those substances.

Not only that, it is not unanimous in the scientific world that organic products are definitely better than non-organic products. There are still debates going on about organic vs non-organic. I'm not going to go into the debate, so if you want to read more about it, visit the following sites:-
1. Organic or Not Organic - A neutral and well written article on this subject
2. Organic Food & Farming (pdf) - A very thorough report to counter the argument that organic food is not necessary better than non-organic food.

The verdict, after doing my research, is that I'm still pro organic, for now. I'm sure in the near future, more research and evidence will be able to shed more light on this subject. Which brings me back to the issue of costs. My conclusion is that my wife and I will try to our best to go organic for food that are listed to have high pesticide content. What list you say? Well, Environmental Working Group (EWG), a not-for-profit organisation, has been compiling a lists of vegies and fruits, in fact, a list of 43 vegetables and fruits and rank them according to their pesticide content. I know that this is a US based list, but since I can't seemed to find any such lists provided by our local authority, that list is the best guide I can find.

Here's the Top 12 worst (highest pesticide content) and best (lowest pesticide content) vegies and fruits.

The Dirty Dozen and Cleanest 12 (Click to enlarge)

Click here to get the printable One-pager pdf file provided by Foodnews.org.

I also find this website to be helpful as an additional info to the above list.

Anyway, this is my take on organic food, I hope you find it useful, but like I said, as for me, I will try my best to buy organic food for the "high risk" food. You gotta decide for yourself what is best for you :P

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Jason Mraz is Maximum Awsomeness - [Random Ramblings]

2009-03-05T00:18:00.016+08:00

Just came back from Jason Mraz - Live In Malaysia 2009! And my oh my, what a night!!

It was simply one of the best concert I've ever attended. Mr. A-Z is definitely one of the most talented, versatile, flexible, entertaining singer, and boy can he really sing, and dance too. This Mr. Feel Good is definitely the Real Deal! This is the type of concert which I personally really enjoy, as oppose to concerts that rely more on props and countless costumes. I feel that I could really connect and enjoy the raw talent of the artiste rather than getting distracted by dry ice and sequins.

The concert started pretty much on time, which is great, though I can't exactly remember what time it was. It was sometime between 8pm to 8:30pm. Like most concert, the sellout crowd was cheering at every Tom, Dick and Harry that walked onto the stage LOL!

When Jason Mraz finally appeared, he opened, predictably, with "Wake up everyone, how can you sleep at a time like this...". Yes, the first song was "Make it mine".

While I remember all the songs he sang, I can't really recall the order so I apologise before hand if my info is a little inconsistent with the actual event :P

After the opening song, he followed-up with "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and somewhere nearing the end of the song, he mixed it up with Oasis's "Wonderwall". For those who are familiar with Jason Mraz's live performances, this will come as no surprise, but it was still really good to experience it firsthand.

Some of Mraz's greatest assets are his spontaneity and cheekiness and we definitely got a lot of that tonight. At one point he was asking the crowd:
"Who's here with your best friend tonight?" - to which the crowd cheered
He then asked: "Who's here with your best friend tonight because you're madly in love with that person?" LOL!
Of course the song that came after that was "If It Kills Me".

Being a seasoned entertainer, Jason Mraz has topnotch showmanship and can really engage the crowd, asking us to do some fun, silly stuff with him from time to time such as making funny sound and funny dance moves, he even slipped in an inspiring line or two. For example, he was teaching the crowd to do the silly cool moves of high five, low five, back five and high ten in preparation for his next song "The Dynamo Of Volition", before the song he said "If there's anyone of you out there who's too cool to do this dance moves, or maybe this is not your style, or you have an IMAGE to upkeep, well, DON'T LET YOUR MIND STOP YOU FROM HAVING A GOOD TIME." Simply priceless :)

All in all, the concert was simply awesome. The theme of the night is all about love and feeling good. We have a guest artiste Penny Tai (戴佩妮) (I'm pretty sure it's her) who did a duet for the song "Lucky" with Jason Mraz. If I have any complaints is that the sound system was a little on the soft side. It could definitely be better. And of course, I wished it was longer. The concert ended at 9:55pm, a total duration of roughly 1 1/2 hours, and he didn't sing 2 of my favourite songs: "Curbside Prophet" and "Wordplay". Time flies when you're watching Jason Mraz.

For 1 1/2 hours, on the night of 4th March 2009, Jason Mraz sang, dance and stole our hearts (I know, it sounds gay), and he left us with the best quote of the night:

"This is my first time in Malaysia, but DEFINITELY NOT MY LAST!" So I'm expecting more of live Mr A-Z awesomeness hopefully not too far into the future.

Here's the list of songs he sang in no particular order:-

1. Make It Mine
2. The Remedy (I Won't Worry)
3. Life Is Wonderful
4. You And I Both
5. If It Kills Me
6. Geek In The Pink
7. A Beautiful Mess
8. Live High
9. The Dynamo Of Volition
10. I'm Yours
11. Lucky
12. No Stopping Us
13. Butterfly

Other interesting / related read:-

1. A review by Mr. DX (Blog: A New Chapter In My Life)

2. A review by Joyce Lyn (Blog: purple bananas & red shoes)

3. A review by Neil (Blog: Ahem!)

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Can "Anti" And "Pro" Co-exist?

2009-02-25T03:42:00.012+08:00

What I'm referring to here is of course, antibiotics and probiotics.

My wife is now slightly over her 1st trimester of her pregnancy. Towards the end of the 1st trimester and the beginning of her 2nd trimester, she noticed some spotting (bleeding). Naturally we got worried because in all her previous pregnancies, she spotted and had to be bed rested. We thank God that this time around, throughout the 1st trimester she did not really experience any spotting.

We decided to go see her doctor, and through ultrasound scan, the doctor said that she has some infection, which is one of the common causes of spotting during the 2nd and 3rd trimester. Her advice was to take a very mild but effective antibiotic. She also asked my wife to take probiotic together not only because it will prevent the growth of bad bacteria, it will also help in reducing the side effects of the antibiotic. She instructed that my wife should take the antibiotic in the morning and night and the probiotic in the afternoon.

So, my wife, being the very cautious person she is, asked me to go online to confirm if it is ok to take antibiotic and probiotic together.

What I learn is as below:-

1. You can take antibiotic and probiotic together, just don't take them at the same time within a day. One website that I read recommended taking probiotic 2 hours after taking the antibiotic, and another website recommended taking probiotic 4 hours after taking the antibiotic. Either case I think it's quite safe.

2. Taking antibiotic and probiotic at the same time will render the probiotic ineffective as the antibiotic will kill ALL bacteria indiscriminately.

3. Taking probiotic when you take antibiotic is essential because after killing all the bacteria, you need to populate your gut with good bacteria, otherwise the bad (pathogenic) bacteria will grow. By taking probiotic during antibiotic therapy helps to keep the intestine flora in proper balance. It'll also help to minimize the destructive effects of antibiotics to the bacterial flora. Some even advice to increase your probiotic intake 2 or 3 times the normal amount for about 10 days after the antibiotic treatment is completed. However I'm not very sure if this is adviceable for pregnant mothers, you can always check with your healthcare provider.

4. Probiotics are food and are good for pregnant mothers and their growing babies.

5. We do need a little bit of bad (pathogenic) bacteria in our body. According to one website. The ratio of good to bad bacteria should be about 85:15.

The above are some of my findings regarding to this topic. In any case, my question has been answered. Please read the following articles for more information on probiotics and antibiotics.

1. Probiotics And Antibiotics

2. Probiotics And Pregnancy - What You Should Know (Part 1)

3. Probiotics And Pregnancy - What You Should Know (Part 2)

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Natural Remedy For Dengue Fever??

2009-02-23T13:43:00.006+08:00

I received an email today about a natural remedy for dengue fever and two testimonials along with it, so I decided to share it with you, especially since we now have increased cases of dengue in some parts of Malaysia. That remedy is Raw Papaya Leaves Juice.

Papaya Leaves - easily and readily available here in Malaysia

For those who condemns or opposes people for sharing a remedy that is not proven, chew on the 2 points below:-

1. This remedy is harmless. Even if at the end of the day it was found to be useless, so what? It ain't gonna harm you.

2. Just imagine someone dear to you is lying in bed suffering from a disease that has no known cure, with the possibility of loosing that person forever, I'm quite certain even the most skeptical will want to give an alternative remedy a try.

So if you don't like it, you don't have to use it, nobody is forcing you to do anything you don't want to.

Steps to prepare the remedy:-

1. Take 2 pieces of raw papaya leaves and clean them.
2. Use only the leafy part and not the stem or sap.
3. DO NOT boil, cook or rinse with hot water, it will loose it's strength.
4. Pound and squeeze with filter cloth, you will only get 1 tablespoon per leaf.
5. Take 2 tablespoons per serving, once a day.

It's very bitter and you have to swallow it. Will it work? Hopefully we all don't need to find out, but if you have tried it before, do let us know. Below are 2 testimonials that I received via email.

Testimonial 1

I would like to share this interesting discovery from a Friend's/Classmate's son who has just recovered from dengue fever. Apparently, his son was in the critical stage at the ICU when his blood platelet count drops to 15 after 15 liters of blood transfusion.?

His father was so worried that he seeks another friend's recommendation and his son was saved. He confessed to me that he gave his son raw juice of the papaya leaves. From a platelet count of 45 after 20 liters of blood transfusion, and after drinking the raw papaya leaf juice, his platelet count jumps instantly to 135. Even the doctors and nurses were surprised. After the second day he was discharged. So he asked me to pass this good news around.

Testimonial 2

You may have heard this elsewhere but if not I am glad to inform you that papaya juice is a natural cure for dengue fever. As dengue fever is rampant now, I think it's good to share this with all.?

A friend of mine had dengue last year. It was a very serious situation for her as her platelet count had dropped to 28,000 after 3 days in hospital and water has started to fill up her lung. She had difficulty in breathing. She was only 32-year old. Doctor says there's no cure for dengue. We just have to wait for her body immune system to build up resistance against dengue and fight its own battle. She already had 2 blood transfusion and all of us were praying very hard as her platelet continued to drop since the first day she was admitted.?

Fortunately her mother-in-law heard that papaya juice would help to reduce the fever and got some papaya leaves, pounded them and squeeze the juice out for her. The next day, her platelet count started to increase, her fever subside. We continued to feed her with papaya juice and she recovered after 3 days!!!?

Amazing but it's true. It's believed one's body would be overheated when one is down with dengue and that also caused the patient to have fever papaya juice has cooling effect. Thus, it helps to reduce the level of heat in one's body, thus the fever will go away. I found that it's also good when one is having sore throat or suffering from heat.?

Please spread the news about this as lately there are many dengue cases. It's great if such natural cure could help to ease the sufferings of dengue patients.?

Furthermore it's so easily available.
Blend them and squeeze the juice! It's simple and miraculously effective!!

It's entirely up to you whether you want to believe it or not, but the least I could do is make this information available to you.

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Call Me Un-Romantic

2009-02-17T12:06:00.004+08:00

Just before Valentine's Day, a couple of my colleagues were asking me questions such as:

Q: So, are you buying anything for your wife on Valentine's Day?

A: No.

(Looks of horror and disgust crept across their faces)

Q: So, what are you doing on Valentine's Day?

A: Nothing.

(More or less the same respond as above)

My usual reply, albeit a little cliched, is "Everyday is and can be Valentine's Day, why must you celebrate it on a day when everything is more expensive and all the restaurants are over-crowded? If you need to have a special day to do something nice and different for THAT person in your life, you can do it any other day!"

And I truly believe in the above statement, as do my wife (and I'm not just saying that to make myself look good). I just don't see a point in spending extra money unnecessarily on things that you usually can get it a whole lot cheaper. I also don't understand what so special about going out for a nice fancy dinner, and sit in a restaurant packed with people.

I'm lucky my wife is a very practical person who has no use for things like flowers and diamond rings (fine, call me cheapskate). Below are2 separate scenarios that may very well happen depending on her mood, should I buy her a bunch of beautiful flowers on Valentine's Day.

GOOD MOOD: Thanks dear, that is very nice of you, but you don't need to waste your money buying me flowers especially when you know that I have no use for them, nice as they are.

BAD MOOD: WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU THINKING!!? Why do you waste so much money and precious time buying something for me that I DON'T NEED? I'd much rather you stay home and help me take care of the kids (bearing in mind my wife is 3 months pregnant and still suffering from morning sickness).

I know that some of you are still thinking that I'm just giving excuses and trying hard to justify myself. I also know that there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise, so I won't even try :P.

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Just installed Snap Shots from Snap.com

2009-02-16T13:53:00.002+08:00

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

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Shit Happens, and lots of it! (Oh the smell!)

2009-02-15T03:50:00.005+08:00

My youngest son, the 2 1/2 year old, is having the worst diarrhoea (or diarrhea depending on where you're from) that our kids had ever had. Even the worst that my 6 yo experienced was nothing like this. That being said, we thank God that there's still no need for him to be hospitalized. One thing that I could never understand though, is how can such disgusting, terribly foul smelling stuff comes out of such a cute tiny little body?? Even the fart! Oh me oh my, LOL!! Well, I guess shit happens, but that's not the end of it. The next day, it was my turn to have diarrhoea, about as bad as his but I dare say no where near as foul smelling as his. Then the day after, it was my mom's turn (she is staying with us). Like I said, lots of shit happened, and will probably continue on for another day or two.

Let's talk about my son since I'm most worried about him. His stool was very watery and every time after he drank some water, he passed it out almost immediately. I guessed that's the reason why it's recommended for them to take sips of water. The first night that he had diarrhoea, he soiled easily about 8 heavy diapers.

We got pretty worried, so the next day we decided to get some Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS). Can be obtained easily from any pharmacy. Just add one packet to 8 oz (240 ml) of water (or according to what the instruction says) and shake well. We used a water tumbler and let him take small sips through out the day. You can also use a bottle for younger children. He's acting well, still playing, active, but gets tired easily, didn't have much of an appetite and was eating less than usual, but we weren't really worried about that as long as he is well hydrated.

Today is the third day for him (and 2nd for myself). I pray tomorrow we'll all be fine. One thing though, all my life I always thought that diarrhoea is not contagious, until about 4 years ago, when a doctor told me otherwise. Well, I guess diarrhoea itself is not contagious but the microorganism that causes it is. So always practice proper hygiene especially after changing a soiled diaper, or you may find yourself, or another member in your family, follow suit with the slam dunking action.

Since my wife is just over 3 months pregnant, she was quite worried that she may catch it too. So in her visit to her gynaecologist today, she asked about it, and the doctor said that once or twice of soft stool is ok, if it's more severe, she better get it treated. The doctor was afraid that too much stress and strain may cause her to pass out the foetus!! LOL! Lucky she asked as she may very well catch it. Guess her paranoia pays off eh.

To learn more about diarrhoea (especially in young children) and dealing with dehydration, you can visit the sites below:

1. Rehydration Project

2. Babycentre

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Mr. A-Z, Here I Come!! - [Random Ramblings]

2009-02-09T16:37:00.008+08:00

Finally got my Jason Mraz Live in Kuala Lumpur from my friend! Can't wait for the 4th of March hehe. Here's a proof of me going to the concert LOL! (Really got nothing better to do huh?!)

Front

Back

If you looked closely at the ticket, you'll see that the ticket I have is an early bird ticket. All thanks to my good and sacrificial friend who sacrificed his saturday morning to get the tickets for 7 of us.

I was however a little unhappy because apparently each person are only entitled to 4 early bird tickets (and he has to buy 7) and that was not mentioned on the website, so I decided to email them a letter of complaint LOL! A couple of days later, they replied apologizing and saying that they were only informed by the organiser about that "terms and condition" on that ticket launched day itself.

While I acknowledged that it's not really their fault, I do hope that they will pester organisers to give them the terms and conditions BEFORE the launched date in the future LOL! Oh well, some things are out of our control I guess. Click the pictures below to see the email conversation. (I've blocked out some stuff that is erm, unnecessary)

From me

From Axcess

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A Hard Life!!

2009-02-01T13:44:00.011+08:00

And that was coming from a 6 year old!!

I know I'm going to have a hard life when my 6 yo started asking my wife questions like:

"Why is life so hard, Mommy?" *sob sob*

"Why is my life so hard??!!" *started crying*

"Why? Mommy, why??!!" *close to wailing*

*sigh* And all that just because our relatives who said they were coming for a visit were just a little late, and he's getting impatient of waiting.

It's getting harder and harder trying to imagine that my life can be easy with a son that is both dramatic AND philosophical LOL!

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Phimosis Scare

2009-01-27T00:05:00.008+08:00

Just a few days ago, my 6 yo son was complaining that it hurts when he was urinating. We got a little worried as he had a history of recurring Urinary Tract Infection when he was younger. It was a very bad experience for us as we had to put him through an x-ray test for urinary reflux/vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR). The test is called Micturating Cysto-urethrogram (MCU). It pains us that he has to go through an x-ray test at such a young age, but I guess it's much better than to have VUR and thus taking risk of renal scarring (kidney damage). Anyway, I'll talk about that some other time.

As I was saying, we got worried about him complaining that it was painful while he was urinating, so we decided to check his penis ourselves and found out that there is sort of a cut there. To be sure, we decided to bring him to see our Sunday pediatrician (since our usual pediatrician doesn't work on Sundays), at the very least, get an antiseptic cream to prevent any form of infection. The doctor said that it's just a small cut or a bug bite and gave us an antiseptic cream.

Since our son is seeing a skin specialist (dermatologist), we also let him take a look at my son's penis for a second opinion. He said that there's no infection but he saw that my wife was having some difficulty retracting my son's foreskin and my son was complaining that it hurts when she tried to retract the foreskin. He then said that there may be tightening of foreskin, which may lead to more problems (such as UTI) when he gets older. He recommended us to see a pediatric surgeon in SDMCSJ (previosly SJMC - Subang Jaya Medical Centre) to do a circumcision. According to him a pediatric surgeon is gentler and more experience operating on children as compared to a pediatrician or a general surgeon. The operation should only take about 10 mins but he would have to stay for half a day in the hospital. We asked if it's something we needed to do it immediately and he said we can do it within the next six months.

It was then I decided to do a search online and found out about Phimosis.

According to Krames Online:-

In uncircumcised boys, the foreskin lies over the head of the penis. It begins to loosen from the head of the penis by age 3. This allows the foreskin to gently retract (slide back) over the head of the penis. In some boys, the tip of the foreskin (prepuce) is very tight, making it difficult to retract. This is phimosis.

The unretracted foreskin and prepuce cover the penis. Retraction of the foreskin uncovers the head of the penis. (Source: Krames Online)

Phimosis is most likely to be identified between 4 yo to 7 yo since for younger children, their foreskin may not be able to fully retract. The last time our son got his penis checked was when he was younger (around 2 or 3 yo), so we decided to let our usual doctor check him again. Thankfully he said that he doesn't have the signs of Phimosis. It probably hurts because he was terrified by last few days experience and furthermore it's a sensitive area. He just need some getting used to the stretching of foreskin and slowly it will be able to retract. There's no rush, according to him. He also does not recommend going for circumcision until he's a little older because if we do it now, he will need to go under General Anesthetic as he's probably too immature to stand still for the administration of a Local Anesthetic.

In any case, we're glad that our son is ok and nothing needs to be done at the moment, thank God!!

To get more information about Phimosis, when to see the doctor, and the treatment for it, please visit Krames Online.

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Pica?!!

2009-01-25T12:19:00.009+08:00

My wife was a quite worried about eating seafood as she is in the first trimester and some seafood is known to contain high levels of mercury, and so I did a google search on it. As I was reading an article about eating during pregnancy from KidsHealth, at the food cravings section, I came across this word - Pica.

What in the world is Pica?? The only Pica I know is the noise that Pikachu made in Pokemon LOL! So I clicked on the link and this is what I learnt:-

Pica is an eating/medical disorder (it's also a unit of measurement, but that's not what I'm talking about) characterized by having an appetite mostly for nonfood or non-nutritive items which can also include food ingredients.

While it's normal for young kids to put various items into their mouth (most kids do that at some point in time) since it's how they explore and learn about their surroundings, kids with Pica goes beyond innocent exploration and it's characterized by persistant and complusive cravings.

Pica can be seen in young children (especially those who are developmentally disabled), pregnant women (as food cravings), people with epilepsy and also in animal (mostly dogs). It can last for one month or longer.

Here are some examples of nonfood items people with Pica normally crave or consume (source: KidsHealth):-
- dirt
- clay
- paint chips
- plaster
- chalk
- cornstarch
- laundry starch
- baking soda
- coffee grounds
- cigarette ashes
- burnt match heads
- cigarette butts
- feces
- ice
- glue
- hair
- buttons
- paper
- sand
- toothpaste
- soap

Below is a picture of items found in a pica patient's stomach (picture obtained from Wikipedia)

1,440 items found in a patient suffering from Pica

Ewww!! We learn new things everyday, and I learned that we're living in a crazy world that's always full of surprises LOL!!

To read more about Pica such as signs and causes of it; treatment etc, please visit the sites below for more information.

References:
1. Wikipedia
2. KidsHealth

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